Is this the problem with journalism…?

Very few things get my misanthropic back up more instinctively than the words “The 100 best…”

My natural and immediate reaction is to start picking holes in the list, whether it’s albums, films, pubs, restaurants or works of art. And that is why people compile such lists, because they want to spark debate and they know people like me can’t help but take the bait.

So it was with interest that I clicked on a link this morning which promised the 100 Best Blogs for Journalism Students.

Now, if you subscribe to the views of Nick Davies et al – and I tend to – then you’ll know something is certainly rotten in the state of journalism. So any knowledge sharing is a good thing, especially if it can instil resistance to churnalism - assuming their paymasters would ever allow room for such principles or luxuries.

So on one level I see such a list as edifying and if it had been ‘100 blogs it wouldn’t hurt you to read…especially if you fancy a job in journalism’ I’d probably leave it there.

But the list is far too introspective and narrow to be in any way a comprehensive list of the influences and influencers journalists should open themselves up to. It encourages the kind of gene pool that would keep Darwin awake nights.

Where are the PR blogs? Where are the lobbyist blogs? Where are the political blogs, pressure groups and civil or human rights activists? Where are the analyst house blogs? And where are the advertising industry blogs whose words of wisdom will tell journalists whether they will have a job next year? All of these things are important for journalism students to understand and all will shape the way they do their jobs.

Yes. Even PR.

I was told some months ago that every single PR course being run by a UK university offers at least one module on journalism, while not a single journalism course offers a specific module on PR and its role and influence on the media. Now I don’t know if that’s true – so don’t repeat it without a heavy caveat – but I’d struggle more with the notion it isn’t true than that it could be.

I know the tendency among journalists is to pretend us PR people don’t exist and don’t influence the media. But the reality is quite the opposite.

Journalists don’t have to like PR people but when did ‘know your enemy’ stop being a good piece of advice?

"Honestly, I've wheelie bin nowhere..."

Interesting column in today’s Media Guardian by Peter Wilby, pointing to the Daily Mail’s loosening grasp on 1) reality 2) its readers.

So frenzied has the need become to be both vitriolic and parochial in equal measure The Mail has been picking increasingly surreal fights in recent times. First it was ‘The Internet’ giving everybody cancer and now it is the ‘Not In My Front Yard’ campaign against “plastic monstrosities blighting our streets and gardens" …or wheelie bins to you and me.

And of course, all of this is played alongside the incessant diatribe against swan-eating, benefit cheating, queue jumping immigrants.

The Telegraph served up a poignant reminder recently – in the shape of its investigation into MPs expenses – that newspapers can still stand tall in the face of potentially terminal encroachment from the online and social media worlds. It did so by gauging the likely mood of the nation to a piece of content perfectly. Of course we’d pay to find out how these MPs have been fleecing us all.

But if the papers misjudge what their readers want – as Wilby suggests The Mail has done over wheelie bins – then the inevitable but in no way immediate prognosis can only be expedited.

Hyde Park yesterday... Springsteen in sunny London

Oh Michael Owen, what are they doing to you...?

You've probably seen this already because it's taken me a little while to get around to commenting on it. Partly because I couldn't quite believe it was for real.

Football transfers are often effective case studies for both good and bad PR, but the public and investor relations around Michael Owen's desperate search for a new club are definitely an example of the latter. Check out the 'Brand Values'* section in a 30 page sales brochure sent to English, Italian and Spanish clubs over the past week. (Please do click to enlarge)

I'm sure potential employers will be relieved to see he is Technical... should the PC in their office need looking at.

Then there are the all important third party testimonies, such as the medical report which pours scorn on the notion that Owen is injury prone (where would anybody get that idea from?).

Of course it might help further if the piece didn't include a typo in the final sentence and other footballing 'proofpoints' that read like a Who's Who of injury-prone footballers (Bellamy, for example, made just five appearance for Manchester City last season, while Dyer and Ashton pulled on their West Ham shirts eight and five times respectively).

And then of course there is the crunch-washing angle.

(*Yes I did add a couple of those 'Brand Values' myself...)

Day 2: Michael Jackson "still dead" the BBC can reveal

I heard last night that Michael Jackson had died.

And by this morning it was old news - certainly in the absence of any further meaningful developments.

