How to Win Campaigns: 100 Steps to Success
Chis Rose, Earthscan, 2005
A detailed how-to that sets forth how to set up and run a successful campaign. Rose is one of the best grassroot's strategists around. See also a Guide to Networked Campaigns, 2016.

Don't Think of an Elephant: Know your Values and Frame the Debate
George Lakoff, Chelsea Green, 2004
Lakoff explains how to create your own frames and avoid strengthening the frames of those you oppose.

See also Framing Issues in the Media and Framing Interconnectedness.

McLuhan's Children:
The Greenpeace Message and the Media
Stephen Dale, Between the Lines, 1996
How Greenpeace built an international organization around campaigns that focused on providing the mass media with imagery.

Trust Me I'm Lying:
Confessions of a Media Manipulator
Ryan Holiday, Portfolio/Penguin, 2012
The author explains how he uses blogs to generate stories in the mainstream media. He says, "I'm going to explain exactly how the media really works. What you choose to do with this information is up to you."

Guerrilla PR:
How You can Wage an Effective Publicity Campaign without Going Broke
Michael Levine, Harper Business, NY, 1993.
This is not P.R. for guerrillas, but P.R. for people with no money. Citizen and public interest groups can benefit from this chatty but thorough book. Levine shows how to get publicity by coming up with ideas that engage the press. The first of his Ten Commandments for Dealing With Media is, "Never be boring. Never!"

Matthew's Media Directory
A very expensive periodical that lists the names and direct phone numbers for key people at every newspaper, radio and TV station in Canada. Copy relevant parts at the public library. Essential for making personal pitches.

Media Advocacy and Public Health
Lawrence Wallack et al, Sage Publications, New York, 1993.
Easily the most sophisticated book on tapping the media. Wallack and his co-authors show how citizens' groups can take action through the media that will nudge governments into "doing the right thing". If you're serious about achieving public policy objectives, get this book. Five Stars.

Making the News, A Guide for NonProfits and Activists
Jason Salzman, Westview Press, 1998
A pithy, easy-to-use handbook on working the media. Salzman based the book on interviews with media-savvy activists and 25 professional journalists. See also Getting Noticed.

The Citizen's Handbook / Home / Table of Contents
The Citizen's Handbook / Charles Dobson / citizenshandbook.org