The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
Volume 26
Issue 2 June
June 1999
Promoting Social Justice in Partnership with the
Mass Media
Brawley
Emilia E. Martinez-Brawley
Arizona State University
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Article 5
Promoting Social Justice in
Partnership with the Mass Media
EDWARD ALLAN BRAWLEY
Arizona State University West
College of Human Services
EMILIA E. MARTINEZ-BRAWLEY
Arizona State University
School of Social Work
Research on mass communications suggests that public understandingof
social justice issues can be significantly enhanced by the appropriateuse
of the media. Indeed, without the access to the public that only the mass
media can provide, social workers are unlikely to have much impact in
the public's understandingof criticalsocial justice issues and appropriate
responses to these issues. Based on emerging research and practice, we
identify opportunitiesfor individuals,groups andorganizationsinterested
in addressing issues of social justice to engage in productive public communication activities through newspapers, radio and television.
INTRODUCTION
In today's mass society, national debate about important social justice and civil rights issues occurs primarily in the mass
media. This debate tends to be skewed by such factors as the
multinational corporate ownership of the major media outlets, a
questionable objectivity on the part of both print and broadcast
journalism and a shift in the center of gravity of public discourse
far to the right of center during the last decade or so (Bennett, 1992;
Harwood, 1992; Patterson, 1994; Alterman, 1992; Parenti, 1992).
Therefore, it is important that persons interested in promoting
more accurate media depictions of issues such as crime, poverty,
Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, June, 1999, Volume XXVI, Number 2
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Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
drug abuse, mental illness and inequality, expand their public
communication activities through the mass media to generate
more informed public debate about and more appropriate community responses to these issues.
This paper describes media activities in the public health
and human services fields, includes data and principles flowing from general communication, diffusion of innovations and
social construction theories, and from social marketing and media advocacy. Established principles for developing productive
partnerships with print and broadcast journalists and concrete
examples of ways in which scholars and practitioners can add
mass media communications to their professional repertoire are
provided.
PROBLEMATIC PORTRAYAL OF CRIME AND
DRUGS, INEQUALITY AND MENTAL ILLNESS
Our understanding and attitudes towards people, events, and
social issues are greatly affected by the information and views
communicated through the media (Altheide and Snow, 1991).
The media play a central role in the shaping of the political
scene, in public agenda setting, and in identifying how issues
will be debated (Lichter, 1988; Molotch, Protess, and Gordon,
1987). Advocates for social justice need to become more medialiterate and active participants in these public agenda setting,
opinion making, and policy formulation processes. Indeed, we
will argue that justice is unlikely to be well served if prevailing
media depictions of crime and criminal justice, the rights of the
mentally ill, minority groups and the poor are left unchallenged.
Crime has been an enduring preoccupation of the American
media from at least the first half of the 1 9 th century,". . . when the
urban penny press employed violence, sex and scandal to build
dizzying new levels of circulation and began the modern age of
mass media" (LaMay & Dennis, 1995:1).
Unfortunately, the overwhelming message the public gets
from the media is: "Beware! Time to buy that Uzi and barricade
yourself" (Rosenberg, 1995, p. 103). Sexual assaults, homicides,
muggings and similar frightening events are depicted as if they
were usual occurrences. This is not just the case in films and television entertainment programs. Similar criticism can be leveled at
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65
television news. "Step off a plane anywhere in the United States,
tune in to the local TV news programs and you're likely to see a
succession of reports on murders, shootouts, rapes, traffic wrecks,
fires and other grisly events," (Cohen & Solomon, 1993:A5). The
situation is no better in the supposedly more credible national
network news programs where the coverage of murders has
soared (Kurtz, 1997), while the national crime rate, including the
rate for murder and other violent crime, has been declining for
years ("Murder Rate Lowest Since '69," 1997).
The media take the rare criminal incident and turn it into a
common image, heightening public fear and expectation of crime.
Furthermore, media depictions of crime attribute its causes to the
individual criminal and support repressive social arrangements
and approaches to fighting crime. The media and its consumers
resist alternative explanations of the causes of crime. "Depictions
of predatory criminals both entertain and comfort us - entertain
because they scare us, and comfort because they relieve our social conscience by showing crime as clearly not due to social
inequities, racism, or poverty - things society could be held responsible for and might address" (Surette, 1992, p. 250). With the
public convinced from the media messages and images that most
inner-city citizens are involved in violent crime, aggressive law
enforcement policies are justified while investments in health,
educational and social services to the inner city are unlikely
to be supported. While there is no evidence that harsh crime
control measures have increased public safety, they have greatly
increased the numbers of young minority males in criminal justice system custody, "thereby fundamentally undermining social
policies aimed at fuller integration of disadvantaged people into
the fabric of American life" (Tonry, 1995, p. vii).