But that hasn’t stopped BBC and Sky News showing blanket coverage of the event all day so far.

Now, I’m not sure if it was the constant on-screen reference to Michael Jackson’s death as ‘Breaking News’ a whole day after it happened. Or if it was the fact they interviewed a pair of dancers who were runners up in Britain’s Got Talent 2008, or the cast of 'Thriller' the musical, or the Commodores (currently touring the UK). Or perhaps it was the rolling tributes from the likes of Gordon Brown and Corey Feldman along the bottom of the screen. Or the fact you’d be forgiven for not knowing more important things were happening all around the world.

Or perhaps it was a combination of all of the above - and more - that meant the rolling news coverage of Michael Jackson’s death will serve as a permanent reminder in years to come that this era laid the foundations for an end to quality journalism and news reporting in the UK.

Such is the need to fill space on rolling news channels such as BBC News 24, and so debilitating the disinclination, or inability to find worthwhile content, that Jackson’s death enabled editors to switch off their brains for 24 hours and let anybody onto the television providing they met the strict criteria of having heard at least one Michael Jackson song.

Editorial integrity? What’s that you say? Quality programming? Not on our watch.

I assume while I was out getting a sandwich Friday lunchtime I missed my Mum and Dad talking about the time they bought me Bad for my birthday. But I'll catch up on iPlayer.

Other media outlets have also been guilty of letting the lazy inclination to fill space with any old Jackson-related toot undermine their reputations.

That need to fill space with the minimum of effort or qualification has also given rise to some wonderfully trite and entirely meaningless comment, from: “Michael Jackson’s death has been described by many as life-changing” to “Michael Jackson's greatest fear was that one day he would wake up and he'd be dead...”

Move along now people, there's nothing to see here.

And we're all happy with the new name, right?

According to the BBC:

"Russia's energy giant Gazprom has signed a $2.5bn (£1.53bn) deal with Nigeria's state operated NNPC, to invest in a new joint venture. The new firm, to be called Nigaz..."

Huh?

Energy ...With Attitude, I presume.

Why the democracy of Twitter means media must check their egos at the door

I have just read a very interesting post from Jon Bernstein outlining his lessons learned from running the Twitter stream of Channel 4 News over the past year or so.

It’s a great read and an excellent example of the ways in which the media can really get this right. Check it out for yourself because it also points to how the media can get this so wrong.

In a word: Listen.

Ask questions, solicit response. Call it ‘crowdsourcing’ if you must but understand that this is a conversation, not a lecture.

I’ve stopped following a great many media outlets because they simply don’t understand this. Too many do nothing more than spam out links to their content, often in chunks of five, six or seven rapid tweets.

It shows a fundamental failure to understand the value of social media, driven no doubt by a degree of ego, or a sense of self-importance and inequality that is out of kilter with the democracy of Twitter.

If you break down the five points Jon makes, three are about listening, two are about talking.

Adwords adds insult to injury in Fitness First PR crisis

A PR crisis is brewing for UK gym chain Fitness First. You can read all about it here and here (thanks to Stephen Waddington for flagging).

But something that struck me about the article wasn’t in the copy itself but in the Google generated ads at the bottom of the article.

The first time I looked at the story the top ad was for Fitness First. Probably not the kind of message they’d like their ads to appear alongside. It could even be considered a little embarrassing - even crass - advertising on such an article, should people not realise such ads are automatically generated.

It made me realise Google could improve its ad offering considerably by building sentiment analysis into the Adwords engine.

Glastonbury will just have to cope without me...

I’m giving Glastonbury a miss this year. I don’t know if I’ve ‘stopped going’ or I’m simply having a year off. The non-stop rain of 2007 should have been enough to put me off forever but still I went back last year for more of the same.

But today there has been a growing sense that I’ll kick myself when I see the coverage on the TV and know I’m missing out.

My colleagues already Tweeting from the festival site don’t help, especially as the sun blazes in the sky. (Is it just me or do a disproportionate number of PR people go to Glastonbury? It must be a career where the average age, income and diet of popular culture make individuals very much 'Glasto' kinds of people.)

