Well that's a pork pie...

  
Downing Street's denial of Cherie Blair's 'Well that's a lie' comment during Gordon Brown's conference speech has itself produced similar comments across the news media. Nobody believes them - or wants to believe them. And no news editor in his or her right mind is going to ignore the story on the basis that the Bloomberg editor who overheard Cherie's comment might have got it wrong.

It's a classic example of a news story generated by the very presence of the news media themselves. It is no headline-grabbing revelation that Cherie doesn't like Gordon. Her husband admitted as much in his carefully formulated 'bloke next door' joke in his Conference speech yesterday.

It's the fact that Cherie was (might have been) heard to utter the remark by a journalist, that makes it such an interesting story - even more significant than the conversation between Blair and Bush that was recently overheard through an open microphone. It provides the hook for the story and sets an agenda for much comment and analysis. The fact that the agenda is not the one that the Labour Party was trying to orchestrate, makes it even more attractive.

Contributors to the Guardian's Organ Grinder blog have certainly had a lot of fun with Downing Street's suggestion that Cherie had actually said something else that just sounded like 'Well that's a lie'. Here's one example of a comment that all political spin is ultimately futile.

If I was married to Tony Blair, I'm sure that 'that's a lie' would be one of my most used phrases.

WMDs in Iraq? That's a lie. Didn't expose Dr David Kelly. That's a lie. Didn't sell peerages. That's a lie. Didn't agree to a war with Bush. That's a lie. Will be whiter than white. That's a lie.

Filed under:
Cherie Blair   spin   Labour Party   

Does PR need to work on its own PR?

Last week's Press Gazette put the spotlight on Talk PR's 'gloves off' approach to journalists invited to a party sponsored by Perrier Jouet champagne. Everyone knows that a major part of PR work is getting positive media coverage for your client but it is clearly stepping over the line for many journalists to be told that they must name-check the client as a condition for accepting the invitation.

This is the sort of practice that some journalists love to expose, if only to enhance their credentials as crusading seekers of truth who would never follow a news agenda dictated by PR people. Ten years after BBC's Panorama made public the practices of political spin doctors, the PR industry still has its work cut out to counter hostile media representation. The term 'PR' often carries negative connotations when used, for example, in political interviews - 'are you telling us the truth or is this just PR?'

Edward Bernays claimed to have invented the term 'public relations' to put a positive gloss on the practices of 'propaganda'. Today, PR practitioners scorn any suggestion that their work has anything to do with propaganda and that PR is much more about maintaining equilibrium and building up relationships. But listen to how PR is discussed or referred to by some journalists and you may wonder whether it's time for a new alternative term to be invented.


Filed under:
Press Gazette   Panorama   spin   propaganda   Bernays   

Telegraph gets radical

Things are likely to get quiet on the Screaming Headlines front for a couple of weeks while my wife and I visit friends and family in the USA. We'll be living out of suitcases for much of the time but if I can get access to a computer I will check in and pass on any observations that seem fit.

Meanwhile - just so that I have it here as an archive - here's a link to Strive PR's comments on a digital revolution taking place at the Telegraph. We’re looking here at some radical changes, indicating how newspapers are responding to changes in technology and how that impacts on the dissemination and reading of news.

The blog refers to this Press Gazette story which quotes the Telegraph group Chief executive Murdoch MacLennan:

Readers are migrating online, and advertisers are following them. People are demanding customised news, wherever and whenever they want it.

Whether its customer-driven or technology-driven, the concept of the ‘newspaper’ is shifting from a definitive factual account of ‘today’s big stories’ landing on your porch every morning, to an ever-changing, constantly updated narrative delivered on ‘a wide range of platforms’.


Filed under:
Telegraph   new_media   online news   Press Gazette   

Confessions of a folk music journalist

My colleague Andrew Dubber is putting together a report on last weekend's IASPM conference in Birmingham. I gave a paper entitled 'Regulating the amateur: traditional music and cultural control' - slightly off topic for this blog although my perspective as a music journalist (specialising in folk music) is relevant to the argument that I was setting out.

I argued that amateur music practices (such as folk clubs, music sessions, etc.) have to deal with sources of 'tension' which effectively impose a dominant construction of popular music and the circumstances in which it should be performed. These sources come in various guises, which I grouped under three headings: the music industry as a commercial practice, bureaucratic and adminstrative regulators (e.g. the PRS, local authorities granting entertainments licenses, etc.) and the transformation of folk and traditional music into commodified forms (Irish theme pubs, medieval banquets, etc.)

As a music journalist I often find myself having to 'interpret' folk music events into 'news' stories that make them more accessible to some imagined 'average reader'. I had the same challenge when I used to host a folk music programme on BBC local radio that was scheduled for the latter part of 'drivetime'. Anything less obscure that Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon or Steeleye Span couldn't be broadcast until after 6.30pm when 'drivetime' was deemed to have finished.

