Two political communication strategies: De-silo and counterframe

De-Silo

The Ink spoke to Anat Shenker-Osorio about messaging. Her podcast, Words to Win By, is about political messaging. One approach is "to expand fights for justice so they encompass not just the concerns of one group, but those of the entire community." The Ink writes: "After our discussion about how such a shift had transformed the fight for abortion rights, we asked her about what other issues needed de-siloing. What immediately came to mind was the battle for transgender rights and against renewed hostility from the right toward LBGTQ+ rights overall."

Shenker-Osorio says:

"Marriage equality, by the way, is a perfect example of de-siloing. The story about gay marriage used to be, 'Well, we should feel really sad for these particular people because they don't have this right and here's why Bob and Jerry or Lisa and Cindy deserve this right.'

But success was all about shifting the argument from ensuring that those people can have their thing to marriage equality. Love is love. Love makes a family. That's a universalizing message. I'm a straight lady, married to a man and I also believe that love is love. I also feel that my relationship is made out of love and it's made out of making a family."

She continues:

"...trans folks have absolutely been siloed and that is the right wing’s doing. It's part of the tactic...anytime we exceptionalize an issue, we are left in this very vulnerable place where the only people for whom this issue has saliency are the people who view themselves as directly impacted."

Counterframe

Advice from Bryn Nelson:

"Understanding the tactics used to spread disinformation could help disrupt the storyline, [Francesca] Tripodi told me. Unmasking the motives of snake oil sellers also might reduce some of their clout. Simply fighting their lies with data, however, may be a losing proposition, especially when they insist that they too deal with facts, not feelings, while doing the precise opposite.

[Daniel] Kreiss said elevating the voices of conservatives who support the science of global warming or gender-affirming care may be another way to scramble politicized narratives with a memorable counter-frame. Emphasizing the public health crisis that can result from bans on evidence-based care, such as endangering women and increasing the risk of suicide among transgender youth, also might provide an effective rebuttal. In particular, Kreiss says, getting people to talk publicly about what they or loved ones lost after being conned by false narratives can help drive home the very real and often very personal costs of all the lies."

We Must Face Down the Expanding Anti-Reality Industry: Exposing the antiscience playbook reveals the antiregulatory motives of its deep-pocketed bankrollers, Bryn Nelson, Scientific American, May 24, 2024