For groups concerned with the well-being of the environment, it can be hard to compete for media coverage with something as dramatic as a war. When the ozone layer and "bunker-
buster" bombs, or most recently SARS, go head-to-head for the headlines, it's easy to guess which story will get the space. Thus, in the months leading up to the latest Mideast
conflict, "green" PR executives made a concerted effort to adjust their tactics.
The strategies outlined in this article are excellent examples for PR pros in any market for how to effectively break through the clutter by readjusting messages and tones and
looking at less obvious vehicles to present one's issues and themes.
"The challenge is to find ways to get people to continue to think about long-term problems when they are faced by so many short-term issues," says Michael Ashford, deputy
director of The Climate Trust, a nonprofit group working to promote climate-change through policy advocacy.
To help keep the media focused on the Big Picture, Ashford's organization has been penning op-ed pieces that rely on key international names for a degree of credibility. "We
have been citing Hans Blix and Tony Blair, both of whom have said in several venues that as soon as we resolve these immediate problems, we need to get back to solving these long-
term issues of international cooperation on environmental problems," Ashford says.
PR pros have adjusted the tone of their PR efforts. In California, some 6 billion bottles and cans still go into the trash each year, rather than landing in the state's
recycling programs. "Normally, we might tout that as a 'crisis,' " says Dave Reiseman, senior PR account executive for the California office of the Reister Robb agency. "But in
light of all that is going on in the world, we cannot go out there with that message right now."
Reiseman has had to dig for new ways to spin that story on behalf of his client, the California Department of Conservation. As the war in Iraq neared, "there was a feeling of
helplessness, and at the same time, people wanted a way to feel that they could contribute and give back," he says. "This became the media pitch: Recycling as a way to make a
difference at the local level.
In the months before the war, the PR team put out a guide to gifts made of recycled materials that scored coverage on the Today Show, CNN Headline News and other major media.
"It was a feel-good thing, at a time when people wanted to feel like they were doing something," Reiseman says.
While Californians were feeling good about recycling, Greenpeace activists in Europe were blockading arms shipments bound for the Persian Gulf. "Greenpeace has always been
about providing visuals to show how nonprofit direct action can make a difference," says Melanie Janin, Greenpeace Media Director. Because the European actions triggered calls
from reporters in the United States, she adds, "there was definitely more coordination with the international offices" before and during the war.
With news reporters pulled off their regular beats, Janin says she too has been looking for a new angle on her story, and she has found it on the business pages. With the
economy still shaky, a Greenpeace protest at a company's annual meeting can still draw business reporters, especially if a potential environmental liability can affect a
corporation's bottom line. "The business and investment reporters still do care," Janin says. "People still want to know how the economy is doing."
Behind this effort to win headlines lies an even more telling agenda: the contest to see who will drive the political future of environmental regulation. If green issues are
off the radar right now, it is because "nobody has patience for trumped up environmental claims while we face more real threats," says one representative of a conservative
watchdog group that monitors health issues.
The idea that a military crisis makes the environment irrelevant is exactly the kind of notion that environmentalists are trying to quell. A foremost voice in the effort to
shape the post-war landscape has been the Natural Resources Defense Council, whose representatives appear in major newspapers and TV networks every few days.
"For us, the gross [volume of] coverage is not an issue," says Communications Officer Alan Metrick, who says his main job right now is make sure conservatives in Washington do
not use the war "to dismantle 30 years of environmental legislation."
It's a tough sell and Metrick knows it. On the one hand, this message is crucial to his organization. On the other hand: Who cares? "It does not make sense for us to issue
statements," he says. "The world is not waiting for a statement on the war from us."
So Metrick and his team have been working one-on-one with their longtime editorial contacts in the hopes of influencing coverage, and in fact they have already seen some
prominent political columnists echo their language, referring to the war as a "smokescreen" for political shenanigans on the environmental front. Metrick cites The New York Times
Op-Ed columnist Paul Krugman as an example.
In addition to this one-on-one outreach, Metrick also works closely with anyone internally who might be asked to field an incoming call. "It is a case of message discipline,"
he says. "We have a message and we have rehearsed it. We work with our people here to develop a quotable, usable sound bite, in order to tell what we believe is the truth in a
short, quotable way."
The Sierra Club also has had good luck with its efforts to denounce the administration's so-called "smokescreen" efforts. "The Bush administration has used the last few months
to launch large-scale attacks on environmental laws...and we have not backed off from pointing out what is going on," says Media Coordinator Zack Roth. "Editors know that the
public still cares about these things."
At the same time, Roth (like many PR pros) has been careful to keep his criticisms just to the safe side of partisan - both before and especially during the war. "At a time
when Americans are in combat, people simply don't respond to harsh, partisan attacks," he says. "So we've emphasized positive solutions, and success stories. In part this is
something we've been striving to do over the last few years regardless of the political climate, but the war has certainly made that strategy even more important."
It's Not Easy Being Green
For PR executives trying to win media coverage for environmental causes, no day is an easy day. In times of national crisis, the work gets that much harder. How to get the
story told?
- Think beyond the national news hole: When current events grab headlines, green concerns still can find space on the local news pages, the business pages, or in the
special-interest magazines whose readers may be affected by the issues. - Consider tone: In times of war, yesterday's environmental "crisis" should become today's "concern." Likewise, editors and readers alike will shy away from partisanship if the
nation is perceived to be in a time of peril. - Tend the home fires: If media coverage is scarce, put extra effort into your organization's newsletter and the Web site in order to keep the faithful on board.
Contacts: Alan Metrick, 212.727.2700, [email protected]; Michael Ashford, 503.238.1915, [email protected]; Zack Roth, 202.675.6279, [email protected]; Dave
Reiseman, 310.392.4244, [email protected]; Melanie Janin, 202.319.2461, [email protected]