Think big!
Starting off as a unemployed graduate with nothing better to do than join an activist group performing stunts to whip up media attention, Decca is now a media advocate for that global activist organization and expects one day to move into a permanent political position if not in her home government then with the United Nations. She's thinking big!
“As a media advocate I am heavily involved in media management,” explains Decca. “My job is to master and implement all of my organization’s tricks to gain access to the mass media in order to gain support for our issues and eventually the adoption by the home government of our policies.”
“Media advocacy requires art, imagination and the ability to react quickly and creatively to a fast changing environment,” says Decca. “I am constantly hunting for breaking news stories about any subject at all that can provide an opportunity for press comments about our particular issues – e.g. the recent poisonings and deaths from sprouts in Europe was used by us to highlight other environmental hazards related to our cause.”
“As a media advocate, I must always appear to be motivated by public health concerns and the right thing to do rather than by profit seeking,” says Decca. “I am a skilled communicator so I never present myself as being fanatic, moralistic, or self-righteous about a cause, and I mostly receive a sympathetic response from journalists – though it is true than some journalists are beginning to get bored with the issue I’m advocating, so I need to be constantly on the ball to maintain their interest.”
“Bearing in mind the tight time limitations of the media, I present my message as succinctly as I can in a few quotable sentences designed to be media stoppers,” says Decca. “If I’m involved in a media debate with the opposition I never answer diversionary questions – I just answer the question I want to answer, or ask the question that should have been asked.”
“Often, too, we create news in our own right,” says Decca. “Some of our fund-raising events attract celebrities and huge crowds and while we always aim to get media attention, it is so much easier when we make news when we are simply doing our job.”
“Because journalists do get bored with the same old issue being dragged out week in week out – and there’s only so many ways to flog a dead story – I sometimes have to appeal to our sponsors to run an advertisement – or pay for it ourselves.”
“It’s a good career,” says Decca. “I work with dedicated people for a good cause, I’m on first name terms with most journalists and some politicians and my future prospects are astronomical!”
Read more by Decca on this issue:
student activism
Media driven social policy
UN subverts democracy?
misuse of 'war' for other issues?
Education and activism
Welfare funding for activists
activist cults and sin taxes
“As a media advocate I am heavily involved in media management,” explains Decca. “My job is to master and implement all of my organization’s tricks to gain access to the mass media in order to gain support for our issues and eventually the adoption by the home government of our policies.”
“Media advocacy requires art, imagination and the ability to react quickly and creatively to a fast changing environment,” says Decca. “I am constantly hunting for breaking news stories about any subject at all that can provide an opportunity for press comments about our particular issues – e.g. the recent poisonings and deaths from sprouts in Europe was used by us to highlight other environmental hazards related to our cause.”
“As a media advocate, I must always appear to be motivated by public health concerns and the right thing to do rather than by profit seeking,” says Decca. “I am a skilled communicator so I never present myself as being fanatic, moralistic, or self-righteous about a cause, and I mostly receive a sympathetic response from journalists – though it is true than some journalists are beginning to get bored with the issue I’m advocating, so I need to be constantly on the ball to maintain their interest.”
“Bearing in mind the tight time limitations of the media, I present my message as succinctly as I can in a few quotable sentences designed to be media stoppers,” says Decca. “If I’m involved in a media debate with the opposition I never answer diversionary questions – I just answer the question I want to answer, or ask the question that should have been asked.”
“Often, too, we create news in our own right,” says Decca. “Some of our fund-raising events attract celebrities and huge crowds and while we always aim to get media attention, it is so much easier when we make news when we are simply doing our job.”
“Because journalists do get bored with the same old issue being dragged out week in week out – and there’s only so many ways to flog a dead story – I sometimes have to appeal to our sponsors to run an advertisement – or pay for it ourselves.”
“It’s a good career,” says Decca. “I work with dedicated people for a good cause, I’m on first name terms with most journalists and some politicians and my future prospects are astronomical!”
Read more by Decca on this issue:
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