(Guns Save Life) – Dealing with the mainstream media is like wrestling with a poisonous snake: if you don’t handle them correctly, you’re going to get bit.
In the world of civil rights activism, particularly on topics involving guns and the right of self-defense, the media is generally not your friend. Most reporters have a bias against gun ownership and may even harbor a bigotry against gun owners in general, so don’t expect a fair shake.
Even well-meaning reporters can write stories biased against guns simply because of preconceived notions or an overall lack of understanding about guns.
How do you interact with the media and avoid getting bitten?
Here are some tips.
Leave your guns put away and wear nice clothes and be well-groomed. Don’t wear your “Kill them all and let God sort ‘em out” t-shirt. Wear clothes that would be appropriate for church or better. If your church-going clothes include camo or blaze orange, ditch them and wear something nicer.
Identify two or three pithy talking points ahead of the interview and keep coming back to them, just like professional politicians do. Your talking points should be short and to the point.
Here are some nearly universal talking points that are always effective:
- We need to progress toward a future of freedom not a system that re-enacts past tyrannies.
- We’ve had a period where ownership of weapons was prohibited for the common man. It was the Medieval times. We have no desire to return to that time.
- Why are gun haters so anti-freedom?
- Gun control is classist, racist, and sexist. I am opposed to those things.
- Why are those opposed to gun rights such hateful control-freaks?
- I hate it when those on the left simplify things to the point of stupidity… I don’t ever want to be that way.
- I don’t want to manipulate people. I want people to understand the truth so we will all be better, smarter citizens.
- I want to make changes to more fully take advantage of the ideals voiced in the Constitution and Bill of Rights
How to instantly marginalize yourself & your message
This man was a strong supporter of our civil rights, but both he and his message were instantly marginalized by his ineptitude at media relations.
He’s wearing a T-shirt with some silly graphic on it. He’s standing in front of some fringe, bastardized version of the American flag and he’s holding a rifle that non-gun owners find intimidating at best. A picture is worth a thousand words, folks.
His message would have been taken much more seriously if he was wearing khakis and a nice, pressed dress shirt, standing in front of an American flag without any guns in sight.
Think about what you are wearing, your appearance and your demeanor when meeting with the media. The media often think “Gun guy? Get video of guns!” Don’t let them coax you into bringing out the guns if they don’t lend positive, pro-self-defense content to the story. Keep in mind the media loves to prominently display photos or video of guns because it sensationalizes stories for ratings. Guns also intimidate many non-gun owners.
Good food for thought prior to IGOLD.
I will never forget my first Gun Show, at the Champaign County Fairgrounds. There was a bored reporter and camera man stand around just outside the entrance. I, and several “older than me” sorts of gentlemen were watching him. We were all dressed appropriately, and not a single “slogan” t-shirt in sight.
Then two dudes and some chick rode up on Harley’s, dressed as you would imagine, and the reporter got all excited, jumped in place, and began waving frantically at his camera man to start rolling, and proceeded to interview the biker trio.
The inarticulate unprepared biker made the nightly news. The gentlemen standing near me, who failed to fit the media profile, did not, and in fact, were not interviewed at all.
Lesson learned.
(the biker might have been a very nice, intelligent person, but he was woefully unprepared to have the camera shoved in his face. the quote on the news was a “Kelly’s Heroes” Donald Southerland voiced “…Uh, I think everyone should own guns….”)
Many gun rights organizations tell us to avoid the media. That means the media will choose the spokesman THEY want, not the spokesman we want.
I wish we had a way to get media training.
What if every time you wrote an article you feared arrest, prosecution, imrisonment and the loss of your right to freedom of the press?
What if government was threatening to impose its idea of training and proficiency testing upon you, with fees you had to pay without choice, in order that may apply for a permission slip to exercise freedom of the press?
What if you were commanded to put your laptops and cameras in bags and containers keeping the out sight and that there was a whole host of places you would be arrested and prosecuted for even having them, much less turning them or using them?
Wanna deal with media effectively? Turn the tables on them ASK THEM questions.
It won’t matter what your wearing. And think about it a second- it would only take a couple wearing “improper” clothing to school them and they’d stop judging books by their covers.
Be yourself. Hollywood is for pretending to be something your not.
