Nothing says BOLD ACTION like our press work. We are working daily to cultivate relationships with journalists and educate the press about ME, and we are seeing immense results.
In the past few weeks alone, our relentless press work has resulted in the San Francisco Chronicle publishing a frontpage article about ME, featuring Whitney Dafoe and his family, and The New York Times publishing an editorial calling for society to wake up to the reality of ME.
Our press team worked with both of these journalists for months to first get their attention, and then to educate them about the many facets of our story. We’re incredibly grateful for people like Whitney, Therese and Emily who openly shared their stories with the world.
#MEAction is often in the background in these articles with a quote or two, but it takes enormous effort to pitch stories to journalists, correspond about the ins-and-outs of ME and Long COVID, interview with the journalist and follow up on the coverage!
And, those two articles are just the tip of the iceberg. We’ve cultivated relationships with journalists like Ed Yong at The Atlantic who recently wrote a crucial article about the lack of access to ME-literate clinicians. We’ve had countless conversations with Time reporter, Jaime Ducharme, over the past two years for her articles on Long COVID and ME. We’re developing rapport with reporters writing about ME in the context of Long COVID at the LA Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone and The Grid. And, that doesn’t even touch the national attention we received as a result of our #MillionsMissing protests in Washington, D.C., London and Scotland.
Our ability to keep our press work going strong is thanks to the support of people like you! Your donations make this all possible! Please DONATE TODAY to support the BOLD work of #MEAction.
And, in case you missed it, our #MillionsMissings protests in front of the White House in Washington, DC, at Parliament Square in London and in Scotland also generated a flurry of national attention- and that is because press outreach was a part of the strategy, planning, and execution.
Major news outlets wrote about our U.S. protest, including The New York Times, The Hill, MedPage Today, The BMJ, NPR and TIME. CNN journalist Morgan Stephens covered the protest on her Twitter, and Washington Post reporter, Taylor Lorenz, shared a story about the protest with her 109K Instagram followers.
The #MillionsMissing protests in the UK generated press coverage about ME in the Independent, the Times, and multiple pieces about protesters calling for research investment in the Daily Record. The Scottish Daily Express and The National published articles about the protests, their demands and what it means to live with ME. STV ran a segment about ME. The protests also generated a ton of local coverage. Sixteen local papers ran a syndicated article about the protest, including Glasgow Evening Times, London Evening Standard and Belfast Telegraph.
It has been an honor to educate journalists about ME at such major news outlets over the past three years. And, we’re just getting started. We still have so many stories to tell.
Please donate today to help us continue this vital BOLD work! We are 24% to our goal–help us cross the 30% threshold by the end of this week!
In solidarity,
Adriane Tillman
Public Relations Manager, #MEAction