Seeing The Killers on Friday night in Hyde Park and Glastonbury headliner Bruce Springsteen at the same venue on Sunday should provide a dose of al fresco music. But it’s not Glastonbury is it.

Perhaps I’ll queue for three hours to charge my mobile phone on Saturday morning and then sit in some mud and read the Guardian, while eating a dodgy burger I’ve charged myself £6 for; washed down with some cider and a growing sense of inevitable middle class apathy about the whole thing.

(Right: Glastonbury 2008... style is always the first victim of the weather.)

A dash of PR and a sprinkling of spin: How to avoid a recipe for disaster

Among all the heavy grilling from Paxman and the dodging of expenses-related fire from The Telegraph, MPs also get asked a lot of Smash Hits-style questions in the course of their media work: what's on your iPod?; if you were a biscuit, which biscuit would you be? etc. etc.

But at such times honesty tends to be muted in much the same way as it is for supposedly tougher questioning, such is the fear of faux pas and such is the perceived opportunity to court favour with the public.

Did anybody really believe David Cameron rushed to fill his iPod with the likes of Blur, Pulp, Radiohead and The Smiths; as if owning Now That's What I Call Right-On Socialist Anthems 10 would prove there are hidden depths to this Eton-schooled Tory boy?

This was seen again today with an article in The Telegraph (right) which was very neatly illustrative of the differences between Brown and Cameron's PR offensive, with a little bit of Blair thrown in for nostalgic good measure.

The challenge here is threefold. Challenge One: Pick a meal that is ethical, hearty and uncontroversial. Challenge Two: Pick a guest who will reflect well on the host. Challenge Three: Ensure guest and meal are well suited.

Obviously without the subtle hand of PR all three would have been intelligent enough to pick their way around the obvious pitfalls of challenge one such as serving bushmeat to Diane Fossey, challenge two; inviting Robert Mugabe to break bread and challenge three, serving veal to Linda McCartney.

But beyond that it is clear differing levels of thought went into this.

Brown fell into the obvious trap of being decisive and honest and actually picking somebody he would like to have met and who he doubtless admires for religious conviction more than athletic achievement. But picking a fellow Scottish Presbyterian could be alienating in the court of public opinion. Beef is a safe option though, especially if it's locally-sourced Angus beef, which I'm sure goes without saying. Overall, it makes me think Brown picked this himself and had no idea this was an opportunity to score PR points.

Blair fell into two obvious traps, firstly serving up poncy Islington fare (what no Balsamic Tony?). Secondly he went way too obvious with his 'hero'. Overall, his choice is dripping with smug self-satisfaction and forced worthiness. Furthermore, I suspect Gandhi would actually have had something of an issue with Blair's invite, given the contrary views the two men held on the killing of innocent Asians by occupying British forces. Blair no doubt believes Gandhi would have liked to to meet him though, which makes me think Blair also picked this himself.

Cameron meanwhile, I am convinced, outsourced his decision-making or at least consulted heavily with a team of PR advisers before committing an answer. After thinking about constituency lollipop ladies and battle of Britain fighter pilots, his team opted for serving honest hearty, traditional British fare to a more contemporary war hero. Left to his own devices Cameron may well have chosen lashings of scram with Lord Snooty from The Beano but the obvious insincerity of his choice, and his tendency to try far too hard, leave a very over-seasoned taste in the mouth.

The choices speak volumes about the men's character (...or at least the latter's tendency to outsource his) and the degree to which they are aware every question asked presents a PR opportunity.

Apple changes tack with PR... will say 'no' to journalists directly from now on

I see this morning that Apple is taking its PR in-house. I must say I'm not surprised. But that is no criticism of the agency who worked on the account, rather of Apple's approach towards media relations.

Thinking back to my journo days, Apple's media relations appeared to be about little more than building an immovable road block on a foundation of unshakable - and justified - confidence that consumers will still flock to the brand no matter how many publishers or bloggers Apple’s lawyers hit with some paperwork. After all, to quote The Onion, consumers will "buy anything as long as it's shiny and made by Apple", so why bother engaging in a meaningful way with the press?

Never was a company so uncommunicative. Never was a knock-back so predictable. And I know my experience was fairly typical of many journalists' dealings with Apple across all corners of the press.

