Advocacy with media – the pro

ADVOCACY WITH MEDIA –
THE PRO-ACTIVE APPROACH
Dr Samir Dalwai
MD,DCH,DNB,FCPS,LLB
Developmental Pediatrician and Law Consultant,
New Horizons Child Development Centre,
LTMG (Sion) Hospital,
Hot Box Media Pvt Ltd.
New Horizons
Child Development Centre
“ Every Child Can Do Better ! ”
The Child
Developmental
Pediatrician
Pediatric
Neurologist
Occupational
Therapist
Speech
Therapist
Pediatric
Psychiatrist
Pediatric Orthopedic
Surgeon
Child Psychologist
and Counselor
Physical
Therapist
Remedial
Educator
WHAT IS MEDIA ADVOCACY?
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The strategic use of newsmaking
through TV, radio and newspapers
to promote public debate
and generate community support for changes in
community norms and policies.
Aim: Helping policy makers and the general public
to more fully engage in creating systemic changes
that improve the world we live in
Strategy:
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Setting the goals of safe, healthy and prosperous communities
Identifying barriers to strategic policy implementation
Sharing current research through newsmaking
Members of the general public are the ultimate
decision-makers and opinion leaders in our
society.
 Community attitudes, beliefs, norms, and
practices are shaped by the dialogues that take
place within families and the social networks we
experience in our everyday lives.
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The manner in which policy makers and the
public understand and resolve the challenges
faced by communities in today's world, is guided
by the quality of information available to them.
 The news media, as a primary source of
information, play a very powerful role in shaping
the public dialogues that eventually form
community rules and standards.
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My experience, the road I have personally followed
with the media
Individually, and together
From Zero references in 2004, to a few
Not a single one paid for directly, or indirectly
Disclaimer:
All views and slides are mine, not of the organisers!
All characters in this Presentation are non-fictional;
but any resemblance to Pediatricians (in power or
outside) is purely coincidental and the presenter does
not bear any malice towards anybody, and neither
responsibility for any perceived sleights!!
...2005
IMMUNISATION
DEVELOPMENTAL
PEDIATRICS
BEHAVIOURAL
PEDIATRICS
LEARNING
DISABILITY
INFLUENCE
OF MEDIA
ON
CHILDREN
CHILD RIGHTS
GENERAL PEDIATRICS
CASE STUDY # 1
YOUNG PARLIAMENTARIANS’
CITIZENS ALLIANCE
AGAINST
MALNUTRITION
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Subject: Severe Acute Malnutrition
 Aim: Advocacy
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Strategy:
Create a Significant high-impact Group (MPs, Young, All
Parties, All States)
 Non Confrontationist, Non Defensive,
 Inclusive and Assimilative – Best Practices
 Lobbying – Ground ( Villages in 6 Badly Hit States - >
Parliament, PM, President)
 ISSUES RAISED: Public, Scientific, Governance
 Continuing Media Impact: High Profile Media Inputs
 REGULAR / PERIODIC MEDIA INPUTS
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ON GROUND ACTION FOLLOWED UP WITH
 President
 Prime Minister
 Chief Ministers
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HIGH MEDIA IMPACT
Mr Aamir Khan
 Mr Prasoon Joshi
 Nandi Foundation: HUNGAMA Report
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Time to act: Aamir Khan, part of Citizens' Alliance,
comprised of MPs across parties and NGOs, that aims to
create social awareness of malnutrition among kids.
Photo: V. Sudershan
HIGH IMPACT
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Aamir Khan Campaigns Against Malnutrition In
India : Titbits
... platform before to speak about malnutrition before,
which according to him affects one in every two children in
India. Aamir Khan has joined hands with the Citizens'
Alliance ...
www.santabanta.com/cinema.asp?pid=43099
Aamir Khan appointed as Citizens Alliance Creative
Consultant
Aamir Khan appointed as Citizens Alliance Creative
Consultant By Kunal M Shah, 2 December, 2010 ... issues
that the group needs to address and the first one is
malnutrition in ...
www.filmicafe.com/news_detail.php?news_id=17021
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Aamir Khan Campaigns Against Malnutrition In India
More on this page
December 17, 2010 : Bollywood actor Aamir Khan will be the
new face of Anti Malnutrition campaign. Well not literally, but
Aamir Khan has given his nod to campaign against the vice of
malnutrition in India.
In a statement to the media, the actor says that he has been
aware of the problem affecting the lives of many kids in this
country for ...
Cached page
... platform before to speak about malnutrition before, which
according to him affects one in every two children in India. Aamir
Khan has joined hands with the Citizens' Alliance to ...
www.newkerala.com/news/world/fullnews-106858.html
Aamir Khan Campaigns Against Malnutrition In India
This makes the Bollywood actor the face of the Citizens’
Alliance’s print and TV advertisements through which he will
try to create awareness among the rural population in ...
www.thaindian.com/newsportal/entertainment/aamir-khan-
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Aamir Khan will be the new face of Anti Malnutrition campaign. Well not
... Devo Bhava' campaigns, Khan has linked himself to 'Citizens' Alliance
To Fight Against Malnutrition ...
www.24dunia.com/english-news/search/campaign-malnutrition.html
Aamir Khan | Citizens Alliance | Manmohan | Social Welfare in ...
