© 2000 Benton Foundation
Of Special Interest: Model Campaigns Chapter 1: Chapter 2: Television Race Initiative Chapter 4: Positive: Life with HIV Perspectives Strategic and
Contents
POV's High Impact TV
from Partners
Practical Advice
The Getting to The Heart of the Matter
Campaign
by Melanie Piersol
The Heart of the Matter is a powerful hour-long documentary by Amber Holibaugh and Gini Reticker about women and AIDS. It explores the traps many women with HIV face as they confront sexual double standards, racial myths and racism and the prevalent desire to please others. Janice Jirau, an African-American woman who contracted the virus from her husband and died of AIDS-related complications in October 1993, provides the core wisdom for the film, while interviews with a diverse group of women with HIV echo Jirau’s sentiments and experiences.
Since its premiere in 1988 as a national PBS summer series, P.O.V. has been committed to using television programs to build new audiences and broaden public debate. From 1994 to 1996, I served as P.O.V.’s audience development coordinator. In 1994 we were extremely fortunate when The Heart of the Matter, winner of the Freedom of Expression Award at the Sundance Film Festival, came our way. We were riveted by the inspiring story of Janice Jirau.
The film follows Jirau through her many compelling public appearances, traces her personal and spiritual development, explores her relationship with the African-American church and poignantly captures her determination and contagious appetite for life. Interviews with a diverse group of women with HIV, woven around Jirau’s story, offer additional perspectives on the challenges many women face.
A TIE-IN CAMPAIGN
Recognizing the emotional power of The Heart of the Matter, we wanted to ensure that a wide audience would view the film. But we also wanted to do more. We sought to make the program valuable to groups interested in mobilizing communities around issues concerning women and AIDS.
We envisioned a process in which a film would become the catalyst for increased awareness and media attention around an issue, and in which P.O.V. would collaborate with local organizations to develop "tie-in" activities that would address concerns in their own communities. We called this approach High Impact Television and used it to guide our outreach efforts around The Heart of the Matter.
A "tune-in" campaign aims to maximize the impact of a film by increasing viewership of a broadcast. A "tie-in" campaign goes further, encouraging local organizations to develop activities around a film that address their issues of concern, whether these activities take place before, during or after broadcast.
AUDIENCE
Reaching the general viewing public was an important goal, but we also felt the program provided a unique opportunity to reach three target audiences with important messages and calls to action.
WOMEN. The alarming rise in the incidence of AIDS among women indicated that women were either not aware of their risk for infection or were not empowered to protect themselves. Our goals matched those of the producers and our nonprofit partners: to reach women who are infected with or affected by HIV and women who think they aren’t at risk. The Heart of the Matter provides not only an urgent message about the dangers for women, but also presents empowering role models who are able to verbalize issues that are too painful or personal for many women to express for themselves.
COMMUNITIES OF COLOR. The realities of race, class and poor health care make AIDS a very different experience for many people of color in this country. Hit hard by the AIDS epidemic, yet left with few support services, communities of color were an especially critical target audience. We saw The Heart of the Matter as an opportunity to help national and local minority organizations strengthen their work around AIDS issues.
RELIGIOUS GROUPS. The church is one of the most important institutions in African-American life, yet the issues of sexuality and morality that AIDS raises have made it particularly difficult for the church to respond with compassion and support. The Heart of the Matter effectively addresses the role of the religious community and provides a positive model for church involvement in the issue.
STRATEGY
P.O.V. officially announced its 1994 summer season in March, setting July 12 as the broadcast date for The Heart of the Matter. With only four months until broadcast, we needed a flexible strategy that would afford us the widest reach and maximum impact within an extremely limited time frame.
A timely grant from The Ford Foundation allowed us to commission the services of Belinda Rochelle, a Washington, D.C.-based AIDS educator and activist, to head up the outreach campaign, which we named Getting to The Heart of the Matter. As former director of community organizing and outreach for the AIDS Action Council, she brought a solid knowledge of the issues and a broad range of professional contacts to the project.