Seriously, asking reporters questions will afford them a temporary escape from the groupthink environment they live in. It will make THEM think beyond their glass house and make them think twice about throwing stones.
Remember, your rights don’t depend on you being dressed accordingly. They don’t hinge on you kissing but or being scared of someone with a camera or a pencil and paper. This cause has TRUTH on its side. How about stepping up to the plate with THAT for a change?
I know Illinoisans are too chicken to do this but if five thousand people showed up at the capital tomorrow armed openly, the debate would be over and national news would witness either mass arrests or Illinois government finally standing down its unconstitutional banning of a right. Sadly, too many are convicted to say do and dress as they are told. All the while begging for permission slips to exercise “rights”.
At least, I urge my fellow Illinoisans to stop begging for permission and for the first time at IGOLD actually stand tall for the RIGHT to keep and the RIGHT to bear……
I agree with everything you are saying.
However, for an image production standpoint the image of the American Flag is not a “bastardized” version. In photoshop instead of doing a straight conversion to black and white you can use the “Black & White” feature under “adjustments” which allows you greater control in a conversion. This allows you to control Blues, Reds, yellos, etc. independently giving the user a better way to gain contrast in the image.
The reason I suspect this is because the blue background of the stars, seem to be the same shade as the sky.
If this image was run in a paper or online, it could be that the decision to convert and run the image in greyscale was to help make the image look even more menacing or fringe. It happens.
I know this is real “inside baseball” stuff, but I want to bring out is not only do I agree with you but media will use a host of ways to help frame their positions. Images are a powerful one.
Great write up btw.
I think he said “bastardized” because the red stripes are vertical instead of horizontal.
Try those talking points in Oregon and here’s what you’ll get//
Here are some nearly universal talking points that are always effective:
•We need to progress toward a future of freedom not a system that re-enacts past tyrannies.
“We’re tired of the being terrorized by guns! We have to lock ourselves in our homes because of guns.”
•We’ve had a period where ownership of weapons was prohibited for the common man. It was the Medieval times. We have no desire to return to that time.
“Sure, but in those days weapons were knives, spears, and bows and arrows. It’s not applicable to current times.”
•Why are gun haters so anti-freedom?
“We’re not anti-freedom! We deserve the right to be free from the fear of guns!”
•Gun control is classist, racist, and sexist. I am opposed to those things.
“Guns were used to control slaves. Now that’s racist? More Blacks are killed by guns than any other weapon.”
•Why are those opposed to gun rights such hateful control-freaks?
“You gun nuts are the control-freaks. Without guns you are just like everyon else and will have to resort to being civil!”
•I hate it when those on the left simplify things to the point of stupidity… I don’t ever want to be that way.
“I’m not stupid! Your’re stupid, stupid, stupid!”
•I don’t want to manipulate people. I want people to understand the truth so we will all be better, smarter citizens.
“The truth is that guns kill people. More guns will kill more people.”
•I want to make changes to more fully take advantage of the ideals voiced in the Constitution and Bill of Rights
” The Constitution is out of date by 200 years! This is a different time. They didn’t have automatic type guns then. The Founders couldn’t have known the future. The 2nd Amendment does not give individuals the right to guns. Only the Militia (The National Guard). Only the military and the police should have guns. GUNS ARE BAD!”
I kid you not!
If you have to work for a living, or are a full time student, you don’t have the time to continually counter the “logic” of the retorts you get.
Great response–truth is, you can never win an emotional argument with logic–emotions trump logic everytime.
However, with the media, it is best to give your best 5-second soundbite which *may* be used on the 11 o’clock news….
I have this for you. In Pennsylvania, where I’m from, I used a gun three times to defend myself. How many folks did I kill? None. How many did I shoot? None. The mere sight of the weapon was enough–and one of these was a Newfoundland dog! (dogs are smarter than some criminals) Here in New York, no one who is not a cop is allowed to carry a gun. I was being stalled by two blacks, late at night, while I was going home from work–it was clear they were going to jump me within less than a minute. I ADVANCED on them, making it look like I was about to draw a gun. They ran so fast, Jesse Owens would have gotten g the bronze if he’d been in that race…and just before they bolted, one turned to the other and blurted out-“He’s armed!” So yes, guns,–even ghost guns–save lives.