No. 48 (2022): Communication and leadership of political women in local and regional spheres
Articles

Bringing about a Cultural Change: NGO’s Communication Strategy to Push Forwards Equal Marriage in Chile

Mario Álvarez Fuentes
Universidad de La Frontera, Chile
Camilo Muñoz Arias
Universidad de Las Américas, Chile.

Keywords

  • gestión de medios,
  • comunicación estratégica,
  • encuadre de injusticia,
  • subsidios de información,
  • impertinencia,
  • matrimonio igualitario
  • media advocacy,
  • strategic communication,
  • injustice frame,
  • information subsidies,
  • inappropriateness,
  • equal marriage

How to Cite

Álvarez Fuentes, M., & Muñoz Arias, C. (2022). Bringing about a Cultural Change: NGO’s Communication Strategy to Push Forwards Equal Marriage in Chile. Más Poder Local, (48), 135-157. https://doi.org/10.56151/612.4.113

Abstract

This article analyses how the spokespersons of two civil society organisations describe the communication strategy’s role in their pursuit of policy change. This document emerges out of narrative interviews with representatives of the two most prominent organisations advocating for equal marriage reform in Chile. Interviewees provide an account of their own experience as spokespersons of Movilh and Fundación Iguales as well as how they regard the relationship with Chilean media. From those narrations, three themes have emerged. Both interviewees regard media as allies, even the most conservative ones. When they attended media, they sought to change how the issue was framed. To do so, they showed it as an advocacy for «equal» marriage rather than as a «homosexual» marriage, which was the prevailing media frame. At the same time, they deployed a tactic to turn mediatised conversation into a hostile territory for conservative and homophobic voices. Both interviewees concur in they brought about a «cultural change» so that the legal reform became unavoidable.

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