Telling New Stories About Children's Issues

Communication researchers are now able to suggest powerful messages to reawaken the public to accept responsibility for helping all children. They able to craft language that helps people connect to our values. That means both reporters and advocates must retool their language and their approach to a story to elicit the responses they are seeking. People turn on the T.V. or open the morning newspapers with preconceived beliefs, biases, and opinions. To help them listen to the stories we are telling, we must be aware of their beliefs, avoid using words that trigger negative responses, focus on solutions to problems and put data and numbers in context.