Hopefully the good people at Bite will take it in their stride. They sound pretty pragmatic, though understandably keen to iron out some inaccuracies in the way the story was reported.

If I was them I'd start by buying some shiny new PCs.

Well, look who I nearly bumped into...

It's not everyday you walk into your office and see Bill Gates and Archbishop Desmond Tutu shooting the breeze in your boardroom.

In fact, I'd go so far as to say it only happens once and that day was today.

Bob Geldof was also attending an event in the LEWIS Media Centre today to discuss the findings of the One charity's Data Report investigation into the G8's efforts to date.

What I learned from last night’s TV: UK businesses still don’t get the web

You get insight in the weirdest of places.

I found myself watching Mary Queen of Charity Shops last night. The premise is simple: A pushy woman comes in and overhauls a charity shop, clears out the tat, gives the shop a facelift, lo’ and behold it makes more money. Hurrah.

And while I don’t doubt the eponymous Mary knows a thing or two about brands, fashion and window dressing, it was a remarkable display of analogue thinking in 2009.

I found myself shouting “use eBay” at the TV.

When not encouraging old ladies to sell second-hand vibrators (left), Mary’s bugbear appears to be the inability of the old ladies to charge more than £2.50 for any item in the store, irrespective of brand or condition. There was much talk about being able to sell a red sweater for £20 because it was “this season” and cashmere.

“Our customers won’t pay that”, came the answer.

But people on eBay will. Mary handed over a £700 Mulberry handbag, hoping her newly motivated team could get £40 or so for it. On eBay, I’m told, they could have made a couple of hundred.

Surely web-savvy students or silver surfers could be enlisted to run eBay accounts on behalf of charities. Other volunteers could be put to use packaging and ferrying items to the post office. Other volunteers meanwhile could spend their time on inventory recruitment drives and better stock control. Furthermore, eBay could probably score some PR points by running education sessions for charity shops workers.

The irony here is the show is clearly about ‘transformation’ but it’s outlook and tactics are stuck in the early 90s.

“Let’s do up the store”, whether literally or as metaphor for the other superficial changes businesses make, now pales in effectiveness to “let’s have a meaningful online strategy”.

Marr v Mandy: An industry divided

The PR industry appears divided on Peter Mandelson's performance on the Andrew Marr show, which I blogged on earlier in the week. There's a very lively discussion happening on the messageboard of the LEWIS 360 blog after my colleague David Brown rattled the cage. It's fascinating how a group of very smart, very qualified people can look at exactly the same footage, yet some proclaim it a victory while others brand it a disaster. Read the comments and have your say over on LEWIS 360.

They're back! The year's most predictable news story returns to UK waters

Every year, normally late July or early August, the media goes basking shark crazy when the hulking great fish turn up in UK waters, having wintered somewhere more interesting.

You can guarantee every mainstream news editor in the country adds the basking sharks' reappearance to every new diary they get given for Christmas, even before they add their own family's birthdays, so dependent have they become on this very visual story. Last year I branded it the milestone that marks the beginning of the 'silly season'.

Just yesterday I predicted in our daily press briefing that the shark story would start earlier this year, given the only other story out there is the rather tiring government meltdown and MPs are already shaping up to ship out for the summer recess which will mean the media have to move their cameras out of Westminster and go in search of news elsewhere.

As sure as shark eggs is eggs, the BBC is already down in Cornwall this morning with its long lenses trained on the waves looking for fins.

Race hate 2.0

I see UK fascist movement The British National Party now has its own Twitter stream. How very modern of them; given everything else they stand for.

But putting aside questions - perhaps for another day - about whether Twitter has rules about inciting racial hatred (oh look, they have rules about breaking any local laws) you may have spotted the typo in the not-altogether-unimportant word "Britain" on their own Twitter bio.

I'd have thought the rules would state that if you can't even spell Britain then you'd not be allowed to live here.

Help! I've been smugged! Labour's PR hitting new lows

A lot of people have been making far too much of Peter Mandelson’s appearance on The Andrew Marr show yesterday (...about 40 mins in).

But I’m sorry, it wasn’t “a victory for media training”. Media training is intended to enable the subject of an interview to get key messages across with conviction and empathy, while confidently dodging the potholes in the road that draw in less practiced speakers whose only defence is often to then start digging even deeper.

