Your expertise, your patient stories, your passion: They all make up your voice. Your voice can be crucial to solving child health challenges. But at some point, you’ll want to turn your whisper into a roar — and the megaphone of media can help you out.
An effective advocacy strategy will engage the media and other mass communications platforms to increase awareness of your child health issue.
More awareness can lead to more allies and support for your issue — increasing pressure on key decision-makers to act. Also, because pediatricians are child health experts, media outlets can rely on your perspective when they cover topics that affect the health of children and their families.
When we refer to media here, we mean the full range of content you consume: anything from print-based publications (newspapers, newsletters, articles, flyers, or brochures) to Internet-based publications (websites, email lists, social networking sites, etc.) to television and radio.
Click on the sections below to learn more about different forms of media and how to use them to amplify your voice:
Earned Media
When you write an op-ed or letter to the editor in your state newspaper, you’re gaining earned media. It’s not material you paid for, but rather, media attention you earn and attract attention to your issue. Earned media is an opportunity both to generate urgency around your issue and to educate the public with accurate information.
Social Media
Social media platforms are vehicles with which pediatricians can amplify patient stories and compelling advocacy messages on a wider scale, allowing pediatricians to become influential voices and thought leaders on critical issues.
An op-ed or media article published by a newspaper only reaches the individuals who read that specific newspaper. But by sharing the op-ed on social media, the audience grows exponentially and can include the specific audience that you are trying to reach.
Media Interviews
As a pediatrician, you’ve spent a lot of time in exam rooms explaining — and humanizing — complicated health topics. You know how to illustrate big-picture health policies and the ways they affect children and families.
This also makes you a perfect source for media interviews. Serving as a source or spokesperson on a particular child health topic is a powerful way to spread awareness of an issue and urge viewers to act.
The AAP Is Here to Help
The AAP media team is here to support you! Whether you are interested in writing an op-ed to your local newspaper or received a request from a reporter on a timely child health issue, the communications and advocacy professionals at AAP can offer advice and guidance. Reach the team here.
Here are some ways to learn more and get involved:
- Learn more about the AAP Council on Communications and Media, which focuses on media-related issues and how they relate to children's overall health and well-being
- Sign up to become a #tweetiatrician and receive regular social media advocacy opportunities from the Academy
- Connect with your AAP chapter to learn about any media opportunities at the state level
- Learn more about media training, becoming a spokesperson, and preparing for media interviews by filling out this contact form.
And remember: You’re the only person who can raise your voice. But you’re never speaking out alone.
Last Updated
09/28/2022
Source
American Academy of Pediatrics