As with everything, we must stop being opportunist about media relations. It's not a random story that somehow gets published about transhumanism, it's not our contacts with the journalists. We need a strategy and a plan to get as many stories into the media as we want. There are ways of working with the media and our core message is sensational and compelling. We only need to push it the right way.
Hook
We need "hooks" to pitch our H+ stories to journalists. (See November 1, 2005 alert at http://www.medialens.org/alerts/index.php ). A hook is a connection to the current media agenda (set by the officials).
News
Tying our stories to news (the neverending torrent of press releases about latest advances) can work. Analysis of implications, predictions, bigger picture, etc. can be submitted to media when the latest press release from a university hits the wire.
Effectiveness
How effective is media relations? If effectiveness is defined as substancially changing public opinion and reality, may be not very... Examples:
Society still doesn't plan for the Singularity and doesn't take it seriously. People still die and don't choose cryonics.
Lessons from Russian:
1. If you can show something (e.g. cryonics), it's much easier to get PR.
2. The more a person gets in the media, the more in demand he is as an expert. Over the past few years I have become a futurology/H+/cryonics expert often asked for comments, interviews, etc.
3. For that reason you should pick a media figure and push him (a posterboy, a spokesperson). Aubrey is a good example for life extension, now you need someone (may be David Wood?) to become one for H+. I think Bostrom and Sandberg are too smart and too academical for that (or if they succeed at this they will lose their academic fitness).
4. It's not that difficult to find a magazine interesting in paying for your work if you write a good story, even on transhumanism.
5. You should have a good strategy of what you are trying to achieve. Concentrate!!! If you want to cover everything, you end up trying to boil the ocean - the temperature doesn't change much, no matter how much energy you are putting in it.
6. You should aim for multiplicator effect - writing a story that gets picked up by everybody else. You need to study the media landscape, learn a bit about how the media works, write "sticky" copy, etc. Aim for high-impact media.
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