In a world where stories are always competing for our attention, our YPP cohort benefitted from learning how to use journalism and the media to share their policies. They had the opportunity to learn about this from journalist Cherise Seucharan.
Cherise is a journalist who works for Canadaland, a news and podcast network based in Toronto. She writes about healthcare, justice and migration.
In her presentation, Cherise talked about the many ways that media and journalism can lead to policy and systems change.
“If you have a policy issue, getting your story into the media can create change and can actually end up moving your policy idea along,” she said.
“It’s an exploration of what’s going on in the media industry right now, getting familiar with trends, patterns and things that are happening, but it’s also looking at how stories get into the media and what coverage can look like.”
There are several methods that the YPP cohort can use storytelling to share their policies, and Cherise highlighted other methods for spreading awareness.
“Getting your story into the news is not the only way you can create mass awareness. We also looked at different ways awareness can be created, like social media,” said Cherise.
“If your policy ask is around youth housing, and you want youth to be aware of it, then maybe you want to go to where the youth are, so maybe that means you’re on social media or you’re making TikToks,” she said.
YPP participant Loretta Jeff took away some media-friendly tips.
One of them is coming up with a short and powerful slogan to summarize her policy.
“When we were reflecting on my policy and what I wanted to talk about, it was largely about Indigenous connectivity and sovereignty. It had a lot of words that I feel go over people’s heads” said Loretta.
“You want something short and powerful. Think of it used at a rally, easy for people to yell out. I thought that was so brilliant.”
Loretta, who is Tsilhqot’in and lives in Tl’esqox (Toosey) First Nations, is working on a policy about Indigenous connectivity that will influence her community.
She discussed her experience with the mainstream media reporting on stories from her community.
“I feel like it [mainstream media] waters it down. You can be giving an honest and raw perspective of what you went through, or something that you’re sharing, and they take the bits and pieces that they like, that are easier for people’s ears,” said Loretta.
She also shared how impactful the module had been to help her consider her own project.
“If more people knew this [different ways of sharing stories], imagine how we could truly share stories and get them to the right people,” said Loretta.
We’re looking forward to seeing how the YPP cohort will use the media to share their important policy projects. Follow us on Instagram @level_vf to stay updated!