Approach
M+R facilitated weekly coalition meetings to strategize around materials development and press outreach in the lead-up to oral arguments before the Supreme Court. We maintained internal communication with coalition members via weekly email updates that reported on action items, trends in press coverage, ongoing press outreach to reporters, and coordination needs for larger activations, like press briefings.
M+R developed, with input from various stakeholders, a toolkit to ensure coalition members and partners were driving a consistent message. The toolkit outlined key public messages and talking points for the case, namely around EMTALA (Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act), the long-standing federal law underlying the case that guarantees everyone treatment for emergency medical conditions. This messaging was then repurposed into other iterations tailored for Hill staffers and reporters, and anchored all press pitches and external communications.
Virtual press briefings were a key tactic that M+R used to drive reporter engagement. We held two briefings—one ahead of the oral arguments, and a second immediately responding to the oral arguments. These briefings featured a mix of experts, advocates, and directly impacted speakers and were some of NWLC’s most successful press briefings to date, attended by top reporters from outlets including ABC News, Associated Press, BBC, The Hill, Huffington Post, The Intercept, Los Angeles Times, Mother Jones, Ms. Magazine, National Journal, New York Times, NPR, POLITICO, Salon, USA Today, Voice of America, Vox and Wall Street Journal.
M+R also regularly monitored overall sentiment and tone of the conversation around EMTALA and related issues in national and select local media and on social media. We used these observations to identify opportunities to elevate the coalition’s voices and key narratives, and reporters that were engaging on the issue.
