Part III Human rights education in practice Before developing the message, the NHRI first needs to: • understand what their priority audience knows about the issue • appreciate what their audience thinks and feels about the issue • engage with the issue from their audience’s perspective, based on shared values, aspirations and languages. If the goal is to encourage people to change how they think or act, then the message will need to include a positive motivation to change. It should resonate with the values held by that audience and generate a “head nod” response, where people recognize that the NHRI’s position is reasonable and credible. NHRIs should expect that they will face some criticism of, or resistance to, what they say or propose; after all, no social or policy change will ever meet with unanimous support. It is important then to anticipate which groups might be critical and what they might say. Conflict draws the media’s attention and NHRIs can use this as an opportunity to refute any inaccurate or unfair criticisms that have been made and then draw community attention back to the human rights issue under discussion. NHRIs should use facts and stories to restate their key messages and should never attack an “opponent” through the media. 10.5.3. Knowing when to engage – and when not to There will be times when it is not appropriate for the NHRI to speak publicly on an issue. There may be legal reasons (for example, court proceedings may be underway, or a report may be before the parliament) or it may be more effective to work towards an outcome or reform through confidential negotiations or specific human rights training programmes. The decision about whether or not to engage with the media on a particular issue must be strategic. Weighing up the advantages against the potential risks – either to the reputation of the NHRI or the misrepresentation of a human rights issue – will help the NHRI to make that choice and determine how it will respond to requests for comment from the media. Most NHRIs have developed media policies that set out an internal process for receiving and responding to requests from journalists for information or interviews. The media policy may also identify which Commission members and staff have authority to speak on behalf of the NHRI on certain topics. 10.6. ELEMENTS OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION Human rights issues can be dense and complex to explain. This can pose challenges in gaining media coverage as journalists generally prefer to report on issues or events that are “black and white”. The language of human rights – legal, technical and full of acronyms – can also be a barrier to clear communication. NHRIs have a responsibility to translate and present their work and issues in ways that journalists and the public can understand and relate to on a human level. Communicate through values: The values that people hold are central to how they see the world and act in the world. These values are shaped are shaped over a long time through interactions with family, friends, faith communities and other important people in their lives. NHRIs need to communicate in terms that recognise and affirm to these deeply held values. Chapter 10: Working with the media | 97