Media coverage of the ongoing "drug crisis" is also problematic. The network television news shows and the major print
media carry running stories on various aspects of the crisis. This
intensive and sustained media coverage and repeated calls for a
"war on drugs" are not a consequence of any increase in drug
use since all available evidence indicates this has not changed.
News values that emphasize conflict, drama, scandal and danger
almost certainly are at work (Alger, 1989; Johnson, 1989; Reeves
and Campbell, 1994; Reinarman & Levine, 1989; Orcutt & Turner,
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Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
1993). Orcutt & Turner (1993) present an interesting and plausible case that the 1986 "drug epidemic" was actually what they
have characterized as a "media epidemic" produced by media
distortion of drug use data in order to create a more dramatic
story.
Wozencraft (1995) points out that white middle class Americans consume 70 to 80 percent of the illicit drugs used in the
country but 47 percent of the time evening news programs show
black people involved with drugs. She would undoubtedly concur with Tonry's (1995) assertion that the "war on drugs and the
harsh set of crime control policies in which it was enmeshed were
undertaken to achieve political, not policy, objectives" (p. 39)
Harwood (1992) considers the most critical issues permanently absent from media consideration are the "endemic pathology" of racism and "the underlying reality of class divisions in
America and the destructive myth of a classless society" (p. 28).
He attributes these "blind spots" to the fact that "journalists are
attuned to both the newspaper audience and the political class
which are drawn, more than even before in this century, from the
middle and upper ranks of society" (p. 28). For example, as is the
case with the poor and the working class in general, organized
labor does not fare well in the media. Indeed, "for most of its
history the American labor movement has taken adverse media
coverage for granted" (Puette, 1992:3). The generally unfavorable
treatment of unions and the issues they seek to address has
further deteriorated over the last two decades from an overall
pro-business posture couched in quasi-neutral reporting to overt
union-bashing (Winkler, 1997).
A decade of research on public discourse in the British and
Dutch press by VanDijk and his associates at the University of
Amsterdam has led them to conclude that, as is the case in North
America (Campbell, 1995; Bozell and Baker, 1990), the media
reinforce a subtle but powerful form of institutional racism in
those countries. While couched in the rhetoric of civility and tolerance this "elite racism" is exercised by those ". . .who initiate,
monitor and control the majority and most influential forms of
institutional and public talk and text" (VanDijk, 1995, p. 4).
Despite the prevailing self-assessment of the media as objective and balanced in the presentation of ethnic news and opinion,
67
Social Justice
many factors suggest otherwise. Ethnic minority groups have
little access to the media and little influence over how they and
the issues that are important to them are portrayed. As a result
of their control of the media, whites tend to be depicted as nonbiased and tolerant or at least neutral. Ethnic minorities are generally portrayed in terms of the problems or threats they create
or represent while the same is not true for whites. Indeed it is not
unusual for accusations of racism to be seen as more problematic
than racism itself (VanDijk, 1995:101).
In American television, both African Americans and Hispanics have been virtually invisible in mainstream programming
and, when they have appeared, they have overwhelmingly been
portrayed in criminal or other negative roles (Bozell and Baker,
1990; Campbell, 1995; Braxton, 1996; Espinosa, 1997). A recent
study by the Center for Media and Public Affairs (1996) reported
some welcome progress from an earlier 1992 study that indicated
that Hispanics ".
.
. were low in number, low in social status,
and lowdown in personal character, frequently portraying violent
criminals." They noted that the most egregious offenders were
the so-called "reality" programs, "
. .
. whose version of reality
often consisted of white cops chasing black and Hispanic robbers"
(p. i). While there were more positive portrayals in the 1994-95
television season, Hispanics were still more likely to be invisible
(two percent of television characters although they constitute ten
percent of the American population) and were still more likely to
be portrayed in criminal roles.
Depictions of mental illness are common in all forms of media
(Wahl, 1995:3). Unfortunately, the way mental illness is portrayed
in the media is problematic, with serious consequences for the
rights of persons with mental illnesses (Backer, 1984; Domino,
1983; Wahl and Leikowitz, 1989; Wahl and Roth, 1982). As found
in numerous studies of prime time TV, (Signiorelli, 1989; Gerbner,
1985), depictions of mentally ill serial characters reinforce the
inherent 'evilness' the public associates with mentally ill people
by connecting mental illness inevitably to criminal behavior.