I recently suggested to readers of Mediations that the ultimate PR challenge is to make folk music socially acceptable. The idea was so incredible that no-one took it seriously.


Filed under:
IASPM   folk music   music_journalism   music_PR   folk journalism   

Sun reveals plot to divide and rule

This blog would not live up to its name without comment on today’s Sun headline: MAD MAP TO LEAVE BRITAIN IN BITS

The story presses all the right buttons: Europe, threat to our nation, the Germans… the map even looks like something from the opening credits of Dad’s Army

‘The Sun Says…’ column adopts a robust response to the ‘masterplan’ to redraw the boundaries of Europe and revive the idea of a single Europe superstate:

Their Federal Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee says: “There is great hope underlying the goal of a United Europe that we can permanently overcome old borders”.
Not if The Sun has anything to do with it, Wolfgang.

Hope I don’t sound complacent, but I can’t see my address changing yet to UCE, Birmingham, North Sea Region – unless the cunning Germans are trying to pre-empt the effects of serious coastal erosion.


Filed under:
Sun   Europe

Thanks to Philip Young of Mediations

Lively, breezy news for Londoners

Copies of Rupert Murdoch’s thelondonpaper being are now handed out free of charge to our capital’s commuters, a week after the launch of Associated Newspapers’ London Lite freebie. The
BBC News Magazine website asks if all newspapers in the future will be free.

The article covers topics that are already raised in this blog: the potential ‘market’ of young people who don’t read news papers but get their fix of news online; and predictions of the death of newspapers altogether.

It also raises what should be an obvious but nevertheless important point about producing newspapers on the cheap to get people into the ‘newspaper consumption’ habit, ready to be targeted by advertisers. The article cites Roy Greenslade:

Ultimately they will breed in people the idea that news shouldn't cost anything, even that news is cheap. But in fact, news, done well and properly, requires investment and money.

Try telling that to the market. Copies of the latest free newspapers to hit London have yet to found their way to my quiet little backwater in the Provinces, so I can’t yet comment on whether ‘free’ news in these publications is news worth reading. The Press Gazette announced last month that thelondonpaper was planning to take on some reasonably heavyweight journalists – an attempt presumably by News International to establish it as a ‘serious’ rival to the ominously named London Lite. Head of Associated Newspapers’ Free Newspaper Division, Steve Auckland
is reported as saying:

We are convinced that its lively, breezy format will be very attractive to advertisers and to a large audience of young Londoners, who have given up on newspapers such as The Sun.

News International didn’t want to hang around to let Associated Newspapers establish a strong foothold. The launch date of the londonpaper was brought forward from September 18th.

I wonder which newspaper will be the first to pay people money to read it.


Filed under:
thelondonpaper London Lite News International Associated Newspapers
free newspapers advertising Press Gazette

When does PR become spin?

1. When it's Government PR
2. When there are 3200 press officers employed by the Government.

Great story for The Telegraph


Filed under:
spin   government PR

Who's afraid of Media Studies?

Whenever I hear the likes of BBC Radio 4's John Humphrys or Radio 5 Live’s Peter Allen knocking Media Studies degrees, I wonder what these guys are afraid of.

Do such critics really believe that the media are so transparent, so unproblematic, so inconsequential and with such little impact on the way we think, consume, vote, choose our friends, choose our enemies, etc., that they are not worthy of critical study? Would they prefer it if students didn’t learn about such things?

It’s usually around the time that A-level results come out that those of us who teach Media Studies find ourselves having to defend our existence against a barrage of mainly media-inspired propaganda against such courses.

The argument rumbles on with this article that appeared in the Independent On Sunday. The debate sets up the usual positions of academic-vs-vocational education and the value of each although the article does attempt to offer a balanced view.

There are still many media organisations which look to media course providers to concentrate on vocational skills and ditch the theory. But this leaves open the scary prospect of newspapers and broadcasters staffed by people who know how to use a computer or microphone but have no idea how to construct an intelligent argument or give an objective interpretation of what’s happening in the world. We've all witnessed the inane gibberings of those lifestyle journalists, television continuity announcers and local radio presenters who fit into this category.

It’s interesting that the article equates Media Studies with Journalism courses. One of my family members is studying for a Joint Honours in Media AND Journalism at De Montfort University, which clearly does draw a distinction between the two disciplines. I teach on a degree at UCE which offers a wide range of specialist routes through Media Studies - journalism, radio, TV and video, web design, photography, music industries and, interestingly, PR.

PR has been (still is) traditionally seen as part of the domain of business schools and degrees in Marketing. However, its agenda-setting influence on other media practices (especially journalism) and its central role in promotional culture makes it an important and valid – some would say vital – object of study for students of media and culture.

