Spreading the
Word:
An Activists' Guide on How to
Work with the Mainstream Media
The upcoming rally and the massive
nonviolent civil resistance actions from November 16 – 19,
2001 are part of an uncompromising campaign to shut down the SOA
and to change corrupt and oppressive US foreign policy. We are
all going to Fort Benning to stay in solidarity with our sisters
and brothers throughout Latin America and to speak for those
who's voices have been silenced by graduates of the school. We
are also going to Georgia to take our message of social justice
and the refusal to be a silent accomplice directly to the US
public. To do that many of us will utilize the mainstream media.
SOA Watch is setting up press conferences beforehand and during
the rally in Georgia. This sort of national media attention is
crucial to reaching the national consciousness. But media work on
a local level is also essential. And so we're hoping that you
will want to take on the responsibility of broadcasting the SOA
Watch message to your community through your local press. This
media how-to guide is designed to assist you in this task.
Many local reporters and editors, especially in small towns and
tiny cities, want to approach the issues of the School of the
Americas through the eyes of local activists. It's difficult for
reporters in small communities to tackle the SOA without a local
hook, and your organizing efforts are it. For community
newspapers and small radio stations the story is this: "Why
is Anytown resident dedicating all this energy and effort to a
military training school for Latin American soldiers in
Georgia?" The sample press release is catered to that story
line as a suggested pitch for your local press. This strategy has
proven to work, and we expect you can use it to generate radio
show appearances, newspaper features, and television interviews.
This guide offers tools for a complete press blitz. It includes
more than a dozen one-page primers on everything from how to
write a letter to the editor or an opinion essay to the
difference between a press release and a press advisory to how to
stage a media event or conduct a radio interview.
This packet is designed to help you "spin" your
organizing to your local media, but it can also be used to help
train local activists on messaging and interviews. Set up media
trainings for your group.
Of course you can do as little or as much media work as you like.
If you have the time, write an opinion essay for your local
newspaper, try to arrange a radio interview, place a news feature
in your local "newspaper of record," and hound every
reporter and editor in your community. But naturally it's up to
you.
Regardless of how much media work you are able to undertake, the
central strategy of an effective publicity strategy is the
same—repetition, repetition, repetition. This means
aggressively faxing and calling reporters. More important, it
means getting the message you want—and only the message you
want—out there. Make sure that every reporter or editor you
talk to knows why thousands of people are going to Fort Benning,
Georgia to protest the School of the Americas. No matter what
question a reporter asks you, you want to always come back to the
same central point— the violence against the people in Latin
America and the School of the Americas.
If you have any questions about developing a media strategy in your area, or simply want to bounce around some ideas, don't hesitate to contact the SOA Watch offices in Washington DC (202-234-3440) or in Philadelphia (215-473-2162).
Sample Letter to the Editor:
Dear Editor:
On November 16 – 18, 2001 I will participate in a vigil and
protest in Fort Benning, Georgia, to call for the closing of the
School of the Americas (recently renamed the Western Hemisphere
Institute for Security Cooperation). Among those who will
participate are ministers, priests, nuns, veterans, teachers, and
students from across the country. Last year, 10,000 people
participated in the vigil, and more than 3,400 risked arrest by
participating in a solemn funeral procession and autonomous
affinity group actions on the base at Fort Benning. The vigil and
the actions are staying in solidarity with the people of Latin
America who continue to suffer and die at the hands of graduates
of the SOA.
The School of the Americas/WHISC, dubbed "School of
Assassins" has trained nearly 60,000 Latin American soldiers
in combat skills and psychological warfare. In 1996, the Pentagon
was forced to admit that the SOA used training manuals that
advocate torture, false imprisonment, execution and black mail.
Many of the graduates return home and use these skills to murder,
rape, and massacre their own people. They especially target
educators, religious and labor leaders. Whenever a major human
rights report about Latin America is published, SOA graduates are
among those cited for the most horrific abuses, including the El
Mozote massacre of 900 civilians in El Salvador, the
assassination of the six Jesuits and their co-workers, the low
intensity warfare campaigns against the civilian indigenous
people in Guatemala and Chiapas and recent massacres in Colombia.
Earlier this year, the Pentagon changed the Schools name to
Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation in order to
disassociate the SOA from it's murderous past. However, it is
still the same military training school, responsible for current
atrocities throughout Latin America. A bi-partisan bill (HR 1810)
got introduced to Congress in May, calling for the closure of the
SOA and the creation of a congressional task force to investigate
the connections between the US military training at the SOA and
human rights abuses in Latin America.
The Pentagon is mounting a huge PR campaign to keep the SOA open
because it is their way of controlling Latin America. Because of
the documentation of atrocities by SOA graduates by human rights
groups in Latin America, who are putting their bodies on the line
every day and the grassroots pressure from US activists, the
Pentagon had to engage in this hideous name change maneuver. It
will be the same power of the people who refuse to be silent
accomplices that will close the SOA for good and bring change to
the corrupt and oppressive US foreign policy.
To learn more about the SOA and the effort to close it, visit
www.soaw.org or call 202- 234-3440; for photos of various SOA
Watch vigils and civil resistance actions visit www.soaw-ne.org.
Sincerely,
(Your Name and Address)
(*Sorry, the web links are still under construction...)
Downloadable Word Files: *View the Web Version:
Other Tools for Effective Outreach:
Thanks to the folks from the A16 Media Group who compiled the majority of the information in this guide.