Making the Media Work for You: A Guide for Civil Society Organisations

Intended for civil society organisation (CSO) communicators, this European Journalism Centre (EJC) resource provides practical, cost-effective strategies for organisations that seek to raise and maintain their visibility and impact both in the real and virtual worlds. It also tackles some of the misconceptions found between journalists and civil society organisations.

The content is designed to be "multi-faceted and accessible: from hyper-local strategies like initiating and maintaining relationships with local journalists to organising social media fueled national campaigns, the Guide's authors never stray far from the reality of limited communication resources that beset many civil society organisations - where media outreach can often be an afterthought rather than a priority." The guide, which includes real-world experiences from journalists, non-government and governmental entities, and campaigners, begins with a foreword and introduction and then explores:

• Understanding the news media
• Understanding social media
• Communicating through news media: press releases, press conferences, and interviews
• Communicating through social media: Twitter, Facebook, blogging, and online strategy
• Managing your communications: developing media campaigns, crisis communications, and being a communications officer

For example, some pointers for CSOs communicating online in terms of ethics include:

• "Be accurate about what you write. Do not repeat, by re-tweeting or sharing, any information from other sources unless you know it to be correct or the source a completely reliable one."
• "Your organisation is legally liable for whatever it says online on its website, Facebook pages or Twitter account. The difference between expressing a strong view and 'hate speech' or incitement, for example, can be slight. So be aware of the laws of the country you are operating in at all times. And avoid plagiarism. If you re-use material composed by others, be sure to credit them."
• "It is tempting to simply copy and paste good-quality images which match your purposes onto your site. But watch out for copyright and, more important, check that the image is real and not a fake, enhanced or distorted by photoshopping, or simply from a different place and at a different time. Reporting of conflicts in Syria and Ukraine has been bedeviled by attempts to use faked images to prove a propaganda point."
• "Always operate openly, disclosing who you are and which organisation you represent. This lends credibility to your online presence. It also makes people more likely to have real interaction with you."
• "The internet is a public space. Everything published there by your organisation or anyone connected overtly to your organisation has to live up to the public profile you need. So any display of prejudice, any abuse, or any other behaviour you would consider inappropriate has to be kept offline."

Part of the EJC's five-year Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs sponsored project Press Freedom 2.0, Making the Media Work for You is a collaborative effort of the consortium partners led by EJC which includes Free Press Unlimited, World Press Photo, Mensen met een Missie, and the European Partnership for Democracy. The Guide is based on the collective experiences of media strategy capacity building initiatives in Bolivia, Georgia, Kenya, and South Africa.