UNITED POULTRY CONCERNS SIXTH ANNUAL FORUM 2006
Register online at www.upc-online.org
Using the Media Effectively to Promote Farmed Animal & Vegetarian Issues
Saturday, April 8 – Sunday April 9, 2006
University Plaza Hotel & Conference Center
3110 Olentangy River Road
Columbus, Ohio
Toll-free: 877-677-5292
PROGRAM
Saturday, April 8, 2006
Morning
8:00 - 8:30 Registration, Continental Breakfast, Exhibit Tables
8:30 - 8:40 Welcome by Karen Davis, President of United Poultry Concerns
8:45 - 9:25 Jeff Sharp and Holli Kendall - “Ohioans’ Views of Livestock And Animal Welfare”
9:30 -10:10 Kim Sturla - “Are You Media Savvy? – a 5-Question Quiz”
10:15 -10:25 BREAK
10:30 -11:10 Dr. Sherri Tenpenny - “Bird Flu: It’s Not What You Think”|
11:15 - 11:50 Open Panel Discussion on Morning Presentations|
Noon - 1:00 Buffet Luncheon
Afternoon
1:15 -1:30 Announcements, Introduce Afternoon Session
1:35 - 2:15 – Nathan Runkle - “Effectively Exposing Factory Farm Cruelty”
2:20 - 3:00 – Karen Dawn - “Moving the Media”
3:00 - 3:15 BREAK
3:15 - 4:00 Open Panel Discussion & Q&A
4:00 - 4:15 Closing Remarks
4:15 - 5:00 Book Signing, Visit Exhibit Tables, Socialize
7:00 - 9:00 Film Presentation: The Emotional World of Farm Animals”
PROGRAM
Sunday, April 9, 2006
Morning
8:00 - 8:30 Registration, Continental Breakfast, Exhibit Tables
8:30 - 8:40 Welcome by Karen Davis, President of United Poultry Concerns
8:45 - 9:25 Louie b.Free - “How to Be a Great Guest on Talk Radio”
9:30 - 10:10 Debra Probert - “Turning Chickens Into Elephants”
10:15 - 10-25 BREAK
10:30 - 11:10 Bruce Friedrich - “PETA’s Fast Food Campaigns: Case Studies in Working with the Media”
11:15 - 11:50 Open Panel Discussion on Morning Presentations
Noon - 1:00 Buffet Luncheon
Afternoon
1:15 - 1:30 Announcements, Introduce Afternoon Session
1:35 - 2:15 Paul Shapiro - “Putting the Chicken Before the Egg: The Campaign To Ban Battery Cages”
2:20 - 3:00 Karen Davis - “Stick Up For Chickens – Don’t Apologize!”
3:00 - 3:15 BREAK
3:15 - 4:00 Open Panel Discussion, Q&A
4:00 - 4:15 Closing Remarks
4:15 - 5:00 Book Signing, Visit Exhibit Tables, Socialize
Speakers & Topics
In “Stick Up for Chickens – Don’t Apologize!” Karen Davis will present her 8-point program for speaking confidently and affirmatively to the media and the public on behalf of animals. First presented as a speech at the 7th Annual International Animal Rights Symposium in Washington, DC, Karen’s “Rhetoric of Apology in Animal Rights” gives specific examples of how activists often inadvertently, sometimes intentionally, deprecate animals and their own advocacy in order to placate the media/public and try to win support – a big mistake. Affirmative counter strategies will be presented.
Karen Davis, PhD is the founder and President of United Poultry Concerns, a nonprofit organization that promotes the compassionate and respectful treatment of domestic fowl. She is the founding editor of UPC’s quarterly magazine Poultry Press, selected by Utne magazine in 2005 as one of the best nonprofit publications in North America. Her books include Prisoned Chickens, Poisoned Eggs: An Inside Look at the Modern Poultry Industry; More Than a Meal: The Turkey in History, Myth, Ritual, and Reality; and The Holocaust and the Henmaid’s Tale. A member of the Animal Rights Hall of Fame and featured in many media outlets over the years, Karen maintains a sanctuary for chickens at UPC’s headquarters in Virginia.
