Part III Human rights education in practice News values guide what is selected as news and the prominence given to a particular story. Events will generally be more newsworthy than issues. In 2018, women across the world put the #metoo movement at the top of the news agenda. Their courage in standing together against sexual harassment and sexual assault started a global conversation about power, privilege and the changes that need to happen to deliver genuine gender equality, especially in places of work and study. Building on this, NHRIs in the Asia Pacific region have received significant media coverage of their work to address sexual harassment and gender-based violence. This includes media coverage of national inquiries by the NHRIs of Australia (sexual harassment in the workplace), Korea (sexual abuse in sport) and Samoa (family violence), as well as efforts to counter violence against women and girls (Afghanistan), to improve police responses to allegations of sexual assault (Nepal) and to advocate for employers to adopt policies on family violence (New Zealand). In each case, the NHRIs used personal testimonies, statistics and other research to engage journalists and ensure powerful media coverage of their work. 10.4. SETTING EXPECTATIONS The media is a marketplace of competing ideas. Every day there are a huge number of organizations and interest groups trying to capture the media’s attention and “sell” a message or story to the public. In turn, media consumers will generally look for and select only those news stories that interest them. In this context, building community awareness of a human rights issue and changing attitudes takes time and sustained coverage across multiple media outlets. It is important that NHRIs set realistic expectations about what can be achieved through media coverage of the issues they are seeking to promote. What you can expect to achieve • Set a news agenda and frame the public discussion. • Get people thinking and talking about the issue. • Encourage individuals, or certain groups, to take specific action. • Advocate for solutions and influence decision-makers. What you can’t expect to achieve • Communicate all your messages to all your priority groups. • Create unanimous support for your agenda. • Produce social and attitudinal change without supporting laws, programmes, policies and partners. Chapter 10: Working with the media | 95