2010 - Public Relations Society of America

Research. A key area of CTFK’s website is the “Research and Facts” section. This area
provides users with a wealth of information that is thorough and covers a variety of topics,
issues, types of resources including fact sheets, special reports, tobacco political action
committee contributions, and web resources. This research has either been conducted directly by
the CTFK or it has compiled secondary research into usable formats.
The research covers a range of topics from exposing tobacco industry tactics, to policy
statements regarding the FDA legislation, cigarette taxes, smoke-free workplaces, and spending
on tobacco prevention and cessation program. This research is to be used by a wide variety of
people, including the press. Out of the 124 articles analyzed from the Lexis-Nexis search, 36
specifically relied on and quoted research from the CTFK. These articles did not include specific
quotes from individuals, only the information from the research. The press has identified the
research developed by CTFK as a credible source for information on tobacco control issues.
CTFK’s research focus is demonstrated by Novelli, board of directors chair:
You can’t be an advocate without good policy research and analysis. So that was part of
our structure from day one. We had to have that. It wasn’t that we had to do all original
research, far from it, but we had to be synthesizers of research, packagers of research,
promoters of research and then we were doing our own research in terms of polling,
message testing and things like that.
Not only does CTFK do research on issues, but they also develop message testing and
research on its communication tactics prior to implementation. Spivak stated, “we do focus
groups, we do polling, we understand what resonates with people, and we spend the money to
make sure we know what resonates with people and then we use it.”
Integrated with other departments. Sometimes communication departments may
operate separately from other departments and only coordinate when needed. That is not the
case with CTFK. The communication team is integrated into meetings and decision-making on
campaigns and efforts with the other departments through participation on task forces. The
message development is developed through a “kind of an interdepartmental decision making
process. Everybody has a hand in it” according to Spivak.
This idea was echoed in the statements of Fisher, vice president of state issues, as well:
We’re a very collegial group. Obviously we have an org chart and there are lines of
authority and so forth… It’s not just my state team with the advocacy department that is
working on state issues. It’s the research team and the communications team, everybody,
we all work across it, everybody’s involved to achieve all of those goals.
Hutchinson said that the “international people come pick our brains…[asking] well what
do you guys do in the states to get around something like this? We have this wealth of
information to share with our newer folks who are doing similar things internationally…we’re all
very interconnected.” However, the feeling is not necessarily mutual coming from the
international department. Yin, associate director of international communication, stated, “we
(the international division) try very hard to communicate and learn the best practices from the
domestic part. But…the international staff travels so much and are so busy that people don’t do
enough communication and learning and experience sharing.” She goes on to talk about how she
hopes this changes in the future.
Activists Influencing Social Movements Through Communication
Based on the definition developed by Diani (1992) that a social movement is “a process
whereby several different actors, be they individuals, informal groups and/or organisations, come
to elaborate, through either joint action or communication, a shared definition of themselves as
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