Thinking that I have stolen the line from Waah Sunil Babu of Asian Paints
Ad? Naah! May be after reading this article I am sure that more voices would
echo this exclamation.
www.yreach.com/hyderabad/news/waah-aamir-babu.html
Aamir takes up the fight against malnutrition : Titbits
The actor, who is the public face of the group Citizens' Alliance To Fight
Against Malnutrition, was in New ... Aamir Khan Wallpapers
www.santabanta.com/cinema.asp?pid=43066
Aamir to fight child hunger
More on this page
Aamir Khan has often been the face of social causes, be it the Narmada
Bachao Andolan or the Atithi Devo Bhava campaign. This time he is
involving himself to fight the cause of malnutrition, Mid-Day reported.
The actor has become the face of Citizens' Alliance To Fight Against
Cached page
24-08-2011 · The actor has become the face of Citizens' Alliance To Fight
Against ... Aamir Khan told the tabloid, "Malnutrition is an alarming issue
in the country.
www.hindustantimes.com/Aamir-to-fight-against-malnutrition/Article1639143.aspx
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Aamir Khan meets PM to discuss malnutrition - Rediff.com India News
More on this page
Actor Aamir Khan [ Images] created a flutter in the Parliament complex when he
alighted from Sachin Pilot's [ Images] car at gate number 4 and rushed towards Prime
Minister's office around 1230 hrs on Wednesday afternoon.
Media persons followed him right to the gate of a conference hall where he was
promptly ushered in by the officers ...
Cached page
The group is called Alliance of Citizens fighting Malnutrition. MPs, NGOs and some
journalists have become our members," Aamir Khan told journalists after his visit.
www.rediff.com/news/report/aamir-khan-meets-pm-in-parliament/20101201.htm
Aamir Khan Campaigns Against Malnutrition In India | Bollywood ...
... platform before to speak about malnutrition before, which according to him affects
one in every two children in India. Aamir Khan has joined hands with the Citizens’
Alliance to ...
cafe18.in/2010/12/aamir-khan-campaigns-against-malnutrition-in-india
Pagination
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CASE STUDY # 2
“JAAGAR HA JAANIWANCHA” CAMPAIGN
Subject: Against Female Foeticide, Save the Girl
Child
 Aim: Advocacy. On all fronts. Social Change.
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INDIA
NO COUNTRY FOR WOMEN!!!
Stop Female Foeticide!
SINCE INDEPENDENCE INDIA HAS KILLED
10,00,000 (and counting) UNBORN GIRLS!!!
Stop Female Foeticide!
The Campaign • A hard hitting 360 degree campaign that will be activated on-ground, as well as on various
media platforms (including New Media)
• The Campaign to have tangible results as a target – like an increase the boy - girl ratio by a
certain period (2021 Census)
• The campaign to hit specific targets like high mortality areas like Punjab, Haryana, Delhi,
Maharashtra, etc. and constantly analyze the impact on a year to year basis
• The Campaign will use nouveau techniques to disseminate information (For example, like
Greenpeace Campaigns, but relevant to Female Foeticide)
Stop Female Foeticide!
The Plan • (The Ambassador) to spear-head the Campaign
• Starting off with a press conference to announce the initiative, the Campaign will be kick-started by a
preview from the previous Campaign (A film based on the Pad yatra just finished)
•(The Ambassador) will also announce our next pad yatra / new media involvement here
• An entire unit will be formed to work on it 24X7/365
• Task forces will be created to go and bust rackets that perform illegal tests and to propagate the issue
• The team may also rope in Sponsors to fund the Campaign and make it self sustaining
FOLLOW UP WITH THE GOVERNMENT - CM
DEPUTY CM
MINISTER OF STATE FOR HEALTH
Park benches.. Office desks.. Elevators …!!!
Places where couples
plan their little stints
of affection …
We brand the same
with our
communication!!!
Join the Campaign against Female Foeticide
Take over of various chat sites
and plan our communication
along.
Adi Chandra: Hey I am looking for Girls to
make friendship!!
Yahoo!: Looking to make Girl Friends, But
where are the Girls!!
Stop Female Foeticide.
Join Supriya Sule’s campaign against Female
Foeticide
The sites that can be
considered are Yahoo chat,
Google chat, Facebook chat.
A special social media page
can be created to the
campaign. The links of these
pages can be attached to the
chat windows
Video Campaign –
Take various situations and erase the woman from it…
- Like a popular Hindi movie number and the heroine gets erased (Imagine “Munni”
or “Sheela” without the female actress!)
