Mass Appeal: Communicating Policy Ideas in Multiple Media

Policy researchers and experts across many subjects spend their professional lives developing ideas with public implications, but many are unable to make a public impact. A key reason for this is that higher education undervalues a critical tool for ... Read more

Policy researchers and experts across many subjects spend their professional lives developing ideas with public implications, but many are unable to make a public impact. A key reason for this is that higher education undervalues a critical tool for translating policy ideas into action: theability to communicate those ideas broadly, strategically, and effectively.To address this communication gap, Justin Gest has written a primer to help public policy students, multi-disciplinary researchers, and policy professionals turn their analyses into clear and persuasive campaigns with mass appeal. In clear, concise prose, he lays out how to transform sophisticatedideas into accessible media formats and how to target the desired audience. Each chapter includes advice from world-class practitioners and an example to illustrate paragons of different forms of communication: executive summaries; press releases; op-eds and blogs; briefings; broadcast interviews;elevator pitches; and social media. Less