A Call to Gain Back Ground in the M

[Aimee Houghton <aimeeh@igc.org>]

This is an email message sent to me via Ross Vincent. As Ross states, big battles are taking place every day in the news media. An expanded presence there would serve everyone well. --Aimee Houghton

 TO: Anyone Who Cares About What's Happening

 FROM: Ross Vincent, Chair
 Environmental Quality Strategy Team

SUBJECT: Remembering How To Win (with a little help from a friend)

I am attaching an important memo I received recently from Brian Andreja,
Environmental Justice Chair for the Rocky Mountain Chapter. I hope you
will read it and act accordingly.

In his memo, Brian vents his frustrations (as all of us are doing these
days) about what is happening in DC and in our state legislature, but he
takes it an important step farther. He talks about what he -- personal-
ly -- plans to do about it, and I think he is right on target.

His target is the news media. And he is absolutely correct. Brian's
memo has forced me to remember a lesson I learned 20 years ago -- and
used to preach to grassroots activists at every possible opportunity.

Virtually all of the most important environmental battles are won or lost
in the news media -- not in the Congress, not in the courts, not in state
legislatures or in face-to-face meetings with public officials and power
brokers. Those are the places where the final steps in any campaign are
played out, but the real battle takes place in newspapers and the
electronic media (a much larger battle ground these days, as Brian points
out) -- and that is where we are losing the War on the Environment, not in
the Washington.

We made the progress we did in the '70s and '80s, not because we per-
suaded public officials we were right, but because we persuaded their
constituents we were right. We reached them in their living rooms,
across backyard fences, in their churches, and even their automobiles.
We told them what the problems were and what it would take to fix them.
We were right, we were convincing, and they responded.

We have lost our edge in that arena and I, for one, am prepared to join
with Brian and anyone else who is ready to help get it back.

I owe Brian a great deal for reminding me of this fundamental reality.
I hope that you will read his message and take it to heart.

--------------
NOTE: If you would like to correspond with Brian, his mailing address
and phone number are in the attached memo. His email address is:

 brian.andreja@rmc.sierraclub.org.

cc: ROSS VINCENT, MARK COLLIER, HEIDI ARBURY

 TO: Ross Vincent, Environmental Quality Strategy Team
FROM: Brian Andreja, Rocky Mountain Chapter
DATE: 4/5/95
 RE: Alternate Media Strategies

NOTE: I've sent you a few messages regarding what appeared
to be a slow response to our new anti-environmental Congress.
I have to apologize, because I know you and many others
have been working on these subjects. From the local level,
that effort is just beginning to be felt.

The following is an attempt to express my concerns more
fully. They come from recent experiences with Sierra Club
volunteers and staff attempting to get media coverage.

Please feel free to sit on it or forward it to others
that may be interested.

******************************************************

During the last decade, the wise-use movement, far right
and polluters have perfected the use of "think tanks", "public
policy institutes" and professional PR firms to capture the
media and promote their point of view. Because the Sierra
Club depends upon traditional media relation strategies, we
have had our advantage of popular support muted and
nullified.

In the Denver area, both major newspapers pay the
Independence Institute and the Mountain States Legal
Foundation for editorials that are both poorly documented
and decidedly anti-environmental. PR firms like
MGA/Thompson build relationships and feed information
to editors on behalf of companies like Martin-Marietta,
ASARCO, Coors and Shell.

Just recently it was publicized that major news organizations
(e.g., Knight-Ridder) were being co-opted into an anti-
environmental coalition by the paper industry.

Sierra Club news releases have little chance of competing
with this kind of power and influence. While still using
traditional media strategies, we must begin to develop and
utilize new strategies that delivers our message to the
public.

First some background. As a Sierra Club volunteer, working
at the group and chapter level, I have been frustrated by the
lack of an aggressive and effective media relations program.
I've learned that the only way to get Sierra Club issues into
print, or on the air, is to do it myself, by the seat-of-my-pants.

With the help of an IBM 386 clone, Windows and a 14.4
fax/modem, I've been able to quickly produce high quality
faxes with graphics that can be broadcast to either a wide-
range or narrowly defined group of media organizations.

I don't limit myself to Sierra Club activities. I grab
everything I can from Internet newsgroups and mailing lists
and provide local reporters with news that they are unlikely
to get anywhere else. In one instance, a reporter told me that
he gets at least half of his stories from my faxes. I always
include the original credits, and most often it's that of
Greenpeace, Rachel's Health and Environmental Weekly or
various citizens' groups.

The reporters appreciate that I seem to be interested in
helping them doing their jobs as opposed to just promoting
the Sierra Club. They also appreciate getting information
quickly.

Although this doesn't go as far as our opposition, it does
help counter-act their influence and get our views out to the
public much more often than traditional methods.

The reality is that on the local level, Sierra Club media
contacts are few and far between, with news releases done
too late and with no follow-up.

Following are only a few suggestions that the leadership of
the Sierra Club should explore as we begin to adapt to a
new era.

1 - TURN STAFF AND VOLUNTEERS INTO REPORTERS
News releases are written for reporters and editors. Even if
we do everything by the numbers, we're at the mercy of the
politics of the publishers and editors. For years, Greenpeace
has been writing their own stories and getting them on the
Internet and other alternative sources of information. If a
local newspaper doesn't cover a Sierra Club event, then we
can write our own "news" and get it to the public through
other media outlets and alternative information networks.

2 - DEVELOP AN IN-HOUSE "NEWS SERVICE"
All to often, information doesn't make it to the local level,
internally or externally. The Sierra Club News Service
would write stories for reprint in group and chapter
newsletters and distribution to local media. Ready-to-go,
pre-packaged reports of a Sierra Club news conference,
protest or statement (or even the report on the odious action
of the congress, government agency, corporation or wise-
use group) could get many times the coverage if it's
distributed quickly to staff and volunteers that can
effectively distribute it to a wider audience. In essence, we
have to become our own combination PR firm, think tank
and news publisher.

3 - ONE MORE TIME. GET THE INFORMATION TO THE GRASSROOTS!
Although CCMail, Internet and chapter BBS's help, all too
often, important information goes to a staff or volunteer...
and sits there.

We need a network of techno-enviros that are motivated to
download, reformat, add graphics, upload, fax and follow-
up on environmental news and viewpoints. If it goes to
someone who doesn't use it, then we're going to keep on
losing the media battle. If we're going to take on big money
and big influence, we have to work smart, efficient and
effective.

As a mainstream, grassroots environmental organization, we
don't have the luxury of sitting on our rhetorical laurels
while Corporate America runs over us. If we were ever
really on the "inside", we certainly are not now and need to
act accordingly. We have the tactical advantage of numbers,
speed and flexibility (we might need work on those last two).
We need to utilize those strengths in the same way our
opponents did when they were supposedly on the "outside".

Pardon the dramatic rhetoric, but I sense that beyond
structural reorganization, we need to adapt our tactics and
strategies to the new world that jumped-up and bit us in the
posterior.

I also recognize that many people have been working hard,
discussing similar, maybe even the same ideas. If so, let my
voice be one more to encourage the effort.

Regards,
Brian Andreja
P.O. Box 4759
Boulder, CO 80306
(303) 581-0774