BRAIN TRUST
Ms. Rochelle worked with several national leaders to identify key individuals who we could invite to join a "brain trust," which would help us position the film and develop appropriate campaign strategies. We invited representatives of 125 groups and agencies to join, including AIDS organizations, health projects, women’s organizations, government agencies, religious groups, minority organizations and funders. We received an enthusiastic response in return. Representatives of The Office of National AIDS Policy, the National Council of La Raza, the National Organization for Women, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National Minority AIDS Council, the AIDS National Interfaith Network, and Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS (DIFFA), to name a few, attended the brain trust convening in Washington, D.C.
The brain trust helped us identify the following targets and tactics for the campaign:
BUILD BRIDGES. Organize local tie-in campaigns encouraging collaboration between organizations that have not previously worked together.
RAISE COMMUNITY-SPECIFIC ISSUES. Create an approach to help local groups adapt the campaign to address issues specific to their communities.
CREATE LOCAL MEDIA ATTENTION. Use the national broadcast and local involvement in the campaign as a "hook" for local media coverage of issues surrounding women and AIDS.
We asked national organizations to endorse the film as well as disseminate information about the broadcast to their membership. The National AIDS Fund, the American Red Cross and the AIDS National Interfaith Network emerged as the most active campaign partners, providing access to their local affiliates for regional campaigns.
Initially, we envisioned developing local campaigns in 10 to 12 communities nationwide. But the tremendous power of the film, and the fact that awareness of AIDS as a women’s issue was just beginning to emerge–among other factors–created unforeseen interest in the campaign. That number quickly approached 30.
We chose regions and coordinators based on geographic and demographic diversity. Staff members from a cross-section of organizations, including traditional service organizations, AIDS organizations and religious groups, were chosen as regional coordinators.
The local tie-in activities provided opportunities to address the issues of concern to community groups and helped generate local media attention as well. Regional coordinators acted as primary contacts for local media and worked with public television stations to coordinate local efforts.
PROVIDING FLEXIBLE SUPPORT
Recognizing that many community groups have extremely limited resources and little access to media expertise, we concentrated on providing regional coordinators with flexible strategies and tools, as well as extensive follow-up and support. With support from DIFFA and the Ms. Foundation for Women, we produced and distributed the Getting to The Heart of the Matter Resource Kit. The kit provided a framework for organizing activities and included easy-to-reproduce educational and promotional materials.
We hired media consultant Geoffrey Knox, former director of
communications for the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR) and
Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC), to create the media tools for the kit and
to help regional coordinators who had only limited experience and/or time
to get local reporters interested in the broadcast–especially its local
angles. We distributed nearly 500 Resource Kits to partner organizations.
Additionally, Knox provided expert support to the coordinators in the 12
most active regions and promoted the story of the local tie-in activities
to the national media.
ENLISTING STATION SUPPORT
Early on, we prepared a special packet of materials on The Heart of the Matter for public television stations, including a Women and AIDS Fact Sheet, profiles of the filmmakers and selected press clips. As the campaign progressed, we sent the stations a second mailing, which included an endorsement letter from the National Leadership Coalition on AIDS, a GMHC brochure about women and AIDS and a list of all of the statewide AIDS hotlines across the country.
In addition, we worked closely with public television stations in the
cities chosen for the regional campaigns, providing them with resources
and linking them with local partner organizations. When we developed the
Getting to The Heart of the Matter Resource Kit, we sent it to the public
information or community relations staff at each of the local partner
stations. We also tried to maintain contact with these stations throughout
the process, providing periodic updates on what groups were doing in other
areas and how the campaign as a whole was proceeding.
Finally, we recognized the importance of giving viewers somewhere to turn for more information and assistance after the broadcast. We broadcast the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s national hotline number immediately following the program, and additional operators were hired for that evening. Many stations also aired local hotline numbers after the broadcast.
The local tie-in activities provided opportunities to address the issues of concern to community groups and helped generate local media attention as well.
