Participants at a webinar on “Engaging the Media” have agreed that working with the media is a balancing act that requires tact and diplomacy. They also stressed the need to “cultivate the media” and get them involved in project activities from the beginning so that they can appreciate the results that emerge.
The webinar was part of the Simplifying Science for Policy and Practice Series under the Sustaining the African Health Initiative Community of Practice (AHI CoP) project, whose goal, among others, is to train the next generation of researchers to lead the search for innovative and sustainable health solutions that can be applied across Africa. Launched in 2007 with funding from the Doris Duke Foundation, the AHI CoP initiative is delivered through five Population Health Implementation and Training partnerships in Ghana, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zambia. The Sustaining the African Health Initiative Community of Practice (AHI CoP) project is an ongoing three-year project funded by the Doris Duke Foundation. It aims to support a vibrant community of implementation researchers, policymakers, and practitioners in strengthening primary healthcare systems. The AHI CoP project is being implemented by country teams in Ghana, Ethiopia, and Mozambique with strategic oversight from a global network of advisors. In Ghana, the project works with a cohort of mentees and early career researchers to provide them with the requisite skills to bridge the gap between research evidence and knowledge translation. The project regards the media as an indispensable partner in the quest to move health evidence into policy and practice.
Participants were taken through the development of a Press Release or News Release, organising a Press Conference, and conducting a Media Interview as three important strategies for engaging the media. Participants understood that engaging the media can happen at three levels: engaging the media as the prime target, the secondary target, or the tertiary target. “When you have interesting research evidence that you want to share with the media for the purpose of helping them to write good stories, then the media is your prime target”, explained the facilitator, Dr. Niagia Santuah, a trained journalist. He said that the media is a secondary target when the purpose of engagement is to get a message across to the prime target, say, the health minister. “However, when you need to reach citizens of a particular constituency so as to get them to influence their Member of Parliament on a piece of legislation, the media becomes a tertiary target”, he clarified. He cautioned that engaging the media is a double-edged sword, in the sense that, whereas it provides a unique opportunity to get your message out, it also creates an opening for you “to crucify yourself” because any misstep you take will likely be amplified by the media.
He admonished the participants that when it comes to honouring a media interview, the key to a successful encounter is to know your subject well, and “to prepare adequately to answer unanticipated questions”. He also stressed the need to “cultivate the media” and get them interested in what researchers do.
Questions from participants bordered on how to navigate the middle ground when journalists want a particular slant for a story that is at odds with the available evidence. The questions included the following:
- “How do you handle a situation during an interview when the journalist is trying to put words into your mouth, and all they are looking for is validation? To what extent can you please them and to what extent can you stand your ground while maintaining a cordial relationship with the media?”
- “How can the media be optimally leveraged for effective implementation of research communication uptake? At what point should the media be engaged?”
- “How can scientific research information be insulated against distortion by the media?”
- “Is it ethical to bias media invitations to events? Who should be included and who should not and why?”
- “What else can be done to ‘cultivate the media’ beyond building their capacity?”
The facilitator said that media outlets that are interested in the truth and will advance the cause of human health will publish scientific evidence, even if it does not align with their editorial policy. “When it comes to health, there is no margin for error”, he noted. “So, at all cost, avoid media outlets that tend to sensationalise information than report on facts.”
AHI CoP Ghana Team member, Dr. Pearl Kyei, noted that the questions from participants highlight the need “to sharpen the edges of our communication to make it poignant and persuasive.” She promised that the Project Secretariat would host another webinar in late October on the “Principles of Persuasive Communication”. She also pledged that the Ghana Team would discuss the feasibility of organising a capacity building training for selected media outlets on knowledge translation for improved health in the future.
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