Page 159 - Enabling National Initiatives to Take Democracy Beyond Elections

Step 7: The media The media is an element that you will likely not have much control over. You should be as welcoming as possible to any media outlets who can attend and cover the process. This is in keeping with the fundamental transparency of each process and crucial to the public facing impact of the process beyond its conclusion. A useful approach might be to have journalists interview some participants throughout the process, checking in with the same participants to see their changes in view and to tell a bit of their personal story – this helps convey the sense that there are ‘people like me’ in the room making decisions. It is important that the wider public have an opportunity to ‘meet’ the participants. This should occur before a decision is made. This allows the wider community to relate to the participants and the process without relating it to any particular result or decision. This helps scale the impact of the process – the message is spread throughout the community that people like them are involved in making a significant decision for their community. Participants need to be instructed not to pre-judge any recommendations. This is because all decisions are not final until they are decided on by the entire group and included in the final report. 157