I certainly would never advise media trainers teach the art of smug self-satisfaction or the virtues of bullying, browbeating or patronising an interviewer. And, when training a politician they certainly shouldn’t advise a performance so entirely out of touch with the mood of the electorate.

And, a small point but I'd probably also coach them away from using phrases such as "Chinese whispers".

Sure, Mandelson did an artful, if arrogant job of speaking while not actually saying anything. And of course such verbal jousting makes interesting viewing for those of us who like the sport of it all. But for the vast majority watching on a Sunday morning it will have come across as a crass and insensitive distillation of the very characteristics which have taken our politicians' reputations to a new low.

As if they needed telling, it’s not been a good few days for Labour, made far worse by the poor quality of preparedness to face the media.

I’m sure many people spotted the statement from Jack Straw, justice minister, last week following the trial and conviction of two men who brutally tortured two French students, Laurent Bonomo and Gabriel Ferez.

The bit that stood out for me was: “In relation to the failings of the probation service, I take full responsibility as secretary of state. They were unacceptable and had tragic consequences.”

So, what action would Straw think appropriate for a secretary of state who takes “full responsibility” for failings that led directly to the death of two people?

Oh, sorry, the statement was the action you say...? So it was just a hollow and meaningless statement. At worst cowardly, at best deceitful and opportunistic.

Less concerning, but evidence of the same poor preparation, Andy Burnham, now sat in the Department of Health, last night told viewers of the BBC’s election coverage that he thinks the Prime Minister "is doing an excellent job”.

It’s surely possible to sound loyal without making yourself sound absurd.

To some, it may still seem churlish to discuss the role of PR in the serious world of politics but it is absolutely key. Much of the current crisis is about confidence; confidence which has been eroded and continues to be eroded by examples such as those above and by other PR blunders such as Gordon Brown's YouTube video or his phone calls to Piers Morgan and Simon Cowell and subsequent GMTV appearance discussing Susan Boyle.

Should Sugar put age before beauty?

No huge surprise in The Apprentice last night. Yasmina won, beating Kate and Debra, the two other credible runners in what was undoubtedly a donkey derby, despite Sir Alan Sugar's protestations.

More interesting perhaps was Sugar's call to arms for contestants for next year, asking those who have found themselves out of work later in their careers to come forward. Is this crunch-washing tokenism? More PR posturing in a week where Gordon Brown asked to shelter beneath Sugar's largely inexplicable halo? Or might it help focus a conversation of what skills are most important in a recession, especially when every 21 year-old with an expensive education under their belt thinks they should be a CEO within a year?

Epsom Derby day pics...

There were very few signs of recession at the People's Race this weekend.

On both Friday and Saturday, Epsom was pretty full, it's just a shame the sun was the only notable absentee - as well perhaps as a few bookies who seemed down in number.

It's still interesting to note a lot of the coverage the event got, I've seen more than a few mentions of a £6.50 burger somebody managed to track down. And £3.50 for a race card was widely reviewed as a little steep (though nothing to the £50 ticket price for Saturday, £40 for Friday).

The people there didn't seem to care however.

These meetings are a good barometer of the nations level of confidence.

Cheltenham was chocker and Ascot will be at capacity later this month I'm sure, but those meetings far less accurately reflect the disposable income of the average family.

The fact so many made the trip to Epsom however, from all over the UK, suggests the recession is still far from a blanket concern for everybody.

You can come under my umber-ella, ella, ella, ella

I've passed the Channel 4 building a few times this week on my lunchtime stroll up Horseferry Road, having not been up that far in a while. What struck me was how out of keeping with the searing heat in London this week their current logo design is out front.

I shall keep an eye on what comes next. Hot water bottles perhaps.

How to manage a PR photo call...

Get subject to the location, check. Get subject to put on an authentic looking outfit, as though it's not just a flying visit (try to hide the fact he's still wearing collar and tie underneath), check. Tell subject not to do anything stupid like fall in a river, chec.....oh, hang on.



If only we had anacondas in this country. Or even piranha.

MPs' expenses line the Telegraph's pockets

In my daily discussions about the media I’m sensing a little fatigue in some quarters around MPs’ expenses. It has been going on a month now, but what a month it’s been for The Telegraph.

