| newsletter Winter/Spring 2003
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Activity Fund Updates
ELP Sponsors Media Training Workshop for Wildlife Biologists
by John Perrine, ELP Fellow 2001-2003
 On September 24, 2002, ELP co-sponsored a free day-long media training workshop at the annual conference of The Wildlife Society, the national society of professional wildlife biologists and natural resource managers. The workshop drew approximately sixty wildlife professionals ranging from academic researchers to state and federal agency employees.
Entitled "Media Self-Defense: Skills and Strategies for Wildlife Professionals," the workshop, which I organized with support from the ELP Activity Fund, focused on easing the wary and defensive relationship that wildlife professionals often have with the news media. Many biologists, especially government employees, often view the media as little more than circling vultures more interested in preying upon controversy than objectively reporting the facts of an issue. Fears of being misquoted, misrepresented or portrayed in an unprofessional light cause many biologists to keep their distance from reporters whenever possible.
However, media coverage of wildlife issues is likely only to increase. People have always been interested in stories about animals, especially wildlife. As the American landscape becomes more developed and suburbanized, conflicts between humans and wildlife are increasing - from endangered species in the national forests to grizzly bears in the garbage, from joggers attacked by cougars to seabirds drenched in spilled crude oil. Ironically, urbanization also means that a greater proportion of the public now receives its information on wildlife issues from the news media instead of through personal experience or formal education. The result: Media stories on human-wildlife conflicts are only going to become more frequent and play a larger role in shaping public opinions, and therefore public policy, on wildlife management. Wildlife biologists must have the skills and willingness to interact with the news media to ensure that the public receives reliable information.
With support from the ELP Activity Fund, we were able to hire professional media consultant Clarence Jones to lead the workshop. Jones is an award-winning former investigative journalist who now specializes in preventing and minimizing potential public relations disasters (see www.winning-newsmedia.com). The ELP grant meant that the workshop could be free to participants, all of whom also received a free copy of Jones' book "Winning with the News Media: A Self-Defense Manual when You're the Story."
In the workshop's morning session, Jones discussed the history of the news media, how it became such a powerful force in America, and the practical differences between television, print and radio news reporting. Particularly informative were his insights on what motivates television reporters and newspaper editor, and on basic strategies for interacting with them successfully. He emphasized key interview questions (such as "How do you feel about this?") that can leave scientists looking cold and unsympathetic. He also taught the participants how to recognize and respond to loaded or inflammatory questions.
The afternoon was more interactive, with participants role-playing on-camera interviews and practicing giving a clear and emotional answer along with three separate lines of support in only twenty seconds. We then presented the group with complicated hypothetical scenarios based on the kinds of controversies that can face wildlife biologists. These ranged from the fairly routine - such as the need to kill animals due to disease, starvation or sheer overabundance - to the more complex: a department's contractor is caught flagrantly breaking environmental laws; a popular and publicly visible employee is accused of sexual misconduct; an earlier wildlife management decision has proven to have caused more harm than good. For each scenario, the participants discussed the best way to handle media coverage, practiced their responses on-camera with Jones acting as the reporter, and reviewed and critiqued the resulting video footage.
Response to the workshop was overwhelmingly positive. In fact, most participants urged that a similar media training be provided every year or two as part of The Wildlife Society's annual conference. Avenues for providing such trainings are currently being explored. ELP has facilitated a major step in ensuring that more wildlife biologists are willing and able to interact successfully with the news media, and the result can only be positive for wildlife.
John Perrine is a Ph.D candidate in the Department of Environmental Sciences, Policy, and Management at the University of California, Berkeley.
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John Perrine,
Marsha Weisiger,
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