Posts Tagged ‘gates foundation’

Tomorrow Bill and Melinda Gates will present their Living Proof Project in Washington D.C.  This is a new, multimedia initiative which shows the ‘living proof’ that US-funded global health funding is making a positive difference through the first hand success stories of people who have been helped and, in turn, empowered to help themselves.

The project is based on research showing that the lion’s share of media coverage around global health is negative, and further research showing that Americans want to hear the flipside of this - as described on the Living Proof website, “stories about progress, optimism and opportunity”.

Within the global health community, it has been commonplace to promote success, advocate for proven solutions, and ensure that positive images of the beneficiaries of their work are used.  Case studies like those in the Living Proof Project are very common to see on websites and in annual reports.  This makes me wonder about the apparent disconnect between what NGOs therefore put out, and the research that provided a rationale for this project.  Why was media coverage found to be generally negative when proactive communications from the global health community is generally positive?

One reason that comes to mind is a challenge of newsworthiness that faces many NGOs.  Good news is often less appealing to the media than bad news, and therefore for us PRs, a harder sell.  Another is the importance of setting up the problem or the unmet need in order to provide a context and an urgency for a solution.  This is a delicate balance that continues to challenge communicators.  How the Living Proof Project might succeed where others have failed, or only experienced moderate success, is through its ever newsworthy philanthropist backers.