If media studies graduates spent three years simply learning which buttons to press, then the critics might have a point. But a degree course is more than a training programme. It should be encouraging would-be media workers to address some fundamental questions about media production – not only ‘how do we do it?’ but also ‘what is it doing to us?’


Filed under:
Media Studies   journalism education   journalism training    Independent   UCE   
De Montfort University   PR education

Do newspapers have a future?

Well, do they? And does journalism? These are questions that were raised last week in The Economist’s cover story and commented on by Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger and Independent editor Simon Kelner on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

The article asks whether the demand for newspapers will disappear as more of us turn to the Internet for our news. Much of the Radio 4 discussion focuses on the market and money – whether the impact of the fall of readership and advertisers and the costs of investing in new technology will see the demise of newsprint. Both editors, from their perspectives in the quality sector, don’t believe this will happen in the foreseeable future but comment that newspapers will have to adapt to survive the digital age.

The impact on journalism itself is something else that The Economist raises. As readership declines, economies are made in the newsroom itself:

In order to cut costs, (newspapers) are already spending less on journalism. Many are also trying to attract younger readers by shifting the mix of their stories towards entertainment, lifestyle and subjects that may seem more relevant to people's daily lives than international affairs and politics are.

Lifestyle, consumer-orientated and celebrity ‘journalism’ costs considerably less than journalism that investigates, travels the globe and holds politicians and governments to account. There is a growing number of ‘news’ sources – PR and promotions people – who are only too happy to make life easier for the journalist and cheaper for the newspaper in a professional environment driven by market pressures.

As a consequence, news media are increasingly dependent on PR, a situation that many commentators have seen as a threat to the status of journalism itself. The Economist continues:

Journalism schools and think-tanks, especially in America, are worried about the effect of a crumbling Fourth Estate. Are today's news organisations “up to the task of sustaining the informed citizenry on which democracy depends?” asked a recent report about newspapers from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

The article reminds us that democracy has survived television and points to positive influences of the Internet – news aggregation websites, online versions of specific newspapers (especially The Guardian) and the ‘new force of “citizen” journalists and bloggers … itching to hold politicians to account.’

Last year, one of the most popular topics selected by my first-year journalism students for a research assignment was the impact of the Internet on news reporting. It’s encouraging to see that journalists of the future are taking such an active interest in the future of journalism.


Filed under:
online news   new media   Guardian    Independent   Economist   Today programme   
PR sources   lifestyle journalism   Fourth Estate   journalism education

Corporate Blogging la la la la la

‘Blogosphere loosens grip on communication controls’ screams one of the headlines in this month’s edition of the CIPR’s Profile magazine.

The article by Torin Douglas describes how large companies are now testing the waters. BT’s chief operating officer John Pettifer is about to start his own blog. It continues:

The decision follows much internal debate and some nervousness in the company’s communications department, because blogs are by definition interactive – a conversation, not a column – and employees and customers are invited to join in the discussion.

It’s interesting that a company’s communications department should be nervous about employees and customers having something to say. The article also referred to the Chief Executive of Carphone Warehouse Charles Dunstone, who’s been running his own blog for a few months now and using it as an opportunity to tell the world how his company is better value than BT.

As a Carphone Warehouse customer, I certainly have something to say. My mobile phone is faulty (it’s actually a design fault) and I want to get it changed. One of their shop managers haughtily informed me that I couldn’t as there are still five months on my 18-month contract. I could get it repaired but there was no loan phone available. I told her that my wife and I wouldn’t be renewing our contracts if they weren’t willing to give us phones that are not faulty. She said there was nothing she could do about it.

At least I could go into the shop and talk to her. I’ve not been able to speak to their Customer Services people by phone (the phone lines are usually too busy). I’ve sent emails and not even received any acknowledgement. So, here I thought was a perfect opportunity to speak to the man at the top.

But no, actually his blog isn’t interactive at all. There is no link that I can see for comments. All we get is a list of Mr Dunstone’s proclamations in reverse chronological order. It might look like a blog, but actually it isn’t. It’s as interactive as the regular receipt of Talk Talk junk mail that lands on my hall carpet.

When channels of communication for customers are restricted to the point of hardly existing at all, an image of the company is conjured up in my mind. It’s an image of someone with their hands over their ears and singing ‘la la la la la’ while others are trying to say something that this person doesn’t want to hear.


Filed under:
blogs    corporate blogging   marketing    online_PR   BT   Carphone Warehouse

Increase your word power with Big Brother

I’m no fan of Channel 4’s Big Brother but I have to admit that this series has been educational. I’ve learned a new word – ‘coprolalia’ – a condition where sufferers can’t help swearing. This is a symptom of approximately 10% of people with Tourette’s Syndrome.

One of these people is Pete Bennett, the obvious favourite to win this year’s programme. He might yell out an embarrassing expletive when he’s nervous but it seems we’ve all taken him into our hearts. In PR terms, Mr Bennett is a big success.

