Читать книгу Позитивные изменения. Том 1, №1 (2021). Positive changes. Volume 1, Issue 1 (2021) - Редакция журнала «Позитивные изменения» - Страница 8

Among those who are engaged in the implementation of social change projects, be it business, non-profit organizations (NGOs) or even the state, it is difficult to find those who would consider media coverage of their projects as a significant element of social influence. To find a change in people’s attitudes through the use of media, the change of their behavioral models in relation to the social problem solved by the project and to see it in the description of the project goals is possible only in a situation where the project objective is the information campaign implementation.

Julia Ageeva,

SMM-Specialist

Meanwhile, sometimes it is a phrase said in an interview or a practical case that can become the very ‘trigger mechanism’ that will inspire a spectator or a reader to treat special needs people in a friendly way, and not with fear, will prompt them for financial assistance to foundations or for volunteer activities. Why so little attention is given to media coverage of the project implementation and what could be done to change the situation?

NEW FACETS OF ACTIVITY

The familiar scheme for evaluating performance in the social sphere is the economic efficiency or costs (fund spending) and effectiveness (the degree of goal achievement). For this purpose the immediate results (coverage of charity recipients who received a social service, qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the activities implemented), as well as results at the level of social impact (changes in the charity recipients’ lives, communities and society as a whole) are evaluated. The former, as a rule, are correlated with the project objectives, and the latter – with the project’s goals or mission.

As for the media coverage of social projects there no systematic approach is used as a rule. Large corporate foundations and NGOs that regularly advertise in the media and have extensive experience in this field order mostly a campaign analysis (post-campaign) to media agencies. Other organizations usually analyze their media coverage spontaneously, from time to time. But almost no one considers working with the media as a tool for long-term social impact.

«Leaders of social change projects rarely consider media coverage of their projects as something important and often do not recognize the important contribution they make to the shaping and change of the social agenda, – voices her view Natalia Gladkikh, Candidate of Sciences in Psychology, senior expert of the Institute of Socio-Economic Design of the Higher School of Economics. – Meanwhile, it may turn out that the role of the social project in shaping public opinion, in changing people’s attitudes and even their behavior through media broadcasted information about the problem and beneficiaries of the project, etc., was more significant than other activities directly implemented under this project."