Page 56 - Enabling National Initiatives to Take Democracy Beyond Elections

54 A Project of the UN Democracy Fund (UNDEF) What about the media? Around the world, a very wide mix of media outlets have one thing in common: they are very sure that their readers and viewers would do a better job than the people in elected office. This methodology lets you agree with them: when you use a civic lottery, you are involving their readers. You should tell them this. The media is an important partner because they help tell the story of 30-150 people and share it with a population many times larger. As a basic principle, you want the media to meet the citizens early on before they have had time to form strong views: the purpose of that is to show their readers that ‘people like me’ are involved in this decision.