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46 3 Media Advocacy: “A Giant Telephone” The unwillingness of the 1997 Maryland legislature to raise the cigarette tax was not the result of the legislators’ rejection of Smoke Free Maryland’s arguments. The legislators simply weren’t listening to them. They weren’t listening because they didn’t have to listen. They didn’t have to listen because their constituents weren’t demanding that they listen. The coalition might have produced a panel of Nobel Prize–winning scientists to testify on the proven connection between high taxes and falling cigarette consumption, and the outcome would have been no different—as long as legislative indifference brought no political consequences. DeMarco’s task was to make sure that this time the legislators would learn that they had to listen. Neither authoritative testimony nor persuasive lobbying would teach them that; only aroused and mobilized voters would.Because DeMarco views the media “as a giant telephone which I can use to talk with the people of Maryland,”he would begin the public stages of the campaign by blitzing the mass media and would not let up for two years.Free,earned mass media coverage,with a tactical sprinkling of timely paid advertising,would be DeMarco’s antidote to the invisible influence of the tobacco lobby. DeMarco’s forays into the media were launched simultaneously with stages 1 and 2, initial organizing and recruiting signatories to the campaign resolution . Well before he would seriously seek legislative action, these public education initiatives would carry embedded advocacy messages in addition to the core public health message,which was the connection between high taxes and low teenage use of tobacco.These messages would convey the political safety of supporting tobacco tax increases and,even more important,the political risks of failing to do so.The primary targets of these messages would be the legislators who had felt no need to pay attention in 1997, and who it was DeMarco’s Media Advocacy: “A Giant Telephone” 47 job to ensure would end up paying very close attention in the future. Thus his media advocacy would sharpen its focus on the elected power holders and increase its intensity after the initial organizing stages. This media advocacy strategy was central to DeMarco’s campaign plan from the outset: I like to have an overview in my head of the series of events I want to do over the course of the campaign to get our message out.You want to make sure every event is newsworthy,but you also don’t want to wear out your welcome with the reporters.Also it is important to recognize that a major paper like the Baltimore Sun has different bureaus and reporters—business, political,faith,and so on—who might be interested in different events.For the Maryland Children’s Initiative,I early on figured we would try to do several key events,including releasing poll results; announcing the formation of the coalition and the endorsement of key groups like the faith leaders and the students; launching the voter education campaign and ballyhooing its results; announcing our radio ads and other paid media; and getting coverage of events in Annapolis,like a rally.Though we needed to be ready to take advantage of other great media opportunities as they came up,having this plan in my mind helped a great deal. For each event,such as the release of the poll,the first step was to frame the event in a way that would attract media attention.Something like “Marylanders support tobacco taxes.”Second,we had people as messengers in whom the media would be interested,like nationally renowned pollsters. Third,we would put together a short and effective media advisory that highlighted our message and attractive messengers. Edging Closer to Political Action Philanthropies have become increasingly wary of the IRS prohibition against using tax-exempt dollars for political advocacy or lobbying, especially when such funding results in unwelcome media attention. DeMarco knows this well, which is why he is beyond scrupulous in following the rules. Throughout all his campaigns,DeMarco kept in frequent contact with his legal advisor,Michael Pretl,one of Maryland’s premier experts on nonprofit legal issues .With Pretl’s guidance,DeMarco faithfully complies with the complex IRS rules regarding the use and reporting of expenditures for polling, advertising, and other media activities.From the very beginning,MCI accounted carefully for funds applied to these activities in three relevant categories: pure public [3.145.130.31] Project MUSE (2024...

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