NTI and Ploughshares Release Guide to Shift the Narrative on Nuclear Weapons

At a time when nuclear threats are on the rise and attention to the issue has dwindled, the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) and Ploughshares this week released a practical, research-based guide designed to reverse the dominant narrative that nuclear weapons keep us safe.

Rewriting the Narrative on Nuclear Weapons: A research-based guide to building a safer future provides those seeking to reduce nuclear risks and eventually eliminate nuclear weapons an evidence-based narrative framework to connect with a supermajority of Americans to shift policy, practices, and beliefs by focusing on shared values.

“This new narrative—and its implementation—is designed to move advocates of nuclear risk reduction and disarmament out of a defensive stance and communicate in a way that taps values shared by a supermajority of Americans,” Ploughshares President Emma Belcher and NTI President and Chief Operating Officer Joan Rohlfing write at the start of the guide. “Working together, we can persuade people that nuclear weapons put us all at great risk, that the solutions we seek will make us safer, and that everyone can play a role in building a safer world.”

The guide was developed with the social-change agency Metropolitan Group using existing research; new research, including focus groups and a news audit by ReThink Media; and input from the nuclear risk-reduction and disarmament field.

The full narrative framework in the guide includes:

• A top-line narrative: “Every step we take to reduce the threat of nuclear weapons brings us closer to creating the safer and sustainable future we all deserve.”
• A narrative statement, which incorporates the core values that resonate with a supermajority of the U.S. public.
• An expanded narrative, which includes messages and proof points that resonated with base and persuadable audiences.
• Storytelling imperatives with best practices for changing the narrative on nuclear weapons.
• A checklist for more effective communication and narrative implementation.

Download the full narrative guide here.