Eleven Ways to Boost Your Work with News Media: How You Can Help the Media Report Prevention of Violence against Women

Developed by Domestic Violence Victoria (DV Vic), Melbourne, Australia, in partnership with the EVA Media Action Group, this practical guide for violence-against-women practitioners is focused on strategic prevention messaging and work with media. The guide seeks to increase the capacity of practitioners to work with and provide plain language prevention messages to news media. It includes discussion and tips on working with media on prevention of violence against women (PVAW), as well as suggested critical PVAW themes, messaging content, and key statistics that can assist communications with the media and encourage the inclusion of prevention messages in news stories.

As explained here, strategic prevention messaging refers to work that includes a focus on primary PVAW content on what causes and underpins VAW and how we can prevent it, and which is undertaken in a collaborative and united way. Primary PVAW refers to activities and interventions that seek to prevent violence before it occurs. Evidence shows that one of the most significant causes of VAW is the inequality of power and status between men and women. This includes structural gender inequalities in society, as well as embedded social attitudes and norms about women's value and place in society. Prevention work with the media involves moving away from focusing solely on incidents or individuals, even when media are pushing for such a focus, and integrating messages and information on gender inequality and its central role as a driver of VAW, as well as the influential role of other factors such as alcohol (see Quick Reference Supplement 1 for further details).

"Working more effectively with the media industry requires developing skills that include knowledge of the media industry and its business requirements, being responsive to media agendas and requests, providing accessible content, and finding proactive ways to build news interest and nuance in the reporting of PVAW. Working with the media also requires an understanding that media professionals are part of the wider community, they are exposed to the same myths and misunderstandings about PVAW, and they may have had personal experience of discrimination and/or violence that shape their personal response to the issue."

Following an introduction to the resource, the guide includes:

1. Plan for your organisational capacity - Ways to manage your own and your organisation's capacity to work with media on PVAW
2. Recognise the complexity of PVAW work - Considerations on the complexity of PVAW as a topic and specialised field of work
3. Know some media industry basics - Some of key structures of media outlets that influence how news is produced and which can inform your interactions with media, including media workplace hierarchies and roles, media type, style, and audience
4. Be responsive to news immediacy and deadlines - The effect of news immediacy, pressures and timelines on media needs and capacity to report PVAW, and ways we can support effective reporting within this environment
5. Prepare tailored PVAW messages for all communications (including tricky questions) - Information on developing, using and building key messages into your communications, keeping a primary prevention focus, tailoring to your audience, and answering difficult questions
6. Keep key statistics at hand - Tips for using statistics effectively
7. Be responsive to media requests for personal stories - Thoughts and suggestions for addressing media requests for fresh, personal stories from women who have experienced violence
8. Know some basics about giving comment or media interviews - Tips on giving interviews, providing comment and staying on message with your key PVAW message
9. Build the newsworthiness of your content - Ways that you can increase the perceived newsworthiness of PVAW information and comments
10. Build media trust and commitment to PVAW - Ways to build media trust in you as a source, your information, and the validity of PVAW as a key community issue
11. Work with media and communications staff - Ideas for fostering relationships and effective collaboration

• Quick Reference Supplement 1: Critical themes and concepts for PVAW messaging - Three critical themes and further concepts to focus your PVAW communications with media and to support development of your own tailored PVAW messages
• Quick Reference Supplement 2: Useful statistics and evidence on VAW - Selected statistics and evidence on violence against women and its prevention
• Quick Reference Supplement 3: Characteristics of key messages - Further information on the characteristics of key messages, to support development and tailoring
• Quick Reference Supplement 4: Further Resources - Resources for further statistics and factsheets on VAW and its prevention, and media information
• Quick Reference Supplement 5: Glossary - Definitions on gender and forms of violence against women