When corporate interests have seemingly unlimited funds, how can advocates push back? Is there a way to improve media coverage of complex issues, so that journalists are better prepared to capture the nuance, the story behind the story, and what is at risk that will impact people’s everyday lives?
In 2023, Voices for Healthy Kids, an initiative of the American Heart Association (AHA), worked with organizations in three states—Texas, Ohio, and Kansas—to do just that. Journalists were invited to off-the-record media briefings focused on harmful state interference, or preemption—a tactic used by Big Tobacco for decades that has spread across other industries to convince many state legislators to pass policies that limit the power of local governments.
Voices for Healthy Kids and its partners wanted reporters to understand the big picture of preemption as a strategy for shutting down efforts by local governments to address local concerns. Typically, reporters cover preemption through a narrow lens—for example, preemption of a local ban on gas-powered lawnmowers or preemption of local rent control ordinances.
“There is no preemption beat,” noted Amanda Posson, senior policy analyst for Every Texan, referring to how reporters typically cover the news.
The idea was to provide a forum for journalists and local experts to meet in person and talk frankly about the various tactics of preemption, including proposed preemption legislation in their states. The primary goal of the briefings was not about generating immediate news coverage, but rather educating and priming high-level reporters for future stories while positioning local experts as resources for journalists.
“Ultimately, we want the public to better understand how what’s going on in their state capitols affects the decisions that can be made in their communities,” said Shelly Hogan, AHA’s national advocacy communications director for state and community advocacy.
Preemption perpetuates health inequities and systemic racism, disproportionately affecting Black and Latino communities and those with low income. Well-financed industries typically use preemption as a tool to limit local community action and stifle grassroots movements while protecting their own profits. To support local communities in preventing and repealing harmful preemption laws, the American Heart Association (AHA) and its initiative Voices for Healthy Kids leverage their 50-state infrastructure, well-respected brand, ability to deliver technical assistance and trainings, and deep relationships at the national, state, and local levels.
Each of the three state partners took slightly different approaches to organizing the format of their media briefings, depending on local circumstances. But they all felt it was important to make the briefings off the record and in person, rather than bringing people together virtually, so that reporters and local experts and officials could engage with each other freely and openly.
Here’s what they did.
Texas: Addressing ‘Harmful State Interference’
In Texas, a “super preemption” bill blocking an array of local regulations was already being widely covered when two statewide advocacy groups, Every Texan and Local Progress Texas, partnered to hold their late-March media briefing. Because the legislature was in session, organizers decided to have the briefing in the Capitol in Austin, making it as convenient as possible for statehouse reporters to attend. Organizers framed the event as a roundtable luncheon discussion on “harmful state interference” with local elected officials from several cities and smaller towns.
Advocates wanted to show how the abusive use of preemption in Texas was undermining local democracy and communities’ right to self-determination in ways that affected people’s everyday lives. J.C. Dwyer, a media consultant who led outreach for the briefing, said that it took relentless phone pitching and follow-up to get reporters to attend an event with no news during the legislative session, “but at the end of the day, we had the right folks in the room.” Among those attending were reporters from the Austin American-Statesman, The Texan, the San Antonio Report, The Texas Observer, Texas Monthly, and KERA, the National Public Radio station serving Texas.
Posson said the briefing achieved its goals of both engaging high-level reporters and positioning advocates and local lawmakers as experts and resources for future stories on preemption. Ultimately, the “super preemption” bill passed the legislature, but the March briefing set the stage for the organizers to hold a follow-up press event over the summer, when preemption of local ordinances requiring employers to give outdoor workers water breaks was in the news. The law currently faces legal challenges but is in effect.
Ohio: A Range of Experts Take on Preemption
Voices for Healthy Kids advocates in Ohio brought together a diverse group of experts for their preemption media roundtable, including the director of the Cleveland Department of Public Health, the Ohio Senate Minority Leader, a researcher focused on preemption issues from a local university, the director of the Ohio Municipal League, and AHA’s state government relations director. They also invited an award-winning local health journalist with a long history of working with AHA Go Red for Women to moderate the event, which they thought would help draw other reporters.
To make the event convenient for reporters, the Aug. 29 luncheon roundtable was held at the AHA office in downtown Cleveland.
Preparation was key, according to Jordan Van Dootingh, marketing communications director, and James Meerdink, community advocacy director, for AHA in Ohio. That included investing time in media outreach to bring in reporters from key outlets, preparing speakers for the event, and developing background information packets for reporters attending the event as well as for those who were interested but unable to attend. Reporters from the Cleveland Plain Dealer, The Cleveland Observer, and other outlets participated in the event.
The information packets were especially helpful, Van Dootingh said. In addition to relaying facts and data on preemption and its impacts on Ohio, it offered reporters pre-approved quotes from experts participating in the event. Although the briefing itself was off the record, reporters were free to speak with experts on the record at the conclusion of the roundtable. Organizers used the packets to follow up with reporters who were interested in the issue but unable to come to the event.
Meerdink said he has noticed an uptick in both the quantity of coverage—including an article by the local Axios outlet—and quality. “We have seen stories that have been more nuanced,” he said. In addition, Van Dootingh said, advocates now have a go-to list of reporters they know who are interested in covering preemption issues.
Kansas: Highlighting Preemption’s Impacts on Black Communities
In partnership with Voices for Healthy Kids, the Kansas Black Leadership Council sought to call attention to the impacts of harmful preemption on minority communities, with an eye toward educating younger people. Like the organizers in Ohio, they invited a respected local journalist to moderate the event with a diverse group of local government leaders, including council members from three cities, a school board member, a district attorney, and a county commissioner.
They held the mid-October luncheon roundtable at the Topeka office of the Sunflower Foundation, which they felt would be a neutral location. Like the advocates in Texas and Ohio, they opted for an in-person briefing without the option of virtual participation, both to foster open interaction and to ensure privacy.
“We framed the briefing as off the record, with the opportunities for interviews afterward,” said Kerry Gooch, a board member of the Kansas Black Leadership Council who was instrumental in organizing the event. “We also gave the reporters story ideas and leads for them to follow up on.”
It was also important, he said, to provide journalists with examples of how preemption plays out in different issues, such as education, labor, housing, and discrimination.
Turnout, Gooch said, was great, and included reporters from several TV, print, radio, and online outlets.
“All of us who helped plan the event were extremely pleased with the results,” he said, adding that he believed the briefing has helped raise awareness of preemption and its abuse.
Interested in holding your own preemption media roundtable event?
Click on these links for our guide for implementing media roundtables, our searchable resource library and access free one-on-one technical assistance for policy change campaigns from Voices for Healthy Kids!