Media and Messaging

Speakers and panels

You will often be invited by media outlets, campaigns and community groups to speak on a panel or to do a media interview. One of the best ways you can show your commitment to equality and diversity is to send a wide range of spokespeople to media and public events. Having a wide range of spokespeople is important in enabling our political institutions to reflect the diversity of the Scottish population. When choosing who to send to panel events, try to choose people with lived experiences of the issues to speak, especially if the topic of discussion is about equality or diversity. If nobody from these groups is available or feel able to speak, encourage the spokesperson to speak to them or the peer-support network beforehand.

When choosing speakers for media appearances and panels, it is tempting to always pick the same people who you know have previously performed well. However, if you do this you might be missing out on other talented people in your organisation who can do just as good a job, but might not have had the opportunity to showcase their skills before.

To increase the diversity of your panellists, you should be using positive actions. For example, you should consider encouraging speakers from overrepresented groups in the party to always ask who else is appearing on the panel before accepting an invite. If, for example, it’s an all-male panel, have a policy of suggesting a woman in the party to take their place. If it isn’t possible to send an alternative speaker, for example if you need to send a particular person from a specific party, parliamentary or council committee, encourage the person to speak about equality and diversity in their statement.

Other actions you could take to increase the variety of spokespeople you have include:

  • Running media training to develop public speaking and media skills in your members and reserving places for people from underrepresented groups
  • Including a session in media training about issues people from underrepresented groups might face when doing media appearances. For example, techniques for challenging Islamophobia in media interviews
  • Devoting some resource and staff time to promoting the work and campaigns of ethnic minority, LGBTI, women and disabled people’s networks in your party through press releases, press events, receptions etc.

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