The Guardian reports today that The Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph sold an extra one million copies - equivalent to 30,000 extra copies per day – during May. Clearly a lot of people out there, myself included, still can't get enough of this story.

Online the Telegraph is likely to have seen an even more dramatic hike as people worldwide searched for news on duck island, blue movies and other expense-related largesse out of the public purse.

The two graphs here illustrate, top, worldwide searches for “The Telegraph” on Google and, below, worldwide searches for “MPs expenses” – the similarity in the shape of the graphs is clear, as is the point at which The Telegraph dropped the bomb on Westminster.

Searches for "The Telegraph":

Searches for "MPs expenses":

Idiot of the week: What does accessible mean?

Nothing says 'The disabled? F*ck 'em!' more than a 40 kilogram plant pot blocking the 'Accessible Lavatory' door. Irony, alive and well and coming to a pub near you soon.

Tech PR drinks - great to see everybody there

Had a great night last night, though I'm feeling it a bit today after meeting up with the great and the good of the UK technology PR industry.

Through the course of the evening at De Hems we had about 80 tech PRs either stick their heads in to say hi or stick around all evening for a fair few drinks.

I think it was the sambucas that did for me, but it was great to see so many friends both agency side and in-house and also meet some new faces too. We had people from Berkeley, Bite, BT, Catalysis, Citigate, Chameleon, Edelman, FIRE, Fishburn Hedges, Fleishman Hillard, Full Run, Golin Harris, Google, Hatch, Hotwire, LEWIS, OCTANE, Octopus, Pleon, Porter Novelli, PR Week, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, Rocket, Rostrum, Ruder Finn, Speed, Temenos, The World's Leading, Trend Micro...and probably a few other companies I've forgotten...

So, thanks everybody for coming along, I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. And thanks once again to Coleman Parkes for some free drinks - much appreciated.

Who's up for doing it all again in a couple of months? I think I've got another sponsor already... or there was talk of an inter-agency rounders tournament... sign up for either in the comments section below!

Tech PR drinks... Don't miss out

If you've registered for tomorrow night's Tech PR drinks make sure you finish on time and get yourself along early to avoid disappointment, maximise your drinking time and nab a free drink courtesy of Coleman Parkes.

If you haven't registered, we are currently over capacity. But if you do still fancy trying your luck drop me a line today to let me know you want to come and we'll try to squeeze you in of course, but preference must be given to those who signed up early.

I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow evening!

"Hey Kawalski...this Duck Island thing is fubar, I need you to sort it or I'm having your badge and gun!"

Looks like Conservative Central Headquarters are being paid a visit by NYPD Blue.

"What the hell is a moat? You being some kind of a wise-ass buddy?"

Genius from The Onion (contains VERY strong language)

The Onion's video-waged war against largely self-congratulatory or over-hyped product launches - and the public's fascination with technology for technology's sake - continues in potty-mouthed earnest with this fantastic parody involving Sony.


Sony Releases New Stupid Piece Of Sh!t That Doesn't F@*king Work

Anybody else getting bored with Twitter's self-inflicted wounds?

A few months ago I singled out brown-nosing celeb stalkers as the worst thing about Twitter but this past week it's been the proliferation of noisy memes - exploring everything from #liesmentell to, well, #lieswomentell.

I've just been chatting about this with colleague Jon Silk (@PRGeek) who has this morning starting to rail against Spymaster Tweets and stop following the sources. Rather than paraphrase I've pasted the IM window in (right, click to enlarge).

Twitter has well and truly hit the 'fear of noise' stage that any successful communications tool reaches during its adoption. Remember all those '10 reasons beer is better than a woman' emails that did the rounds in 2000. Remember when the first one of your friends found the 'reply all' button on Outlook? Happy days. Remember when you sat hitting 'Send and Receive' because you'd not received a message for 15 minutes and assumed something must be broken...? No, just me then.

It happened with mobile phones the moment people started having a workable number of contacts who also had a mobile phone and whole train carriages became subject to conversations that were only happening because they could.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of Twitter and contribute to the general noise as much as the next person but I'm more interested in people's individuals ramblings or recommendations than I am in watching them turn the handle on the almighty Twitter shit-mill.