1. The Role of the Media in advocating for SCGs/social protection in Uganda
Simon E. Omoding Communications Manager, ESP

2. Introduction & Background
The Purpose of the Presentation: To clarify the role of the media in advocating for the SCGs & to discuss how to strategically engage the media for impact (approaches & message)
Scheme:
The Presentation will attempt to;
Define who the media is- in the Ugandan context
Explain how the media works for advocacy
What drives the media: The psychology of the media-news value
How to strategically engage with the media
Approaches of engaging with the media
Messaging SCGs/social protection for desired impact

3. Background: Who/what is the media
“Media” is the plural of “medium” i.e (a) channels through which something is conveyed
In our context sometimes, we use it to mean the journalists- the people in the press
Sometimes we use “media” to mean both the “messengers” and the “channels”
For purposes of strategic communication & advocacy, “media” =Journalist e.g reporter, talk show host, columnist, editor, etc

4. Background: Who/What is the media in Uganda
Communication-and along with it channels- has evolved: inter-person, Non conventional media, mass media, social media
In Uganda: Proliferated media: Print/Newspaper(over 10), Radios (over 300), TV(over 10 terrestrial), now social media (blogs, facebook, Twitter, wikis, etc)
(The question is how do you target in such a multi-media environment?)

5. How the media works for SCG/SP advocacy
The primary objective of our advocacy that media contributes to is: Increased awareness, popularity and demand for specific, comprehensive social protection interventions from the Government of Uganda in districts that are currently not benefiting from the SAGE program
Media gives issues presence, amplifies
Media gives issues urgency, critical-massing
Media gives issues currency, in-thingness
Media gives issues Proximity, relevance to the audience
Media gives issues pressure, demand for action e.g child sacrifice stories, tear-gassing children in Kenya
Media gives issues influence & control thru information/knowledge, e.g Ongwen abduction story
Media gives issues emotion (moves from head to heart, “touching”
The challenge therefore is to exploit the potential of the media to achieve these benefits, thereby achieving the objectives

6. What drives the media/Psychology of the media
The media is essentially driven by “NEWS VALUE”; if you give news value, you can be sure to hit the big story. So what is “News Value”? It is about:
Impact: Who does your issue affect? Why is it important anyway? The bigger the number of people affected the better; how does your story impact, who does it impact. Hence show the media that your story has big impact to their target audiences e.g 93% of older persons have no pension; social protection is about all of us, how does it affect me
Timeliness: The more recent the more timely, something that happened weeks ago, is not news, unless, its “scoop”; plan to get the big story out as soon as it happens; don’t postponed news, news is hot, ESP as a matter of practice never had a public/media event after Thursday
Prominence: The bigger the person in the news, the bigger, better the story; the President, MP, LCV Chairperson, big NGO boss, ….a person who the media doesn’t recognise pales the story. E.g ESP has used the biggest politicians for “launches” President, VP, Prime Ministers, Ministers, etc
Proximity: Nearness to the media consumers; is it happening in our parish, district, country, areas of interest? It is affecting us or if left unattended it will affect us,

7. …What drives the media/Psychology of the media
Human interest: Of interest to human nature; not some far removed thing from humanity; how does it affect humanity; dignity, stories of people who once were in high places now beginning for survival, dry topics
Bizarre: Man bite dog; it should not be anything ordinary; say something new; how new is what you are saying to the media. Media is looking for news (what is new, never old stories, trick is to create a new story for them everytime)
Conflict: Media is always looking for conflict, contradictions, contrary views. If the official position is poverty has come down from 52% to 19.7%, give them how many keep coming in and out of poverty and that’s a big story;

8. How do we strategically & constructively engage the media
Know the media we are dealing with; Profile the media; National/district, commercial or community? vernacular/English? One story might be better for one media house and not good for another; New Vision or Monitor? Sometimes we go to radio stations without a slightest idea what we are going to discuss
Know the opportunities available in the media: News avenues, features avenues, commentary avenues, talk shows, comment/view point,
Have a strategic plan to engage the media: e.g around international/national/district days, etc
Simplify things for the media: The media has no time to digest technical things; break down the big issues to easy and simple language, avoid
Give the media a new story every time: Media want news, not old stories; angling the story, bending the story
Give the media the story you want them to carry: Give a bend, angle, you want them to take; don’t depend on them to come and get their story from; good journalists will of course choose their own story, but not journalists will not

9. Some Unique opportunities for civil society for leveraging the media
Credibility; Media thinks that civil society unlike Government pursue the interest of the people; governments run by politicians are for personal gain; civil society is believed more than Government
Analysis/research: Media believe civil society always has better, more credible analysis, research, facts than government ; government data is always manipulated for political reasons
Civil society as fearless before Government: Media believes civil society can confront government on any issue, without fear or favour , as long as they have the facts
Civil society has catchy, media ready packaging of information; while Government is thought to provide bland boring information, spin

10. Key messages in media engagement
Key messages are critical for engagement; they articulate what you stand for, how different you are from others, how you want to be seen/understood; without key messages, your position/stand/location is unclear
Key messages are top of the mind, analytical conclusion statements; they are take aways from elaborate, rigorous analysis e.g “social protection is affordable for Uganda” or “social protection is today recognised as a good strategy to ensure inclusive development” etc
A key/guide to arriving at key messages is, “If you met your elusive target audience e.g the President in alift and you have 3 minutes to tell him what you have been advocating for, what are the top 3 things you would say to him”? Those are the key messages. If however you have not thought about them clearly, you jumble them up
Key messages communicate nuances and give the target audience the bend/perspective of things we would like them to see from e.g the senior citizens grants help older persons to restart income generating activities hence further enhancing their income security. Nuance: we don’t want SCGs to be seen just as for consumption by older persons, but production

11. ESP Key Messages on SCGs/SP
Aimed at addressing the key knowledge/understanding issues about SCG/SP
What is Social Protection?
What does it uniquely bring to Uganda's development agenda?
What are the benefits?
Why does Uganda need Social protection?
Why social protection & cash transfers at this juncture?
Cost affordability issues, etc?

12. So what role should civil society play in SCG/SP advocacy?
Civil society is seen in Uganda as:
Watch dog over Government/society values, commitments,
Champion of the disadvantaged, vulnerable, excluded,
Representative/Empowerer of the voiceless, defence- less
Expert on issues bringing onto the table unique knowledge, experiences, views to shape policy, strategy, proposing solutions, etc from other parts of the world
Standards, norms observer, pacesetter to shape activity of the state, private sector, etc
Champion of citizens participation, engagement,

13. Civil society key messages
Therefore need to reflect those values for which civil society is uniquely identified with; watch dog, representative of the voiceless, bringing in analysis, etc

14. Comments, questions, welcome
THANK YOU
Comments, questions, welcome