In addition to the problematic portrayals in the broadcast
media, the majority of newspaper stories of mental illness in
North America associate psychiatric illness with violence, crime,
danger, and unpredictability (Shain & Phillips, 1991; Day & Page,
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Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
1986). Furthermore, most media depictions imply that persons
with mental illnesses are not amenable to treatment and that the
main hope for protecting the public is their removal, through
confinement or more drastic solutions. It would be disingenuous
to suggest that the mass media are totally or even primarily
responsible for the stigma and discrimination experienced by
people who are mentally ill. However, there is abundant evidence
to suggest that negative media images reinforce and perpetuate
long-standing negative and inaccurate public beliefs about mental illness and persons who are or have been mentally ill. The cost
to those who suffer those illnesses and to the public in general
cannot be overestimated.
THE PUBLIC SERVICE POTENTIAL OF THE MASS MEDIA
The preceding discussion of the problems created for certain
groups in society and for informed public consideration of social
policy issues by inaccurate media images can lead to serious
doubts about the potential of working effectively with the media.
Broadcasting and newspaper publishing are business enterprises
and, it has been argued, must inevitably place corporate interest before the public interest (Alterman, 1992; Harwood, 1992;
Parenti, 1992). As a consequence, images and messages that will
attract audiences and readers for advertisers, thereby generating
profits, and that will legitimize existing social, economic and
political arrangements will predominate. Messages or images that
threaten these goals will be ignored, trivialized or muted.
Despite these real limitations, the mass media provide many
opportunities for the communication of messages that can make
valuable contributions to social policy goals and these opportunities should not be overlooked. For example, the media generally
espouse a commitment to public service and, indeed, this is a
legal requirement of broadcasters when they receive their licenses
to use the public airwaves. While government regulation of the
American broadcast industry has been weak for a decade or so,
there are some preliminary signs that the tide of deregulation
has turned (see, for example, the Cable Act of 1992). Besides,
most broadcasters have found that an avowed and demonstrable
commitment to the communities they serve is simply good business practice. Newspaper publishers and editors "generally feel a
Social Justice
69
sense of responsibility to fill a public service role, to participate in
the affairs of the community as good citizens. .. (They) are opinion leaders and take their responsibility as agenda setters very
seriously" (Wallack, 1990a: 154). Many national and local media
outlets have taken up issues such as homelessness, drunken driving, domestic violence and the like and have given these issues
sustained and well-informed treatment. Phoenix newspapers'
multi-year campaign, "Saving Arizona's Children," addresses the
complex issues facing Arizona's families, children, schools, child
welfare authorities, and juvenile courts is only one such example
of responsible, sustained, informed and influential media coverage of important social issues (Whitney, 1993).
Finally, the media have recently been under increasing internal and external pressure to review their standards and practices
and to be more responsible in reporting and analyzing important issues and events (Patterson, 1994; Ivins, 1993; Shaw, 1996;
Fallows, 1996a; 1996b; Montgomery, 1989). Alger (1989) notes
that during the Watergate era in the mid-1970s, the investigative
reporting of the American mass media earned them high respect
and approval ratings from the public. However, within a decade,
the public's respect had plummeted, as a result of perceptions of
arrogance, sensational coverage of people and events, disregard
for privacy issues, and other abuses. In a widely cited article on
"Why Americans Hate the Media," Fallows (1996b) notes:
"... a contrast between the apparent self-satisfaction of the media
celebrities and the contempt in which they are held by the public.
'The news media has a generally positive view of itself in the
watchdog role,' wrote the authors of an exhaustive survey of public
attitudes and the attitudes of journalists themselves towards the
press. (The survey was conducted by the Times Mirror Center for the
People and the Press, and was released last May). 'But the outside
world strongly faults the news media for its negativism.. . The
public goes so far as to say that the press gets in the way of society
solving its problems.
.
.' According to the survey, 'two out of three
members of the public had nothing or nothing good to say about
the media.' " (Fallows, 1996b, p. 64).