In “Moving the Media,” Karen Dawn will talk about the ways in which activists can influence media coverage via the power of feedback. She will show how positive feedback for hard-hitting animal cruelty stories can give reporters license to do follow-ups, and how constructive criticism can change the slant of the coverage in major media outlets. She will also cover letters to the editor, discussing how different types of stories can serve as jump off points for comments about institutionalized animal cruelty or about the pleasures of plant-based diets.
Karen Dawn created and runs the animal advocacy media watch DawnWatch.com which updates subscribers on media stories relevant to animal rights issues and encourages them to respond with feedback to shows or letters to the editor. Her commentaries have appeared in The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, New York’s Newsday and the UK Guardian, and she was featured in a New York Times piece on the Hurricane Katrina Animal disaster. As a spokesperson for the animal protection movement, Karen has appeared on MTV, published essays in current anthologies, and lectures at national animal rights conferences. In 2004 Karen hosted a 16-week animal issues series on the Los Angeles Pacifica station, KPFK. It is archived at WatchdogRadio.com.
In “How to Be a Great Guest on Talk Radio,” Louie b.Free will explain how to be a successful guest and call-in speaker on talk radio. Using example from the Louie Free Radio Show and other radio venues, he’ll explain the dos and don’ts of speaking credibly and with confidence in the often contentious dialogue format of the talk radio show. What should you do? What should you never do? How do you handle it when the radio show host tries to put you down, cuts you off, or says you have just 30 seconds to wrap up? How do you stay serious and focused without coming off as a scold or a prig?
Louie b.Free is the host of the Louie b.Free Radio Show in Youngstown, Ohio. His “Brainfood From the Heartland” daily show is a mix of politics from local to international, plus social and spiritual issues, including animal rights and vegetarianism, that are close to his heart and reflect his belief that there’s an audience interested in an “intelligent alternative to the pablum which passes as talk radio today.” Louie’s perseverance in exposing former U.S. Congressman James Traficant’s corruption caused him to be fired from 3 different radio stations and led to national exposure as Louie appeared on ABC’s Nightline and was quoted in U.S. News and World Report, The Nation, and other publications.
In “PETA’s Fast Food Campaigns: Case Studies in Working with the Media,” Bruce Friedrich will discuss the media component of PETA’s campaigns focused on convincing fast food outlets and other corporations to improve their animal welfare standards. He’ll discuss what worked, what didn’t, and how to handle interviews and work with your local media on stories and broadcast appearances that will best help animals.
Bruce Friedrich is the director of farmed animal and vegan campaigns for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). He has overseen some of PETA’s most successful campaigns, has been responsible for many articles in all of North America’s top newspapers, and has appeared on a variety of TV programs, from the Today Show to the O’Reilly Factor.
In “Turning Chickens into Elephants, or, If You Want to Become Famous, Be a Chicken Lady,” Debra Probert will focus on what worked, what didn’t and why during three recent very different media campaigns coordinated by the Vancouver Humane Society. The first, to galvanize public pressure to have an ailing captive elephant surrendered to a sanctuary rather than sold to another zoo; the second, to reveal the horrible cruelty of the mass slaughter of chickens during the avian flu outbreak in British Columbia; and the third, the release of the first-ever video expose of a filthy, but commonplace, battery-hen farm in Canada owned by a poultry veterinarian.
Debra Probert has been a passionate defender of animals all her life and has been Executive Director of the Vancouver Humane Society since 1996. She took VHS from a small grassroots group to become one of the most respected animal protection organizations in Canada. A primary focus of VHS is the Chicken Out! Project, which endeavors to educate the public about the cruelty involved in egg production. Debra is a committed vegetarian, having stopped eating meat after seeing a truckload of chickens on their way to a slaughterhouse. She is proud to be referred to as a “spent hen” by her staff.
In “Effectively Exposing Factory Farm Cruelty – How to Open Hearts and Minds Using Undercover Investigations, Open Rescues, TV Advertisements, and Grassroots Activism,” Nathan Runkle will show why undercover investigations are important to the animal protection movement and how to effectively gain media attention through news conferences and newspapers and TV exclusives. Find out what an open rescue is, how they are conducted, how they are portrayed in the media, and the history and success of this tactic. Also learn how to become the media through TV advertisements. Nathan will discuss the creation, cost, and placement of ads and how to reach your target audience effectively.
