Media advocacy is the strategic use of media to gain community and decision-maker support for changing community norms and standards and potential solutions. Media advocacy is a critical element of an environmental prevention project because it links all the other components of the environmental prevention model into a cohesive holistic approach.

The role of media advocacy often evolves during different phases of an environmental prevention project. In early phases of a project, media advocacy can be used to raise awareness of the problem on the public agenda and to highlight possible policy-focused solutions. Media advocacy provides a vehicle for high-visibility community response and can be used to demonstrate community support for proposed environmental prevention solutions. Throughout the life of a project, media advocacy can be used effectively to highlight project successes.

Media advocacy often is used to:

• Raise the issue on the public agenda
• Reveal the magnitude and scope of a problem
• Frame an issue
• Introduce solutions
• Empower stakeholders
• Apply pressure and give cover to those who can create change
• Highlight change as it happens
• Promote enforcement