For earned media, your team should seek assistance from professional communications or media experts, potentially in one or more of your partner organizations. A minimum effort would include a press release to launch the survey and promote outreach to youth, followed by a media strategy to share the survey results. 

Your launch release and potential media interviews can focus on these angles:

• Reasons for delivering the survey, and why you’re doing it now 
• Who is involved in the survey (delivering it and responding to it)
• How the survey will add value – who will use the survey and how
• How and when to access the survey, including survey closing date
• Opportunities for youth participation
• Plans for responding to the survey results
• How the community can help promote the survey

Your follow-up release and interviews can focus on or respond to these angles:

• Reasons for delivering the survey, and why you’re doing it now
• Survey results – the key findings you want to communicate
• How the results compare to regional, national or other community data
• Any changes since the last survey
• What helps explain these results
• How young people are involved at different stages in the process
• Who is involved in the survey (delivering it and responding to it)
• How the survey adds value – who is using or will use the survey and how
• Plans or actions responding to the survey results
• Survey reliability and limitations
• How the community can help share and act on the survey findings

If you are engaging young people in media interviews, be sure to follow robust safeguarding and youth participation guidelines. These include full informed consent; pre-briefing; presence of a supportive adult; using minimal identifying information; and support for sensitive issues. The interviewer and young people being interviewed should be pre-briefed to avoid questions that are age-inappropriate or create risk in relation to privacy, consequences and triggering trauma. Young people’s input should be focused on their views, not their personal experiences, unless this is addressed within the safeguarding parameters.