Media can give you the edge you need. This guide shows you how to use it well.
For community groups seeking impact, clarity and control, these principles are non negotiable.
These tools give you influence. They sharpen your message, protect your credibility and keep you in control of your story, even when power sits on the other side of the table.
This is the same thorough list you would be taught in an intensive media training course, adapted for community groups who are dealing with Council, navigating power imbalances or trying to communicate clearly under pressure. u.
The five principles every community group needs to understand
(Each point is explained fully in the sections below.)
1. Power imbalance and what it does to communities
When Council holds all the information and controls the process, communities can feel powerless, dismissed or silenced.
People sense the imbalance long before they can name it.
This is the foundation for every other challenge they face.
See below for full explanation.
2. The empowerment path – what you can control
When formal pathways fail, the only things people can rely on are their principles:
• how they act
• how they respond
• their character
• how they treat others
This shifts people out of the victim triangle and into agency.
See below for full explanation.
3. The danger of negative framing
If you slip into the trap of using negative framing this gives Council an escape route, weakens your credibility, and frightens supporters who prefer to stay unseen.
It is one of the fastest ways a community can lose control of its message.
See below for full explanation.
4. The 10-second and 30-second grabs
Prepare, Prepare, Prepare
If you don’t prepare them, journalists will pull whatever you say and compress it for you.
This is how groups lose control of their story.
Short, calm, factual grabs are your protection.
See below for full explanation.
5. The risk of reinforcing someone else’s frame
Correcting a claim by repeating it – even with “not” – strengthens it.
If the media are listening, that negative phrase can become your 10-second grab.
This is why reframing is essential.
See below for full explanation.
Full article with explanations and example
Why this matters now
This statement shows, in real time, the dangers of negative framing (a frame is the automatic story people’s minds jump to when they hear specific words) and the risk of repeating someone else’s message.
Hope is not soft, it is strategic, and positive framing is the doorway that lets people walk toward it.
So when Council responded with a lengthy statement accusing the article of containing “numerous false facts and misleading information,” the very first thing they did was repeat the headline and repeat the claims they wanted people to forget.
This is the first mistake in crisis communication.
And it’s the perfect example to help community groups understand the key principles that will protect them when dealing with a powerful organisation.
Positive framing:. “Everything I wrote in my original article on developer contributions involved six months of research. I stand by every word.”
Below is what the Council statement teaches us, and what communities can learn from it.
1. Power imbalance and what it does to communities
See key point above.
A power imbalance exists when one side controls:
• the information
• the process
• the timeline
• the definition of what “counts”
Council’s statement is a textbook illustration. It speaks inwards, to its team, its acronyms, its internal processes, not to the community. It positions the organisation as the sole interpreter of truth.
When people feel that dynamic, even if they can’t articulate it, they experience:
• frustration
• confusion
• fatigue
• self-doubt
Understanding the imbalance is the first step in shifting it.
2. The empowerment path – what you can control
See key point above.
Communities do not control Council’s behaviour.
But they do control:
• how they act
• how they respond
• their character
• how they treat others
The Council example shows why this matters. Their reaction was defensive, rigid and power-protective.
Make the pathway is different. Be grounded, factual and principled.
This is how communities shift themselves out of the victim triangle.
Agency comes from calm, deliberate choices, not from emotion or escalation.
3. The danger of negative framing
As George Lakoff explains with “Don’t think of an elephant,” the moment you answer inside someone else’s mental picture – their frame – you strengthen it. Once the frame is activated, even denial reinforces it. That is exactly what happened here.
See key point above.
Council’s response is built almost entirely on negative framing:
“false facts”, “misleading”, “incorrect”, repeated over and over.
The result is predictable:
• they sound combative
• they appear threatened
• they close off community empathy
Negative framing repels the very people who might otherwise support them.
For community groups, the lesson is simple:
negative language might feel satisfying in the moment, but it weakens your long-term position.
The safer choice is principled framing:
• “We followed every step of the process and still have no explanation.”
• “We want clarity, fairness and transparency.”
This invites the public into the story rather than pushing them away.
4. The 10-second and 30-second grabs
See key point above.
If a journalist needed a quote from Council’s statement, the most likely 10-second grab would have been:
“The Bugle claims Council failed to renew its developer contribution plans on time.”
That one sentence would have become the public message.
This is why community groups must prepare their own:
• 10-second grab: the one clear sentence that sums up the issue
• 30-second grab: the calm, factual explanation that adds context
If you do not prepare them, the media will pull whatever stands out.
And often the loudest or most emotional line becomes the quote – even if it is not what you wanted to emphasise.
Practice, Practice Practice
5. The risk of reinforcing someone else’s frame
See key point above.
The most important lesson from Council’s statement is this:
they repeated the issue they wanted to erase.
By restating the concerns in the article, line by line, they cemented the association in the public mind:
Council + governance failures + developer contributions + missed renewal deadlines.
Repeating a criticism strengthens it.
Especially when you say “incorrect.”
Communities must avoid this trap at all costs.
Do not repeat the negative claim.
Step into your own frame (a frame is the mental picture people form the moment certain words are used):
• “Here is what happened, what should have happened, and what it means for the community.”
• “Our concern is transparency and process.”
• “We want clear answers and fair treatment.”
This protects you.
It prevents the negative claim becoming your quote.
And it keeps your voice grounded and credible
Rider on choosing the right spokesperson
I have had extensive media training and I can recognise strong communication as easily as I can spot poor media practice. That does not mean I should be the voice of any organisation. Every group needs to choose the person best suited to speak on its behalf, and that choice should be intentional.
A good spokesperson is someone who:
• stays calm under pressure, even when the questions are sharp
• can hold the key messages without drifting into emotion or frustration
• speaks clearly, briefly and without jargon
• understands the issue well enough to answer safely, but not so personally that they sound defensive
• sounds grounded, respectful and consistent across every interview
• remembers they are representing the group, not themselves
This person might be:
• someone with a calm, measured voice who doesn’t get rattled
• a committee member who is trusted internally and externally
• a community advocate who can explain complex issues in simple language
• a member who isn’t directly harmed by visibility, unlike others who may rely on Council approvals or services
• someone who naturally projects confidence without aggression
This spokesperson does not need to be the most senior person, the person with the most knowledge or the person who did the most work. They simply need to be the person who helps the group’s message land in a clear, credible and constructive way.
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