Humanism and the media

[mojogeorgo]

On Saturday, I attended a talk by the president of the American Humanist Association that afternoon, and raised the issue of bigotry against Humanists, Atheists, and Freethinkers in the United States. Yesterday, in The War on Secular Humanism, I shared part of my transcript of the event. That portion focused on the way the right wing spokespeople seem to have all gotten on the same page with their terminology. I have now completed my transcript of Saturday's event, and you can find the whole thing here.

http://religiousleft.bmgbiz.net/melvinlipman.html

At my Religious Left blog, I've also posted part of the question and answer section, and one thing that really stood out to me is how hard a time the humanist groups have getting media coverage. A member of the audience who had been a Humanist for 10 years, wondered why the group wasn't doing a better job of publicizing itself, and the Amy Birtcher, the president of the Humanist Community of Central Ohio, explained that the group *had* done a lot to try to make inroads with the Columbus Dispatch, but had had little success.

http://realreligiousleft.blogspot.com

Melvin Lipman: Just to add to what Amy said about getting in the papers, it's difficult. A lot of papers just don't want to give us room. And that's the reason I'm traveling 30 to 40 weekends a year to different locations, because, for some resaon, when a national figure comes in, they feel, maybe we'll get the publicity. And once you get in, it's easier to continue to get in to the papers.

Amy Birthcher: Can I make one more statement real quick? We had a press conference yesterday for Mr. Lipman, and I sent out about 29 press packets. I contacted 21 newspapers in the greater metropolitan area, I contacted the four major T.V. stations, four radio stations, and invited them to come to this press conference. No one came.

Melvin Lipman: I was telling Amy that the record that we've had on press conferences around the country is two. The average is about 1/4.

http://www.hcco.org
http://www.americanhumanist.org
http://www.secular.org

[TwentyFive]

1. Thanks for being out there. Here is my 2 cents on getting into the media

The bottom line? Media are just cheap whores who love controversy and entertainment. Find somebody who can make pithy, entertaining sound bites - and shop them with your local media. Bring them around to meet the program/station managers. If they can frame things in a clear, provocative manner - they will get air time.


edit: spelling

[Smarmie Doofus]

2. You are describing the late Madelyn Murray O'Hare.

The late and very much lamented.