Strategic Communications Consulting for Media Reform and Media Justice

The challenges of shifting public opinion and policy in directions that will result in freer, more diverse and more local media are immense.  So is the ingenuity, inventiveness and conviction of the activists, artists, attorneys and scholars who are part of the national movement to reshape the rules that determine what we see, hear and read in media. Beyond the civil right of individuals to speak freely, these advocates promote a broader cultural right to be heard, and the social right to access to information.   Many of these advocates are motivated by the belief that our national dialog is made richer by the presence of voices concerned with human rights.

What does The SPIN Project offer?
With a ten-year track record as a communications resource for progressive organizations across the country, The SPIN Project is engaged in a new initiative to provide consulting services to grassroots activists, policy advocates and university-based researchers in the realms of media reform and media justice. The project is made possible by a two-year grant from the Ford Foundation’s Knowledge, Creativity & Freedom Program. 
The objectives are as follows:

• To improve the framing, messages and communications strategies used to promote the public interest in relation to media content and information policymaking;

• To raise the visibility of scholarly research that documents problems with mass media, such as harm related to racial and gender bias and need for ethnic diversity in media ownership, among many other concerns;

• To build the capacity of advocacy organizations to communicate effectively with grantmakers, policymakers, and advocates in other social movements;

• To strengthen the communications infrastructure within, among and across organizations, coalitions, and movements working in the spheres known as media justice and media reform. 

• Communications audits to examine communications infrastructure, messaging content and organizational capacity; 

• Communications strategy development on how to handle media relations, develop targeted messages, create press releases and press kits, and develop a comprehensive communications plan.

• Communications coaching to provide regular coaching and strategizing on grassroots campaigns, communications issues, opportunities and questions as they arise.

• Translate complexity into accessible language

• Partner with coalitions and alliances comprised of local and/or national advocates;

• Communicate effectively and proactively with reporters and editors during key policy windows;