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What People Say About Our Workshops

As an advertising professional, lending my expertise to peace and justice groups over the past 20 years I have found the greatest obstacle to our collective effectiveness in creating change is our mistrust of the media. The workshop was a dramatic event for me as I witnessed some of our angrier and more alienated coworkers begin to realize a new potential in themselves and in our community. I recommend it as required material for any group who wants to increase their effectiveness.

Jack Baker, Middle East Peace Education Committee
American Friends Service Committee
Seattle, Washington

I was delighted to get the chance to sit in on your media relations workshop at the Peace Brigades International annual conference. As a trainer and long-time grassroots organizer, I was as interested in your process as in your content, and I found both to be excellent. You were quite astute in the way you drew out participants' feelings of distrust and resistance to media work, and through skillful facilitation you allowed them to work through their hesitations and lack of confidence in order to develop a more proactive approach.

George Lakey, Director
Training Center Workshops,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

This was the first media communications work shop I have ever attended, and I found it extremely worthwhile. One of the veteran activists who was present said it was the best one she had ever attended. I highly recommend it to any individual or group which would like to learn how to communicate better with the public through the media.

John Reinke, Redmond, Washington

The workshop on Working with the Media which you conducted went beautifully. You did an excellent job both in teaching specific techniques for dealing constructively with the media and in facilitating discussion among a very interesting group of people with useful things to share with each other.

Dr. Laurence Michalak, Vice Chair
Univ. Of CA Center for Middle East Studies
Berkeley, California

I heartily endorse Peter Wirth's media training workshop. It is down-to-earth, clearly presented and highly motivational. He offers a step-by-step approach--writing news releases, cultivating reporters, arranging editorial board meetings, etc. I was lucky enough to sit in one of Peter's day long workshops.
People exited the workshop empowered and eager to do media outreach.

Jeff Cohen, Executive Director
Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting, New York

I recently attended your Media Workshop and what I learned was incredible! I now view the media as an asset in our peace and justice work rather than an adversary.
In just two months I have already seen results. You provided a basic review of how to write a press release and how to pitch a story. I was able to immediately apply this to a news event we planned and it generated very positive coverage, including a spot which ran several times on National Public Radio.

Gary Robbins, Peace & Justice Coordinator
Cincinnati, Ohio

Mr. Wirth has a quiet, informal and clear way of presenting his material to people who are discouraged, burnt out and angry, fighting for difficult issues. Mr. Wirth is non-defensive, a generous listener and holds true to his belief about how organizations can get media coverage for what seems like unpopular issues. I highly recommend him for delivering this workshop in a variety of settings.

Reva Camiel, PhD., MFCC
Owner Director, Diversity Works,
Sacramento, California

I want to thank you for what I learned in your Living Media workshop at the Guatemala conference in Cleveland. For me, it was like being given a pair of track shoes, and only just then realizing that I'd been trying to run in flip-flops.

Mary Alice Shemo, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

This fall I had the good fortune to hear Peter Wirth present his media workshop twice. On October 2nd at the Council for National Interest's Conference on the Middle East in Washington he presented it as a one-hour program without audience participation. I was so impressed with this program that I persuaded five other members of the Louisville Committee for Israeli/Palestinian states to attend his two day workshop in Louisville.
I recommend wholeheartedly Peter Wirth's workshop in either format. His information is valuable and practical. It empowers the listener with real tools to meet the press with realistic expectations and composure.

Beverly Marmion, Louisville, Kentucky

Peace Brigades International like many other progressive organizations, has largely given up on the mass media for being superficial, driven by image, sensational, inaccessible etc. Your workshop, however prompted us to re-examine many of these long-standing attitudes toward the media. Your strategic questioning led us to acknowledge that the mass media is a powerful resource for activists to use and not an adversary to avoid.

Ken Maclean, Co-Director
PBI/USA, Berkeley, California

Mr. Wirth appeared in front of our group of twenty political activists attached to the Greek Orthodox community in Portland. The two and a half hour session flew by and there was a great deal of the subject matter covered in the session. The handouts used by Mr. Wirth were excellent and the suggestions on how to approach a publication editorial board were well ordered and incisive. Peter Wirth did a truly excellent job. He is to be recommended.

Roger Buchanan, Portland, Oregon

We attended the June Media workshop you presented... as representatives of Najda: Women Concerned about the Middle East. We found the workshop to be extremely helpful. Not only was the workshop informative and the presentation style stimulating, we were able to put the lessons learned to immediate use.

Alice Kawash & Paula Rainy,
Women Concerned about the Middle East
Berkeley, California

 

GW Associates • 702 S. Beech Street • Syracuse, NY 13210
Voice: 315-476-3396 • Fax: 603-590-8273
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