From campaigns to limit media consolidation to efforts to preserve net neutrality and expand community radio, grassroots activists around the country are winning victories in support of media reform and media justice. Yet media activists can still struggle to make their concerns understood by the average media consumer.

Now the SPIN Project presents Whose Media? Our Media! Strategic Communications Tools to Reform, Reclaim and Revolutionize the Media.

Packed with tips, analyses and best practices, Whose Media? Our Media! shows activists how to employ the tools of strategic communications – planning, framing, messaging, and creative campaign tactics -- to shape public opinion in favor of a democratic media system. Download the toolkit below and start planning how to use the media to reform the media.

Whose Media? Our Media! is funded by a grant from the Ford Foundation's Knowledge, Creativity & Freedom Program.  If you are a member of an organization that works for media reform or media justice, you are eligible to receive a free copy of this kit. If you would like a copy of this kit but do not fit the above criteria, you may order the kit for $15.00 (includes shipping and handling). Please contact the SPIN Project to order.

Contents

• Download entire toolkit [Download PDF (1.8 MB)]

• Introduction and About SPIN [Download PDF (44 kb)]
• Table of Contents [Download PDF (44 kb)]
• Section One: Preparing for Change: The Importance of Strategic Communications Planning [Download PDF (472 kb)]
• Section Two: Shaping the Story: Using Framing, Messaging and Storytelling to Tell Your Truth [Download PDF (212 kb)]
• Section Three: Moving Your Message: Tools and Tactics for Being Heard [Download PDF (296 kb)]
• Section Four: Plugging People In: New Media Tactics to Enhance Collaboration and Participation [Download PDF (316 kb)]
• Section Five: Broadening Your Reach: Critical Constituencies to Consider [Download PDF (560 kb)]
• Conclusion, Acknowledgements and Resources [Download PDF (52 kb)]

For more web-only content (coming soon), visit the SPIN Project site, where you'll find the following great additional resources: 

• Tips on building your media list and developing a media outreach timeline
• Tips on sending your press release
• Sample pitch script from MoveOn.org Civic Action
• Tips on staging media events and prepping spokespeople
• Flyer from Free Press to help folks prepare FCC testimony
• Case Study: Digital Inclusion: Overcoming 21st Century Segregation, by Josh Seidenfeld
• References to materials used in article by Seeta Peña Ganghadaran