ACTIONS
By the July 12 national broadcast, many government agencies, community-based groups, national organizations, public television stations, religious groups, funders, policy-makers and journalists had become involved in the campaign, engaging in a wide array of activities designed to promote viewership and maximize the impact of the broadcast.
Local groups in the 30 target regions were creative and resourceful in their approaches. Activities ranged from street outreach in high-risk neighborhoods to newsletter articles, fax blitzes, special mailings, and e-mail broadcasts. Most local groups, however, organized pre-broadcast screenings, bringing together health care professionals, members of the press, staff of AIDS service organizations, social service providers, representatives of the religious community, substance abuse treatment experts, mental health professionals and women with HIV. The focus of each screening event varied according to the particular needs and concerns of that community, but the events fell roughly into three categories.
AIDS EDUCATION AND AWARENESS-RAISING EVENTS served to bring people from communities together to learn about women and AIDS and gain information about AIDS prevention and services. For example, the Martin Luther King Academy for Youth in Vineland, New Jersey, launched a Women and AIDS Campaign targeted toward African-American churches. It held a pre-broadcast screening at a local church, followed by a discussion involving clergy, public officials, HIV educators and service providers and people living with HIV. AIDS education literature and information about local services was made available to attendees.
COALITION-BUILDING EVENTS brought various community organizations together for the first time to discuss issues concerning women and AIDS and develop strategies to address them. For example, in Norfolk, Virginia, station WHRO and three regional chapters of the American Red Cross collaborated in organizing a pre-broadcast screening and network-building meeting at the station. Featured speakers included leaders of two local Baptist churches and four AIDS service organizations. Following the discussion, a meeting was held to begin sharing resources and developing programs in the communities that were represented.
MEDIA- AND POLICY-FOCUSED EVENTS engaged policy-makers and created media attention for local issues surrounding women and AIDS. For example, Planned Parenthood of South Palm Beach, Florida, co-sponsored a press conference with the Comprehensive AIDS Program (CAP) to promote the broadcast and announce CAP’s newly implemented services for women. They held a screening of the film following the press conference. Several other groups conducted press outreach as well, which resulted in numerous local feature stories. In Los Angeles, regional coordinator Carrie Broadus reported that, after promoting the broadcast to the minority community, she noticed a change in the attitude of elected officials toward the local needle exchange program and speculated that the increase in city funding for HIV services for women in the months afterwards may have been due, in part, to her efforts.
From the beginning, we intentionally designed the Getting to The Heart of the Matter campaign to enable individual stations to participate as their time and resources allowed. In the cases where they actively participated, it greatly enhanced the effectiveness of the campaign on the local level. Many stations hosted local events, and a few stations even produced follow-up programming to address issues specific to women and AIDS in their communities. In several cases the project provided the impetus for stations and community groups to work together for the first time.
Perhaps the most striking example of how a local collaboration tangibly impacted the community was in St. Louis, where the local American Red Cross chapter collaborated with KETC to hold a sneak preview screening and panel discussion. The event, attended by area service providers and women with HIV, led to a three-fold increase in size of the City of St. Louis Women and AIDS Task Force.
IMPACT
The Heart of the Matter became the centerpiece for a broad national educational effort–one which finally put a woman’s face on the AIDS epidemic, raised critical issues about the social and cultural factors that contribute to the rising incidence of AIDS among women and provided the opportunity for diverse groups to come together for the first time to address these issues.
At the time, Getting to The Heart of the Matter was the most ambitious outreach project P.O.V. had ever undertaken. From the start we viewed it as an opportunity to refine and improve the High Impact Television model. At the end of the campaign we gathered feedback that taught us important lessons for future efforts. In sharing our stories and lessons learned, we hope other broadcasters, producers, nonprofits and funders will use the High Impact Television model to expand broadcasts into national organizing opportunities.
Melanie Piersol served as audience development
coordinator for P.O.V. from 1994 to 1996.