Nathan Runkle is the founder and Executive Director of the nonprofit animal advocacy organization Mercy For Animals. Nathan has helped organize and execute MFA’s undercover investigations at Ohio’s four largest egg factory farms. Through his work with MFA, Nathan has appeared in stories by dozens of newspapers and radio programs, as well as on PBS, NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox affiliates. He has organized hundreds of demonstrations and educational outreach events throughout Ohio and is a frequent speaker on farmed animal issues at national conferences, as well as at high schools and colleges.
In “Putting the Chicken Before the Egg: The Campaign to Ban Battery Cages,” Paul Shapiro will show how the campaign by The Humane Society of the United States is utilizing a variety of strategies to keep battery-cage cruelty in the news and egg-laying hens out of battery cages. For more than a year, HSUS has pursued an aggressive agenda to end the egregious factory farming practice of confining nearly 300 million hens in cages so restrictive they can’t even spread their wings. Paul will also discuss the role press releases play in gaining media attention and what activists need to know about writing and distributing an effective press release.
Paul Shapiro is director of the Factory Farming Campaign of The Humane Society of the United States. He has spearheaded successful campaigns to improve the plight of farmed animals, most notably a four-month campaign that led Trader Joe’s to stop selling battery-cage eggs under its label. Prior to working for HSUS, Paul was the campaigns director of Compassion Over Killing, where he helped lead campaigns such as the successful effort to end the use of the misleading “Animal Care Certified” logo on battery-cage egg cartons.
In “Ohioans’ Views of Livestock and Animal Welfare,” Jeff Sharp and Holli Kendall will draw on data from the Ohio Survey of Food, Agriculture and Environmental Issues of 2002 and 2004 to describe views Ohioans have about livestock production in Ohio as well as Ohioans’ views of select aspects of farm animal welfare. The presentation also draws on select national and international public survey results to further illuminate aspects of public views about the livestock industry and farm animal welfare.
Jeff Sharp is associate professor of Rural Sociology in the Department of Human and Community Resource Development at Ohio State University. There are two core themes of his research: 1) understanding the evolution of agriculture at the rural-urban interface, with special attention to local food system development and 2) measuring public attitudes about topical food, agriculture, and environmental issues. Data for the latter activity are from the biennial Ohio Survey of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Issues, which he directs.
Holli Kendall is a PhD candidate in Rural Sociology at Ohio State University. Her specialty areas are social stratification and social change and development. Her research involves human/non-human animal relationships in modern society, with an emphasis on attitudes toward animals and examining animals’ place in society from an inequality perspective.
In “Are You Media Savvy?” Kim Sturla will present a 5-question comical quiz that will focus on:
Contacts: who do you contact when you want media coverage?
Release: How do you pitch your story?
Knowledge: do you have all the facts?
Stage fright: camera is shoved in front of you – what do you do?
Presentation: day of your media event, what preparation is in place and who is your spokesperson?
Kim will start with the quiz, use it to launch discussion of some main points, then show 6-minutes DVD of a chicken rescue and live interview she did that showed footage inside the factory, ending with why this rescue was such a success media-wise.
Kim Sturla is the Executive Director of Animal Place – a sanctuary and education center for farmed animals that she co-founded in 1989. Kim has worked in animal protection for 30 years, beginning in the animal shelter field. Animal Place is an urban sanctuary located in northern California just 40 miles from San Francisco and Sacramento.
In “Bird Flu: It’s Not What You Think,” Dr. Sherri J. Tenpenny will highlight important themes from her new book Fowl! The avian flu scare is the latest act in an ongoing world government drama involving betrayals on many levels. Sherri will expose: Who wants chickens dead? Who benefits from the destruction of the family farm? What are the real reasons that domestic chickens and ducks are sick? What is the connection between toxic environmental conditions and the death of migratory birds? Why are human deaths associated with bird flu concentrated in Southeast Asia? Who benefits from the manufacture of a “pandemic vaccine”? What can we do?
Sherri J. Tenpenny, D.O. is the President and CEO of OsteoMed II, a clinic established in 1996 to provide integrative medicine, a combination of conventional and alternative medicine, for patient care. Dr. Tenpenny is an established expert in the area of alternative medicine who, in addition to appearing on many radio and television talk shows, has had articles published in national magazines and newspapers. She’s lectured at Cleveland State University and Case Western Reserve Medical School, and has spoken at many conventions on topics related to health and problems associated with mass vaccination not generally portrayed by conventional medicine.
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United Poultry Concerns, Inc.