The media play a huge role in shaping the national conversation on Medicare for All, often repeating problematic tropes like “But how can we afford it?” and “People like their insurance.” In this workshop at the Medicare for All Strategy Conference, Kenyon Farrow and Ben Palmquist walk participants through how these kinds of problematic narratives are rooted in coordinated corporate and racist strategies to undercut not just to Medicare for All, but all efforts to advance equity and justice through government, social solidarity and collective public action. They review the history of how the insurance industry and right-wing operatives pushed anti-government language into the mainstream, dissect specific frames and phrases used by the media that undermine Medicare for All and explore four strategies that organizers and activists can use to change the narrative: building relationships with journalists, producing their own media, using research, direct action and mutual aid to change the story and pressuring news and polling organizations to adopt unbiased language.

(Banner artwork © Nina Montenegro.)