Media understands far better than think tanks, typically, the importance of framing
Sam Geall
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The media plays at least three important roles in promoting more evidence-based policy and change.
It can provide a source for an accurate bedrock of information, that can allow a better discussion between the different parties and different people who need to be involved in decisions, whether it’s policy makers, publics, so that they can work on the same page, even if they have conflicting interests or ideological perspectives. It helps to create a better conversation for that reason.
I also think the media plays a really important role in translating information that would be presented otherwise in languages that just aren’t of the right register for broader audiences. Whether it’s for general audiences or specific audiences, they can play a really crucial kind of translation function.
And I also think the media understands far better than think tanks, typically, the importance of framing. And framing typically is about narrative –creating stories that have beginnings and middles and ends–, which is typically how we communicate in society. Think tanks for lots of reasons will often present their work with a different structure that doesn’t necessarily fit with those sorts of framings that typically are used more broadly in society. And the media can play a really important role in picking and bringing out those stories that actually tend to connect with different audiences.
How does the media engage with think tanks, and what are the benefits of that collaboration?
The media tends to work with think tanks in at least three ways. They will use think tanks as a source of expert analysis, where they’ll turn to researchers for accurate information, as a baseline often for a story that they might have a particular spin, or an argument, or a debate between different experts. Think tanks tend to be able to provide that sort of data.
But the other use of data, that I think is maybe less remarked upon, but I think is maybe more important, is actually as a source for leads for reporters themselves, who then want to go and find their own stories.
Think tanks often can provide a really valuable service, in kind of setting up the bones for stories that journalist will then flesh out and will then explore more deeply through investigation, through their own kind of storytelling and narrative.
And often think tanks can play that role, but maybe don’t necessarily play to that as much.
Then finally think tanks can provide a source of opinion, which is different again and typically sits on a different page from news, but it’s also of course an important part of media. We’ll have pieces in the op-ed section typically or similar in a debate-type format. I don’t know if think tanks often are as well set up for that as they could be but I think it’s a really important role, and increasingly something that people expect from media is to have that demarcation of opinion and to see those kinds of debates play out.
How different media landscapes engage with think tanks
Think tanks have very very different roles to play in different media markets, according to different political contexts. So in the Chinese context there is actually a huge ecosystem of think tanks but they tend to be very linked to the state and, as a result, tend to really feed quite directly into state media organs, which tend to have quite a terse kind of line and not allow for a huge amount of opinion. More broadly, in the kind of slightly more liberal media sphere that exists beyond state media in China, think tank experts can be used as sources of expert opinion, they can be used for analysis and for debate. But it doesn’t tend to be a huge amount of open engagement between the think tanks and media. In contrast to the UK where it’s very typical to see a variety of different think tanks, whether they are seen as more bipartisan or politically oriented and ideological throughout the newspapers and media.
Overcoming the challenges
I think the biggest challenge that the media and think tanks have in working together tends to just be around trust. If you talk to journalists, they’ll often claim that they’re not well informed enough to report on particular topics, maybe they need greater training on particular themes. I tend to find if one has trusted relationships as a journalist with sources of expertise –particularly who they can talk to on background, can talk to without quotation– that can actually be a lot more important often than that knowledge and training.
Ultimately, if you can build trust between experts and reporters, you can use think tanks in a very important way as trusted guides. Not impartial arbiters, but as trusted guides who can, for example, kind of weigh in and say: ‘This is credible, you should probably explore this line of inquiry’ or ‘This expert has a different view from me, but I think that they’re coming from somewhere that is reasonable’.
Or conversely, they might be able to say, ‘It’s not worth pursuing that particular line of inquiry. It’s one I don’t put a lot of faith in’. And that often can take place outside of just being directly quoted, or just having sort of reports reproduced in the opinion section or the news section. I think that really requires long-term trust-building type work.
The best way to do that often is through, ideally, face-to-face workshops about the role of think tanks, or evidence, or those sort of projects. It often ends up creating relationships. It ends up appealing to particular types of journalists who like working with those experts and often you will find a particular type of journalist who will build those sources, and contacts, and use them and will be able to act as a go-between think-tanks and media. And I think that’s actually a really important role, that often people don’t pay as much attention to as they should.
Staying relevant in a changing media landscape
As media changes it’s really important to read very widely to look at how formats are changing with technological change, with different media professionalisation in different countries and markets. I think what’s really important is to not feel any pressure to repackage yourself for those markets, but to really watch very closely and to see what journalists themselves are doing and to talk to them and to take that in. Also not to immediately feel like you need to appeal in a simplistic way, but just keep reading widely.