- Erasing the Female heros from our lives, from the text books, from our memory –
Savitri Bai Phule, Laxmi Bai, Annie Beasant, Indira Gandhi, etc.
On-Ground –
- Pad Yatra through the country – through the most affected areas.
- Some attention grabbing activities like sky diving into the worst affected areas with a
LARGE banner ( by getting amateur Sky divers to volunteer for the campaign)
- A Core group that conducts raids on suspected clinics and hospitals to bring to light
the culprits-doctors, families and touts)
-State Coordination Group of Doctors, NGOs and Media
Stop Female Foeticide!
Breaking
Myths
1. Female Foeticide is far stronger in urban
rather than rural areas,
2. Amongst literate rather than illiterate
3. Exploding the myth that growing affluence
and spread of basic education alone will
result in the erosion of gender bias.
Hence, we have to go beyond the
conventional mediums!!
So here’s a tongue-in-cheek approach to
reach out to our “Educated Urban Crowd”
and get into their heads...
So that they don’t get into Wombs!!!
Stop Female Foeticide!
“Save the Girl, Save the
World!!”
WHAT DID I LEARN:
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Journalists want to print/telecast something that people
will like to read/watch
Photographs or Activities
However, sometimes there is a dichotomy between what
our incensed, focussed, passionate mind is filled with and
the news reporter’s point of view
Hence, sometimes, huge miss-match between what we
wanted (what we thought “we had said”) and what the
newshound “hears” and reports, and finally what the Desk
Editor thinks it should “read as”
Prudent not to be carried away with what you
want the person to read/hear, but to focus on how
it “appears” to the examiner
 Hence, separate the message from your
emotions.. see the message separately from your
emotions. Tune it to the reporter’s emotions (who,
in turn, is already seeing it from the “readers”
emotional point of view)
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DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
Tabloid
 Newspaper
 Glossy
 Magazine
 Journal
Readers perception of the truth, may not be
different at all
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PLANNING A NEWS COVERAGE
Event as non-insular (e.g. abcCON) as possible
 Event which impacts life of the general public
 Impacts an issue which is already in public
perception
 Different issues will be taken up by different
media
 Have guests/ambassadors who are news worthy
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REFERENCES
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Best when they come by themselves or volunteered by
another
Reporters typically ask colleagues or do a net search
before they ask you
In a first call, the first three minutes are most
important
Restrict only to what the person needs to know with
just a hint of peripheral/tangential stuff; let the
reporter take the bait; else leave it
NETWORKING
Focus on the individual, not his publication
 Be brief, be honest
 Do not reveal all information, do not act as if you
are withholding information; just play as if the
story is yet to unfold and you will brief as soon as
it does
 Never ever lose your cool at the reporter, nor over
the issue
 Never blame colleagues
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Never appear patronising
Never encourage corrupt, cheesy, sensationist
reporters
Follow up ( but never get pushy; always maintain a
distance but seem open and welcoming)
It helps to be useful in times of personal crises.
Never ever tag work to a personal favour
Be nice, never show an attitude..everyone thinks
doctors are snobbish, oversmart, arrogant and
commercial
EVEN THIS HAPPENS...
ADVOCACY
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Use of media
Establish clear lines of communication for
journalists when there are important events
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If you are on air, talk slowly and clearly. Do not
use technical jargon, do not be defensive, state
the facts clearly, be confident & poised
WHO/V&B/AVI
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ADVOCACY
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Tips for an effective TV Interview
WHO/V&B/AVI
Focus on getting your main message across
 Don’t try to make too many complex arguments, keep
your answers and explanations simple
 Don’t use too many technical words or jargon
 Don’t allow yourself to be defensive or angry
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ADVOCACY
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Tips for an effective TV Interview
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Look at the interviewer when talking to her/him. If
there is an audience, look at them when you talk to
them
Maintain a comfortable position, and be yourself - don’t
try to be dramatic
Be enthusiastic about the subject - let your passion and
authority on the subject show
WHO/V&B/AVI
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ADVOCACY
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Use of media - Tips for Effective Presentation
Make eye-contact with your audience. Don’t turn your back
to the audience and read from your slides
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Vary the pace of your talk
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Focus your presentation on few key messages. Don’t
bombard your audience with too many facts and figures
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Know your audience- don’t make a technical presentation
to an audience of general public
WHO/V&B/AVI
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ADVOCACY
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Search for Your Advocate and get their help
Advocacy requires many players- find the ones that
make can make a difference
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They may be
political leaders
 influential community and religious leaders
 famous personalities like actors, actresses, authors,
royalties
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Get expert help: there are many specialists in the
field of advocacy, get them on your team
WHO/V&B/AVI
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THANK YOU!
samyrdalwai@gmail.com
 samyrdalwai@enablemychild.org
 www.enablemychild.org
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