Using the Media

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Strategic use of the media can be an important part of a legal aid lawyer's quiver of advocacy tools—it can humanize clients, prod officials, and educate policymakers. Every public interest legal program should have a media strategy and develop relationships with local reporters. Following some basic rules in building these relationships can raise the organization's profile, give advocates an opportunity to help frame the way issues are presented in the press, and, most important, benefit clients.

By Patricia Bath, Elizabeth Arledge, and Joe Surkiewicz From November - December 2005