These findings are mirrored in a concurrent TIME/CNN survey which revealed broad public antipathy towards the news
media, with 75 percent of those surveyed categorizing the media
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Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
as "sensationalistic"; 63 percent describing them as "too negative"; and 73 percent expressing doubt about the accuracy if the
news they were receiving (Zoglin, 1996, p. 63). Two decades after
Watergate, the America media are yet to recover the respect of the
public, resulting in vigorous calls for reform: ".. . America needs
a press that is free and responsible. For an institution that demands
so much of others, the press has become remarkably derelict in
the discharge of its public duty" (Patterson, 1994, p. 250).
These developments can provide new opportunities for productive relationships between journalism and persons interested
in social justice. By including the latter among their sources of
information, journalists can increase their understanding and improve their coverage of social iqsues, and enhance their credibility
with the public, public interest groups, regulatory bodies, and
policy makers. In more instances than not, those of us who initiate
media activities with an informed but open mind, encounter
cooperative and professional print and broadcast journalists who
can become valuable allies in our efforts to communicate important messages to the public. Given the media-infused society that
we live in today, we really do not have any choice about whether
or not to deal with the media. The media are too important to
ignore or avoid. Where we find they are failing to serve the
public interest, we need to take steps to hold them to appropriate
standards.
THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS
When planning to initiate public information efforts through
the mass media, it is possible to look to the findings of research in
mass communications. Theoretical principles and practices can be
identified to guide your activities and increase the probability that
your efforts will be productive. The basic theoretical architecture
(with practical applications) will be reviewed briefly in order to
give a sense of what it looks like.
The bulk of public information efforts through the media
represent specialized applications of communication theory (McGuire, 1989; Macdonald, 1992). Theoretical principles from other
fields (marketing, economics, social psychology, sociology, and
others) are also used to design public communication campaigns
Social Justice
71
that are effective in persuading people to modify their beliefs,
assumptions, and behaviors. For example, when seeking ways to
maximize the effectiveness of specific media messages, consideration of factors such as the message source, nature of message,
the target audience, and appropriate channel selection is likely to
be helpful.
Public information activities through the media usually involve efforts to persuade people to accept and act upon new
information and ideas. A subset of principles from communication theory, namely "diffusion of innovations," or "technology
transfer" is relevant to this purpose. Rogers (1983), one of the early
proponents of diffusion theory, has shown that new knowledge,
information or ideas can be effectively communicated to potential
users through a variety of channels. He regards the mass media
as particularly useful for introducing new information to specific audiences or influencing the beliefs and attitudes of persons
predisposed to accepting new ideas. An innovation, as the term
is used in this context, need not be a completely new idea or
product, but one which is new to members of a particular target
group and the adoption of which would involve new beliefs or
behaviors on their part. One example for our purposes would
be the communication of accurate information intended to bring
about changes in the target audiences' beliefs about their risk of
being a victim of violent crime. In letters to newspaper editors,
in guest editorials, on radio and television talk shows, and as
expert sources to print and broadcast journalists, social workers
and other advocates are taking the opportunity to provide accurate information (often new to viewing, listening, and reading
audiences) about the average citizen's actual risk of being a crime
victim, who the real victims are, and how to take sensible precautions against victimization.
Another useful theoretical model is "social marketing" (Manoff, 1985) which is an adaptation of the theory and practice of
marketing in the commercial world and involves processes "in
which marketing techniques and concepts are applied to social
issues and causes instead of products and services" (Lefebvre,
1992, p. 153). This approach, following marketing practices in the
business world, identifies the consumer (or target audience) as
the focus of the communication process (Manoff, 1985; Lefebvre,
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Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
1992). It draws upon communication and exchange theory and,
in planning specific public communication activities, pays particular attention to such factors as product (information or messages
intended to influence knowledge, beliefs, attitudes or behavior),
price (what the message recipient is willing to give up in exchange
for new beliefs or behavior), place (the channel(s) used to reach
the target audience), and promotion (how best to reach the audience with the intended message). Other important components
of mass communication efforts based on social marketing theory
include audience segmentation and the use of formative research.
Clarity about the target audience(s) to be reached and careful
study of audience characteristics and how best to reach and influence them "allows for a systematic approach to market coverage,
rather than relying on a 'shot-gun' approach to mass marketing in
which many groups, often those most in need of the message, are
missed" (Lefebvre, 1992, p. 159). This focus on audience characteristics and the corresponding effort to plan social and health communications that are sensitive to target audience needs, desires
and values rather than simply looking for ways to communicate
a particular message through the mass media is characteristic
of the social marketing model. Such an approach would involve
addressing the specific concerns about personal safety of older
persons, for example, when communicating information about
criminal justice issues.