The Observer reports that his win has been hailed as the best PR possible for Tourette’s, despite initial concerns expressed by the Tourette’s Syndrome Association that Pete was being exploited and that his language problem would reflect badly on all sufferers.

The Sun however describes the win as ‘causing havoc with the schedules’ as Pete’s involuntary outbursts mean that he can’t appear on live television before the watershed (presumably because little darlings who should be in bed by 9pm have never hear of the W word!).

This series of the programme itself had some stormy moments in PR terms. Earlier this month, the premium phone line regulator ICSTIS started investigating 2700 complaints from viewers who had voted housemates off the programme only to see four of them reinstated. This followed the golden ticket fiasco when the winner, Suzie Verrico gained more exposure than she bargained for with allegations of her ticket being fixed.

The important thing was that the series ended on a positive note with a popular choice of the overall winner. Public opinion is likely to gloss over the earlier problems and feel well-disposed towards the series, which means (oh joy of joys) it will be back next year.


Filed under:
Channel 4    Big Brother    Tourette's    Observer    Sun    ICSTIS

Snakes in the Grassroots?

One frequently used explanation of PR goes like this: Advertising is what you say about yourself; PR is what others say about you.

‘Others’ of course includes journalists. So in PR terms, this morning’s ‘news’ item on BBC1’s Breakfast show certainly hit the mark. Others still might say that the item was pure hype.

The item did bring into sharp focus how the promotion of a new consumer product – in this case, the ‘cult movie’ Snakes On A Plane – can worm its way into the news agenda through viral marketing techniques, including the use of blogs and YouTube. Feel free to debate whether such techniques count as ‘PR’ but in my book, when these techniques become headline news themselves, we are witnessing a successful PR campaign.

Snakes have had a bad press since Eve bit the apple, and the filmmakers couldn’t have wished for better timing in news terms to release a movie about out-of-control evil beings let loose in an airliner flying over the ocean.

However, ‘SOAP’ is also destined to become a classic case study of the internet’s impact on marketing and PR practices. Here’s an account of how promotional messages about the movie are targeted at phones, not by the marketing company but at a fraction of the cost by members of the public. You get a call on your mobile, you see it’s from someone you know and you find yourself listening to a personalised recorded message from the movie’s star, Samuel L. Jackson because that someone you know logged onto the movie’s website and set it up.

It seems that the filmmakers have kept up a regular dialogue with fans through their own websites, even taking on board fans’ suggestions to change parts of the script. Fans have also been invited to compose songs, poems and sketches about the movie that get worldwide distribution via YouTube – superb exposure at the fraction of the cost of an advertising campaign.

Are we on the verges of Astroturfing territory here? The campaign is certainly using the latest web-based interactive devices to whip up grassroots interest. But the ViralOne website argues – in response to concern expressed by Paull Young – that ‘stealth’ or ‘guerilla’ marketing doesn’t fit into this activity, presumably because the grassroots response of fans is (sort of) genuine. All the marketing people have to do is sow the seeds and add the fertiliser.


Filed under:
astroturfing   stealth marketing   guerilla marketing    Snakes on a Plane

PR - a glimpse into the dark side

Paull Young is an Australian PR man who has taken a stand against ‘astroturfing’. This term describes the practice by organisations with vested interests of creating a false impression of grassroots opinion which appear to support their interests by targeting letters to newspapers, calls to radio phone-ins, and so on.

He provides a link to this article in the Australian journal Overland, describing a workshop event in which tactics like astroturfing are advocated to discredit NGOs, activist organisations or anyone else who might get in the way of questionable corporate behaviour.

The event was organised by Canadian PR 'consultant', Ross Irvine who argues:

The stratagem is to promote not with facts but values. This is what activists do, and what industry must do better.

The article is worth reading, especially if you believe that all PR is concerned with telling the truth, building relationships and keeping channels of communications open. It offers a disturbing insight into the dark side of PR. And it’s pretty scary.

(Thanks again to Philip Mediations Young for enabling me to follow the links to these sites.)


Filed under:
astroturfing

Net gains in news for young audiences

Thanks to Gillian Rutledge for spotting this article on the BBC News website. It raises an interesting question for people like me who teach journalism - how does one enthuse students to take note of what's happening in 'traditional' news media (especially newspapers, magazines and radio) when 15-24 year-olds in particular are moving away in their droves to plug into new media?

This is part of a worldwide trend, also reported by the BBC last May. For young people, the internet is becoming the main source of news and is even challenging the dominance of television.

The implications of this could provide some worthwhile topics for seminar discussion. What is the impact of the growing popularity of online news on the concept of public service broadcasting? Does journalism as a profession need to rethink its approach to training? Can anyone log on and become a journalist?


Filed under:
journalism training    journalism education    online news    new media