Media Analysis

“Counting Clips” Doesn’t Cut It as a way of evaluating progress. A closer analysis of media coverage can offer much more than that. It can be used by change agents to ground, measure, and even advance broader social good campaigns.

Communicators need to objectively understand the narratives and frames shaping the public understanding of their issues so they can redirect the news profile. Simply “counting clips” is reactive. It monitors media coverage but largely maintains the status quo.

Media Analysis is a Planning Tool that entails taking a deep dive into the messages, stories, spokespeople, and framing of issues to quantify that into data that can be tracked. It leads to strategic advice that can produce truly effective earned and social media campaigns that build public will and counters resistance.

I have have conducted numerous media analyses covering a wide range of subjects of importance to our public interest clients. We do this before, during, and at the end of campaigns. These deep dives enable us to determine what the public is hearing, how stories are framed, and where the dominant narratives are sourced. We have studied social, print, and electronic coverage of:

  • Public education
  • Immigration and immigration reform
  • Religion and politics
  • Poverty and low wage work
  • Higher education and community colleges
  • Global and U.S. reproductive rights and health issues, including Bio diversity
  • Children’s rights around the world
  • National security and privacy
  • Voting rights

American Civil Liberties Union

The Organization

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is our nation’s guardian of liberty, working daily in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.

The Work

DG+CO has led a number of extensive media studies for the ACLU. We’ve examined the organization’s media coverage over time and how effectively it communicates its positions on key policy issues – such as immigration, criminal justice, national security, LGBT, and voting rights. We’ve also used online tools to evaluate the organization’s presence in blogs and social media.

Planned Parenthood Global

The Organization

Planned Parenthood Global (PP Global) works overseas to ensure that women, men, and young people in some of the world’s most neglected areas have access to the health care they need to control their bodies and their futures.

The Work

DG+CO conducted a media analysis of reproductive rights and health issues in four developing countries: Burkina Faso, Nicaragua, Senegal, and Uganda. Using a variety of methods to gather international coverage – including live listening to radio programs by native speakers – we helped PP Global establish a baseline of media coverage of key reproductive rights issues in each country.

Internews Europe

The Organization

Internews Europe works across the globe to change attitudes and build public will for social reform by educating the media about key issues and best practices for covering them.

The Work

In preparation for a global campaign to improve children’s rights, DG+CO conducted a comprehensive analysis of media coverage of children’s issues in Kenya, Brazil, and India. Using both online tools and a team of translators, we produced an array of results, which will set the organization’s course for years to come.

America's Voice Education Fund

The Organization

America's Voice Education Fund (AVEF) is a national nonprofit organization that fights for comprehensive immigration reform. The fund's goal is to create the public momentum for reforms that will transform a dysfunctional immigration system into an effective and just system.

The Work

DG+CO collaborated with TCC Group to assess media coverage of AVEF and immigration reform in general. Our findings provided strong recommendations on how to drive the debate in English, Spanish and online media.