Especially important for individuals or organizations seeking
to bring information about social issues to the attention of the media, the public and policy-makers is "social construction" theory.
According to this model, "... people use knowledge they obtain
from the media to construct a picture of the world, an image of
reality on which they then base their actions" (Surette, 1992:2). As
Best (1989) has noted, our sense of what is or is not a social problem, has been produced or constructed through social activities
and ".. .No condition is a social problem until someone considers it a social problem" (Best, 1989:xvii). A wide variety of people
(social activists, politicians, journalists) or "claims-makers," are
not only engaged in the process of alerting the public and policymakers to a situation that deserves public attention but are also
offering their own definition or "typification" of the problem and
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73
explicitly or implicitly suggesting how it should be addressed.
For instance, the problem of teenage pregnancy can be defined
as a consequence of poor family values, family breakdown, inadequate sex education, lack of access to contraceptive services,
delayed marriage, and any number of other causes, each with
its corresponding set of policy implications. Much of the debate
about these issues occurs in the media (Cook et al, 1983; Molotch,
Protess & Gordon, 1987).
There is substantial empirical research to support social construction theory (Reinarman and Levine, 1989; Best, 1989; Altheide and Snow, 1991) and its derivatives in relation to mass
media effects. For example, Albert (1989) notes that "the public's
contact with AIDS was largely through media images, and those
images served to inform the way the problem was conceived and
acted upon" (p. 52). Likewise, Rossi (1993) cites the role of the media in heightening public awareness, correcting misconceptions,
and prompting action on homelessness. Nelson (1984) documents
the indispensable contribution of the media to "making an issue
of child abuse" (p. 71). These and numerous other examples
of social constructionist research on the problem-definition and
agenda setting functions of the media not only provide support
for expanded use of the mass media in the human services but
also generate "guidelines for what works (and what does not),
and under what circumstances" (Best, 1989, p. 249).
A new theoretical explanation which seeks to apply problemdefinition and agenda-setting to the area of health promotion,
is what has been called "media advocacy" (Wallack, 1990a). This
model shifts the emphasis of mass-mediated messages away from
the dominant model that places almost total responsibility for
improved health and social functioning on the individual and
recognizes the environmental factors involved in many health
and social issues. Without diminishing individual responsibility,
it uses the mass media to highlight social-environmental problems such as poor access to quality health care, education, jobs,
adequate housing, transportation, etc., and brings them into the
public policy arena. Media messages promoting the development
of more adequate educational, employment, social and recreational opportunities for inner-city youth would be examples
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Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
of media advocacy efforts addressed to the problem of juvenile
delinquency. The efforts of Jay Bilchik, a U.S. Justice Department official, to educate the public through the media about
research-supported intervention strategies that reduce juvenile
delinquency clearly reflect this approach (Bilchik, 1997, p. B7).
"In their efforts to routinize the creation of news, news agencies
come to rely on standing social institutions from government and
business as sources of news. The news media favor these institutions
because their personnel can be cited as credible official sources and
they represent an easy means of getting news. From this reliance, a
cyclic pattern develops. The media and these institutions develop
a working relationship, each fulfilling organizational needs of the
other.. ." (Surette, 1992, p. 59).
Human service professionals and organizations are, therefore,
in an excellent position to communicate important messages to
the public while helping the media fulfill their public service
responsibilities to the communities in which they are located.
The above brief review can scarcely do justice to the large and
growing body of research literature on the results of public information efforts through the media. This literature is now yielding
useful compilations of principles and guidelines for persons who
wish to undertake such activities (see, for example, Atkin and
Wallack, 1990; Backer, Rogers and Sopory, 1992). In addition,
a range of publications produced by advocacy groups, media
organizations, and individuals offer guidance on how to work
effectively with the print and broadcast media (see for example,
Weiss, 1987; Duncan Rivlin and Williams, 1990; Brawley, 1995).
WORKING WITH THE MEDIA
In most communities, there are valuable sources of help in
identifying and working with the local media. These include the
local Chamber of Commerce, United Way, League of Women
Voters, Urban League, and the like, many of which maintain
directories that provide useful information about the personnel,
practices and requirements of local newspapers and broadcast
stations. Some of these organizations also sponsor workshops
for non-profit groups and organizations that want to develop
greater access to the local media. Another approach is to ask other
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75
local organizations or professionals who have more experience
or success in getting into print or on the air. The public relations
departments of local corporations are also potential sources of
help. Many maintain their own media directories and would be
willing to share these with you. However, "the best and most accurate media list is one you build and frequently update yourself"
(Duncan, Rivlin and Williams, 1990, p. 4).
