CREATIVE IDEAS FOR MARKETING,
PUBLIC RELATIONS AND WORKING WITH THE MEDIA

Politics and the Media

A 30-year veteran of parks and recreation shares his views on the political bias of
the media and strategies for shaping your message

BY DAVID N. EMANUELSON

If a public parks and recreation agency expects to survive and prosper, its administrator and board members need to understand that public opinion is often an irresistible force in policy formulation, shaped in large part by the media.

Having been in the public parks and recreation sector for the past three decades, I have learned the power of the media in shaping public opinion. And, having been married to a member of the media for much of that time, I have come to learn to what extent the media is aware of its power in shaping public opinion.

" I have learned that news stories are not as much written as they are shaped." — David N. Emanuelson

I have learned that news stories are not as much written as they are shaped. I have learned that these shaped stories can either outrage or assure the public, whichever the reporter intends. I have learned that the media is biased, and how that bias can be used to our advantage.

For instance, it is common understanding among political conservatives that reporters have the tendency toward a literal political bias. This is not Rush Limbaugh telling you so. Liberal academics like Theodore J. Lowi and Benjamin Ginsberg agree that "the old argument that the media elites have a liberal bias is so blatantly true, it's hardly worth discussing anymore." It's a given.

To illustrate, Lowi and Ginsberg offer the Roper Center and Freedom Forum survey conducted in 1993, as evidence, the same survey frequently cited by Limbaugh. The Roper survey determined that 4 percent of the polled journalists reported that they were Republicans. The remaining 96 percent claimed affiliation with the Democratic Party, independents or splinter party groups.

The survey also assessed the voting preferences of journalists in the 1992 presidential election, the truest test of ideological affiliation. Fully 89 percent of them reported they voted for Bill Clinton, with only 7 percent claiming to have voted for George Bush.

This should be a good thing for us in parks and recreation. Parks and recreation has the reputation of being essentially a "Democratic interest group," so with reporters being Democrats and us being a democratic interest group, we should get good press.

Which is not to say that republicans do not support parks and recreation issues. For certain issues, such as tort reform, they are out biggest supporters. But when it comes to issues that involve local taxing powers or legislative funding for parks and recreation capital improvements, we generally can count on democrat support and have to work for republican support.

This helps us understand how the political bias of journalists can be reflected in the issues that they tend to support. For instance, if a park and recreation agency is seeking public

42¦ Illinois Parks and Recreation

MIXED MEDIA

"Another thing to keep in mind is that, while the reporters who write the stories tend to be democrats, it is likely that owners and publishers who write the editorials tend to be republicans." — David N. Emanuelson

support for a referendum for a swimming pool, for playgrounds, ball diamonds, or a community center serving low- income children's programs and senior citizen services, this should be fertile ground for positive new stories and photo opportunities written by democrat reporters.

On the other hand, if the agency is seeking public support for a referendum for construction of a new golf course serving upscale constituencies, the same reporters might question why this is being done at the expense of a swimming pool, playgrounds or a community center serving low-income programs. Even in the most republican suburbs, we might have to work for their support.

Working for support of the media means explaining things to diem, even though we know our explanation might not sit well. It also means building long-term relationships in order to benefit from them later. It means making friends with the media, knowing that people are more likely to take care of their friends.

This probably sounds easy, coming from a guy who was married to a woman who was the editor of a local weekly newspaper. I admit, it was relatively easy to win her over. On the other hand, it was a little harder to build relationships with competitors, considering that they might be aiding a competing newspaper by doing so.

Another thing to keep in mind is that, while the reporters who write the stories tend to be democrats, it is likely that owners and publishers who write the editorials tend to be republicans. It never hurts to work both sides of the street. If you want to have the good will of reporters, at least consider advancing the topics that conform with their political ideologies. If you want the good will of the owners and publishers, at least consider doing business with them. Try buying some advertising.

I learned that one the hard way. Once, when our park district was engaged in a rather bitter conflict with an interest group, we sat passively while the interest group bought ads from my wife's competing newspaper. You can imagine whose side the editorials of that newspaper took when the issue finally came to a head. One editorial was so brutal that even someone as thick-headed as me couldn't help but learn a lesson.

Today the DeKalb Park District spends about $20,000 on marketing and advertising, nearly all of it locally. The local newspaper prints our seasonal brochures.

We don't do it to manipulate the media. They're too smart for that. We do it to improve our relationship with them, which it does. We also do it because there are other obvious benefits of buying advertising. It allows us to deliver our message without filtering it through some journalists value system.

If your agency doesn't have the resources to purchase advertising, another way to get out your message it to write letters to the editor. While letters to the editor may not have the same impact as advertising, you might be surprised how many people read them when they come from public officials.

A word of warning would be that the biggest danger with letters to the editor is that they can backfire on you if they are not airtight defenses of a policy position. Sometimes its better to say nothing than to offer a policy position that can be torn to pieces. But if someone writes something negative about you or you agency, you just have to respond, regardless if it leads to a response from someone else.

Finally, one of the most important media management techniques is to have crisp board meetings. Reporters loathe long meetings, especially meetings that are unproductive. Show the media that you can handle your public policy responsibilities in a precise manner, and maybe reporters—both democrats and republicans—will treat you like you deserve to have that responsibility.

DAVID N. EMANUELSON
is the director of the DeKalb Park District and a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at Northern Illinois University. His last story for Illinois Parks & Recreation. "Applying Business Practice To Parks and Recreation," appeared in the November/December 1999 issue.

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