Justin Kenney: Oceans and the Public Eye

Justin Kenney works for the Pew Charitable Trust: his job is to guide Pew's work where it touches the oceans and climate change. (There is a fact sheet on the conference table -- pick one up.)

He tells us a little bit about the Pew Oceans Commission -- a blue ribbon panel of 18 commissioners (each with staff and help) convened to look at the ocean a few years ago. Climate change wasn't a primary focus of that group (fishing, pollution & development were). If the panel were convened today, climate change would be at the top of the list.

When the Oceans Commission convened, the oceans weren't high on anyone's list -- even environmental groups were generally thinking about land habitats, not ocean ones. So getting attention and public interest focused on the oceans was their first challenge. The second challenge was establishing credibility: fishermen and scientists said, "who the heck are you guys" to Pew at first. And the third was developing a report and spreading their findings to important audiences. He says each stage took a lot longer than they planned or expected.

He tells us about the challenge of building awareness and establishing credibility. It's hard. You have to work almost one person at a time. We'd talk to anyone, we'd go to any group. Publishing reports helps -- it gives you news events and reasons to convene. But you also have to build relationships. If you're in town, just go talk to a reporter. You aren't looking for an article the next day, you're trying to establish a relationship that will pay dividends and give you long term credibility.

Step 2: building credibility. The name "Pew" carries some baggage -- not just $$ but also advocacy. People wanted to know whether the Oceans Commission was neutral, science-based, and what side of the policy question they came down on.

Step 3: Closing the deal. Once you have credibility and trust, you can then deliver a report. Here's what we learned. As a Commission, we had to speak with one voice. A lot of the people who are listening will want to use your science for their own ends and take bits and pieces to supplement their own agendas. We had to stay on message.

Scientists are the most credible spokespeople. We had scientists on the panel, and we took advantage of that.

You need to link problems with solutions. If you are putting a problem out there, you need to add a solution right behind it, or people will get overwhelmed.

You need to plan your communications strategy right from the very beginning. It's everyone's job, but you need to dedicate the resources to have one person who has the primary responsibility. You need to open up, and invite the press and the world into your work -- the earlier, the better. Explain why you're doing the work you do, what's going to matter, where you think it's going. You're not aiming for an article the next day you talk to a reporter. You're looking for a long term relationship. And you need to be local -- find a local angle so a reporter has a tie in to their audience.