This type of local media research is excellent preparation for
face-to-face meetings with newspaper editors, and reporters, and
radio and TV station personnel in which you describe your organization and issues and seek information about how best to work
effectively with a particular media outlet to ensure regular and accurate coverage. Personal contact of this kind is critical to success
in working with both print and broadcast media personnel.
If press or broadcast journalists can be helped to understand
the significance of the problems you are attempting to address
and your purposes in seeking their help in reaching a particular
audience or the community in general, and if you actively and
genuinely seek to enlist their collaboration (including their suggestions for the best approaches to the task) in what is essentially a
public information function, you are likely to develop a mutually
rewarding professional relationship and, gain the media access
that you need.
"Every day, even the smallest daily newspaper receives hundreds
of stories from around the world via various wire services and has
room for only a fraction of them. There is, however, a shortage of
good (and 'good' means appealing) local stories-stories about local
people, events, or issues that interest readers. The shortage stems
partly from overburdened local reporting staffs, but also because
advocates don't try to 'sell' their issues hard enough by making
clear their broad appeal" (Duncan, Rivlin and Lancaster, 1990, p. 8).
The people you will be working with, in newspapers and at
broadcast stations are likely to be operating under considerable
pressure. Frequently understaffed, overworked and constantly
struggling to meet deadlines, they seldom have the time to seek
out stories on human service issues. However, this does not
mean that these "channel gatekeepers"-to use a social marketing
term-are unwilling to cover these stories and this is where you
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Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
can help. By alerting print and broadcast journalists to current
interesting social issues or stories and providing detailed, accurate information and access to other reliable sources, you can be
a valuable resource to your media contacts and achieve greater
coverage for your cause or activities. For example:
"Hundreds of hours of free time on television and radio public affairs programs and cable systems can be used to educate the public,
raise money, alter attitudes and make a name for an organization.
The key to successfully pitching a story to a talk show producer
or guest coordinator is to mix timeliness with consumer interest"
(Weiss, 1987, p. 39).
Journalists, like human service professionals, are always
pressed for time and depend heavily on reliable and wellinformed sources for ideas and for information to complete their
assignments. If the human service professional can become an
established or trusted source for a journalist, a great deal of
valuable media access will eventually occur without inordinate
effort in your part.
While it is very useful to have established relationships with
press and broadcast personnel, occasions will arise when it is
appropriate to telephone print or broadcast journalists or editors
who do not know you in order to correct an inaccurate or biased
story or news report. If you present your statement in a helpful
rather than hostile manner, in the interests of accuracy or balance
rather than out of contentiousness or pique, you will make no enemies in the average newspaper, television or radio newsroom. You
may not get a retraction or correction in all cases, but minimally
you can expect that subsequent coverage of your organization or
of the same topic will be more accurate or will take your views
into account. As a result of your contacts with the newsroom, an
editor or station manager may decide that there are important
aspects of a topic or issue that warrant more detailed coverage
and assign a reporter to prepare a news story or feature article.
In some instances, an editor may offer to publish your statement as a letter to the editor. If you are clearly knowledgeable
about the topic or issue in question, you may even establish
yourself as a regular fact or opinion source to be contacted on
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77
future occasions as a particular story develops or similar stories
emerge.
While few can be expected to possess the skills of professional
journalists, there are certainly many social workers and other
advocates who have the skills necessary to write for their local
newspaper or community magazine. Given some basic competence in written expression, you need only adapt your writing to
the style and length requirements of the publication you have in
mind. If you can produce a letter to the editor, news release, or
article that is well written, if it is on a topic of community interest,
and if the paper or magazine thinks you are qualified to address
this topic, you have a reasonable chance of having it published. In
the case of letters or articles for the paper's opinion page(s), you
have a chance to express a particular point of view or advocate a
specific course of action; in other words, engage in claims-making
or other social construction activities. Indeed, you are expected
to do so.
Human service organizations and professionals also need to
consider the use of radio and television in their advocacy efforts.
The broadcast media are not only the most pervasive and most
powerful media of mass communication in the United States,
with enormous impact on individuals, families and communities,
but they are more accessible to local committed and resourceful individuals and groups than most realize. For example, any
non-profit organization that is committed to the improvement
of the community in such fields as health, welfare, education and
community service is entitled to have its public service announcements considered for airing by radio and television stations. Even
during the deregulatory 1980s when broadcasters were under less
pressure from the FCC to meet their public service obligations,
most continued to provide free spots to non-profit organizations.
