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RURAL REALITY vs. REALITY TV:
ANATOMY OF A PUBLIC AWARENESS CAMPAIGN

Building a national alliance

CBS's proposed reality program makes light of severe problems confronting our nation's rural low-income communities. … We are concerned that the CBS network's program seems to exploit these challenges for its own corporate profit.

Christopher T. Gates
President, National Civic League

As a rural American and as someone who believes in respect and tolerance for all people, I join the Center for Rural Strategies in calling on CBS to abandon production of "The Real Beverly Hillbillies." Ridiculing rural Americans isn't funny; it's intolerant.

Morris Dees
Co-founder, Southern Poverty Law Center

No single rural region carries enough sway to influence a company like CBS. Therefore, it was necessary to create a national alliance that transcended both regional and rural-urban boundaries. National rural groups such as the National Rural Health Association signed on, as did rural community development organizations from Maine to California. This reinforced a sense of a national, rather than a regional, rural identity.

Similarly, the campaign sought to enlist the support of organizations not traditionally associated with rural causes. Some, such as the National Asian American Telecommunications Association, saw common cause in fighting against media stereotypes. Others, such as the National Civic League, saw the interrelationship between healthy urban communities and the rural communities surrounding them.

Alliance members were recruited through personal contacts, referrals, email promotions, and by carefully screening website comments to identify people with organizational connections. As a prominent feature on the website, the alliance helped broaden the campaign's appeal and show diverse, national support for Rural Strategies' efforts. The alliance has grown to more than 50 organizations representing faith-based ministries, nonprofits, media producers, civic institutions, veterans, artists and craftsmen, and private businesses.

NEXT: CBS on the defensive