Principles: do the media’s work for them, brand or be branded, make your actions both concrete and communicative

New principle: Spend your energy wisely

Case study:

            Planned Parenthood as an organization is split into two parts; they both provide health services for women, including abortion, and advocate for women’s rights and health care issues. Because of the work that Planned Parenthood does, in particular providing abortion services, they have become the target of many socially conservative organizations. These organizations actively seek to “defund” Planned Parenthood. There is a lot of confusion as to what this actually means. Defunding Planned Parenthood refers to when legislators pass laws that prohibit Medicaid users from using their coverage at Planned Parenthood facilities. In doing so, Planned Parenthood loses a large amount of funding, as much of their revenue comes in the form of government reimbursement for Medicaid patients. In order to organize against such action, Planned Parenthood relies first on fact checking information and second on disengaging with organizations that are uninterested in providing accurate information.

            In the past few years, conservative groups have been actively attempting to defund Planned Parenthood. As Planned Parenthood approached their 100^th year anniversary in October of 2016, they decided to host massive events over the course of the year to draw attention to their organization and their story. The goal of this year-long parade of festivities was to take the power back into their own hands and control their narrative. For too long, conservative groups across the nation had too much influence and control over how the public views Planned Parenthood and interprets the work that they do. Planned Parenthood locations around the nation hosted events and conducted information campaigns in what Whitney Philips, a strategic communicator for Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, called “total advocacy.” This year long initiative was created though the total devotion to campaigns correcting the rampant misinformation that existed in the public consciousness about Planned Parenthood.

            In Colorado, this centennial celebration was especially significant as the events and information campaigns coincided with an effort from Colorado lobbyists to introduce legislation to defund (or deny Medicaid patients access to) Planned Parenthood. Because Planned Parenthood organizers had done such a good job organizing their supporters and creating pervasive information campaigns they were able to galvanize the population to support this organization against hostile legislation. By focusing their energy, they were able to communicate their efforts to the legislature to make them understand how unpopular the bill was. They targeted people who did not already have their mind made up, and persuaded them to support the organization. In the end, the bill was not even voted on because of how successful Planned Parenthood had been in their mission.

            Because of the fierce opposition Planned Parenthood inspires, there is a huge body of misinformation that exists about them. To combat this, Planned Parenthood relies first on a constant preparedness to fact check. Strategic communicators, like Whitney Philips, and other employees make themselves available to journalists and others seeking information. The goal of Planned Parenthood in this arena is to provide that information and correct false assumptions firmly, but politely. Although it is important to fact check responsible journalists, it can be unproductive and unhelpful to waste time attempting to correct misconceptions from larger, right-wing media organizations. They often do not seek the correct or factual information and may be resistant to attempts to provide verifiable facts. It is often a waste of time and energy to engage with such groups.