They did this because they "found that public service is good for
business" and, besides, it "fills in the gaps of commercial minutes
not sold to advertisers" (Haese, 1987, p. 36).
News releases that are prepared for the print media can, of
course, also be sent to broadcast newsrooms and the personal
contacts that work well with newspaper editors and journalists are equally important and effective in developing effective
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Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
access to and cooperative relationships with television and radio
professionals.
Radio and television "talk-shows" that address a broad range
of social issues have mushroomed during the past decade and, especially at the local and regional levels, have a voracious appetite
for informed and articulate guests who can effectively address
current issues of public interest. The growth and impact have
been so striking that Newsweek made it a cover story (Fineman,
1993) and other major media outlets followed suit with their own
commentaries on or analyses of this phenomenon. The decidedly
conservative bias of many of the most popular talk shows and
the demagogic tone of some are matters of serious concern and
debate among media professionals but, nevertheless, there is ample opportunity for helping professionals to participate in public
discussion of serious issues, and to communicate important messages on the air.
Competing for guest spots on radio talk shows in particular
is a lot less difficult than the public or, indeed, most helping
professionals believe.
"In reality, most radio talk show schedules have huge holes in them.
Guests cancel all the time and hosts and producers are generally
frantic at least once a week. But they don't want you or the public
to know that. They would like the public to believe guests are
clamoring to get on the air. They also want to believe they, the hosts
and producers, select only the most thought-provoking and timely
guests" (Feurey, 1987, p. 33).
The challenge facing the human service organization is to
be familiar enough with local radio stations, their formats, their
talk shows, and their producers and hosts to capitalize on the
opportunities available.
Sanders and Gallagher (1985) have suggested that their colleagues in the social sciences would increase the effectiveness
of their media activities if they capitalized on their optimum
position in the media marketplace (p. 213). By this, they mean
that people in the social and behavioral science fields would be
more effective if they grasped and capitalized on their potential
for playing a significant role in the "soft news" rather than "hard
news" segments of the mass media. That is, they have a valuable
Social Justice
79
contribution to make to coverage of human interest, family, childrearing, aging and similar "complexes of interest" (Gans, 1980),
while they are less likely to be able to meet the "newsworthiness"
test of hard news stories about electoral politics, violent crime,
accidents, disasters, wars and the like.
Among the additional factors that make the area of soft news
a propitious area for human service professionals is the fact that
journalists who cover "soft news" beats such as health, mental
health, family issues and the like, are specialists rather than general assignment reporters. They are less constrained by the daily
deadlines that "hard news" journalists face and, therefore, able
to devote more time to understanding the complexities of human
service issues. Consequently, it is often possible for human service
professionals to develop long-term relationships with them that
can be conducive to continuing positive coverage (Sanders and
Gallagher, 1985, p. 213).
Encouraged by the evidence of what can be achieved or simply in response to pressing needs, increasing numbers of professionals are beginning to recognize and exploit the possibilities
that exist in most communities to work with the media to address
issues of civil rights and social justice (Brawley, 1995). By building
individual and organizational alliances and partnerships with
journalists, editors and television directors or producers, a wide
range of professional groups and individual academics and practitioners are beginning to take these opportunities. A few specific
examples will be described here.
The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) provides
guidelines to media professionals who are preparing materials
on mental illness, as do other mental health associations, among
them those of Northern Virginia and Northern California (Wahl,
1995:138-152). NAMI and some of its state charters also operate
"Stigma Clearinghouse" or "Media Watch" groups that stand
ready to identify and respond to inaccurate and unfair portrayals
of mental illness (pp. 144-151).
In response to strong membership support for expanded public information activities designed to interpret social workers,
their work, their clients, and important social issues to the public, the National Association of Social Workers has initiated a
number of media communication projects. These have included
80
Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
the production and distribution of a series of news releases and
television and radio public service spots providing important
information about homelessness, AIDS, child welfare, aging, and
mental health (Dworak-Peck and Battle, 1988; 1989). A large number of social workers have been recruited as volunteers to serve
as a permanent resource panel, whose members can be contacted
by media representatives on a wide range of social issues. In
addition, an advisory committee comprised of television, film
and entertainment industry executives and other professionals
has been formed to help NASW open up communication channels with major segments of the entertainment media so that
social workers, their clients, and important social issues will be
accurately depicted ("NCN Project is Building Relationship with
Media", 1989).
The work of national organizations such as the Children's
Defense Fund (CDF) is also noteworthy. The CDF has earned
enormous respect among policy-makers for its stance on issues
affecting the welfare of children and it has made effective use
of the media in advancing public understanding of the plight of
America's children and making the case for progressive family
and child welfare policies. It has produced a handbook for use
by other children's advocates who wish to communicate with the
public through the mass media (Duncan, Rivlin and Williams,
1990).
Individual helping professionals and academics also write
regularly for the print media. The following are a few unsystematically collected examples. John Rosemond, a family therapist
in private practice in North Carolina, writes a weekly column
with the title, "Family Matters" in which he not only gives useful perspectives on parenting and family relationships, but also
addresses policy issues that fall within his area of professional
competence (Rosemond, 1992, p. E8). Diane Jacobs, a doctoral
student in social work at Arizona State University, writes a regular
column on a wide range of social issues and civil rights matters
(Jacobs, 1997) and recently received an award from the Arizona
Press Women's Association for her exemplary efforts (Levy, 1998).
Christopher Johns, a Phoenix public defender, writes a bi-weekly
Social Justice
81
column on criminal justice issues in which he attempts to provide accurate information about adult and juvenile crime, the
workings of the justice system, and the societal context of crime
and delinquency (Johns, 1996; 1997). Others serve as regular expert sources for journalists preparing stories on specific social
issues (as the authors of this paper do), send letters to editors,
or write occasional opinion pieces for local, regional, or national
newspapers or magazines. Jill Bertelli, a medical social worker, recently wrote a passionate editorial article for a major metropolitan
newspaper, pointing out the human, social, and financial costs of
allowing mental health, gerontological and child welfare cases to
become emergencies before taking action (Bertelli, 1998, p. B7).
Similarly, Edward Ryle, a social worker and lobbyist for the local
catholic diocese, frequently voices his views on policies affecting
Arizona's most vulnerable populations in the editorial pages of
the same newspaper (Ryle, 1994, pp. C1, C3).
Other helping professionals and academics are taking their
message to the airways through appearances on radio and television public affairs programs (the authors of this paper do this
with some frequency), or, like social workers Steve Gorin and
Karen Herrick, host their own programs ("Social Workers In the
Public Eye," 1997; 1998). Adele Baydin, a member of the board of
the Arizona Civil Liberties Union, produces and hosts a weekly
television program called "Your Constitutional Rights" that is
aired on public access channels in Tucson, Arizona. It was recently
nominated for an award for cable broadcast excellence (AzCLU
of Cable TV, 1996).
Each of the above persons is providing what Gandy (1982)
has termed "information subsidies" to the media. These are the
public information materials and products that individuals and
organizations supply to the media that are designed to influence
the agenda-setting function of the media. They are called information subsidies because they reduce the cost of the information
for the media by saving them the time, effort, and cost of going
out and finding this information for themselves. In essence, public
information activities of this type are capitalizing on the business
orientation of the media rather than seeing it as a barrier to their
efforts to reach the public through the media.
82
Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
SUMMARY
There are clearly many opportunities for individuals, groups
and organizations interested in addressing issues of civil rights
and social justice to engage in productive public communication
activities through newspapers, radio and television. Principles
derived from diffusion of innovations, social marketing, media
advocacy, or social construction theory can aid professionals and
academics in understanding what is required. While it is true that
not all of us can be involved in media communication efforts, it
is equally certain that "some should and (that) all should support
attempts at responsible, accurate, balanced dissemination of information" (McCall, Gregory and Lonnborg, 1985:207). It is our
contention that public understanding of social justice issues can
be significantly enhanced by the appropriate use of the media.
Indeed, without the access to the public that only the mass media
can provide, we are unlikely to have much impact on the public's understanding of critical social justice civil rights issues and
appropriate responses to these issues.
The prospect of attempting to counter the inaccurate, incomplete and misleading information on crime, poverty, urban decay,
mental illness, minority affairs and other matters affecting civil
liberties, social justice and public policy may seem daunting to the
individual professional or academic, in light of the predominant
values and practices of the mass media. While the impact of individual efforts might quite limited, if numbers of concerned individuals, professional bodies and other organizations understood
and participated in the type media activities we have described,
the cumulative effect would be quite significant.
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