Archive for Media Industry
March 5, 2010 at 7:02 pm · Filed under Issues Management, Media Industry, Public Relations, Australia
Poor Jothy Hughes. This “publicist” couldn’t get his client on national television. The firm bought gold, so Jothy arranged for actresses to pose as divorcees. At a staged event they would sell their wedding jewels and act excited by the value. Hooray for divorce!
But Jothy’s emails trying to tempt gold-diggersgold sellers were published. Now Jothy’s dodging camera crews in car parks and his employer refuses to acknowledge his existence. The story received national airplay in AUstralia on “Today Tonight” and “A Current Affair”.
A PR man’s worst nightmare? Maybe not.
One conspiracy theorist notes the responses and car park interviews are too polished. Was this guy caught out or stage managed? The crisis has forced gold buying parties into prominence never-before seen.
Now I know I’m supposed to be creative in my job. But it never occurred to me to fake a crisis in order to propel further media.
Is that what those Exxon Valdez guys were thinking?
October 19, 2009 at 2:14 pm · Filed under America, Media Industry
Last week the USA and anyone in the television viewing time zone stopped to track a silver weather balloon. Purportedly strapped to the base was a box with a small child inside. His parents raised the alarm when the anchor line wasn’t secured. Kid and balloon went off pursued by ambulances and authorities - and television helicopters.
Thankfully the child was found later asleep in a cardboard box in the crawl space above the garage. Sadly, his parents appear to have concocted the stunt to garner publicity. As parents Richard and Mayumi Heene dragged their son Faclon from talk show to talk show the stress caused the boy to vomit. Twice.
From 1999 to 2004 I ran communications at Ford Credit. One of the biggest business risks was the rising number of personal bankruptcies. Ford Credit undertook to raise the level of financial literacy among high school students so they would become better money managers. One year we conducted a poll and asked teens how they would fund their retirement. More than 50% said, “with the winnings of a reality television show.”
It appears that’s exactly what the Heene family was thinking. (If they were thinking at all.) Now police have swooped and the parents face six years in prison. The stunt was to bolster their own television ratings, as they’d already appeared on “Wife Swap” and were hoping to launch a show about their family. (Did I say launch?)
Sadly the stunt has backfired and now Falcon - America’s Balloon Boy - may spend a chunk of childhood without parents. That’s the worst reality possible.
May 8, 2009 at 1:21 pm · Filed under Media Industry
“The Washington Post” chronicles the death of newspapers in a witty, well-written essay today.
Gosh I’ll miss them when they eventually fold.
In the meantime thanks for reading my “froth” as the article says.
May 4, 2009 at 4:29 pm · Filed under Media Industry
Canada is keen to make a good impression at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. The country has a rich heritage of on-ice manliness - ice hockey (”I went to a fight and an ice hockey game broke out”). Now the move is on to make men’s figure skating more….masculine. (See video here.)
Suggested changes include an end to frilly shirts and sequins, tights and mascara. (Sorry - in mixed pairs skating the women can keep all those.) It’s unclear what changes are being considered. Red plaid flannel? Doc Martin skates?
Any changes would be welcome compared to the extreme styles seen in parody film “Blades of Glory”.
April 24, 2009 at 9:47 am · Filed under Media Industry, Public Relations
Public relations practitioners are the “behind the scenes” men and women who assist companies in good times and bad. They help companies get noticed and achieve balance reporting. We can train people to sit in front of television cameras and remain “on message” about an issue or a product. But it’s rare we’re the source of the story.
Today “The Australian” features a front page story on the media management of a high profile legal case. In this case the public relations firm and its client are the story - the print edition features investigative-style photographs of two PR people leaving court.
The article does not question the role of the public relations person - the reporter notes that it’s standard practice for a legal firm and/or company to have a PR firm available to assist journalists. What is under review is the practice of issuing media releases and “backgrounders” to journalists while a motion is being heard in court.
What the article does show is a shift in media opinion against the company and its agency. When the public relations firm becomes the story then the story is always going to be bad news.
April 22, 2009 at 1:03 pm · Filed under America, Media Industry
News stories like this don’t come along every day. Journalists worldwide are bound to cover all the gory details. Philip Markoff will sell hundreds of thousands of newspapers.
What’s so remarkable about Mr Markoff? Here’s a list:
- Handsome and young 23 year old white male;
- Wealthy and privileged - resides in Connecticut;
- Well educated university graduate attending medical school in Boston;
- Romantically involved with a beach-side wedding planned for this summer; and
- Murderer, rapist and robber to pay gambling debts - who met his victims using Craigslist!
Today Markoff is in jail without bail (read details at Associated Press).
In 1986 Robert Chambers killed a woman in New York’s Central Park. He became known as the “Preppy Killer” given his good looks, privileged upbringing and education. Yet back in 1986 we were just getting faxes (honestly) and no one had heard of email. Al Gore hadn’t invented the Internet yet.
So here’s my bold prediction. Markoff will be the stuff of water-cooler conversations and conjecture for months to come. He’ll have hate sites and fan sites and be a top ranked topic on Twitter. His fiancee will recover to sell her story to a tabloid - or if she has a good agent, to People Magazine. We’ll see his apartment, favourite casino, car and dorm room.
And while the victims will be mourned and laid to rest, Markoff will achieve infamy for years to come.
March 31, 2009 at 12:10 pm · Filed under Issues Management, Media Industry
A few weeks back USA media commentator Rachel Maddow aired a segment about AIG and their use of public relations firms (see 11 March blog posting). She then chose to closely examine the track record of one of the firms that AIG uses. The segment led to a letter being issued by that firm’s CEO to all employees. And…you guessed it…another segment on The Rachel Maddow Show.
Here’s the dig. Rachel’s show is really popular. She’s a ratings star, according to Wikipedia:
Since its debut, the (Rachel Maddow) show has topped Countdown as the highest rated show on MSNBC on several occasions. After being on air for a little over a month, Maddow’s program doubled the audience for MSNBC’s 9PM hour.
Clearly Rachel Maddow has made attempts to speak to the public relations firm in question. This is exactly the type of appearance the CEO should have accepted. By failing to engage the conversation is one-way. Rachel is in control. She’d no doubt enjoy a fiery debate with an well-versed professional. Instead she was denied the chance and the story ran another day.
Lesson? Is it “do as I say, not as I do” for clients of that agency?
March 25, 2009 at 3:07 pm · Filed under Media Industry, Australia
When trying to better your skills for media interviews, it pays to listen to great interviews. Some people really know how to get their point across succinctly with vivid language and descriptions. For radio it’s especially important to use strong visual language and to project confidence to engage the audience.
None of this happened on ABC New Radio yesterday.
Australian Minister for Home Affairs, Bob Debus, was questioned about the role of the Federal Police at Sydney Airport on the weekend. In the lobby of the domestic terminal two rival motorcycle gangs had a fight. One man was bashed to death with a metal stanchion in front of horrified passengers. This was metres from the check-in desks. Four of the assailants made their get-away by taking a taxi from the rank downstairs. From the time the attacks started until the Federal Police arrived was 15 minutes according to witnesses.
In this interview, Minister Debus says a thorough investigation is called for:
ABC News Radio: Home Affairs Minister BOB DEBUS has told Marius Benson there will be a thorough investigation.
What’s so wrong? Debus fails to use language that cuts through to the audience. He never takes any responsibility. His government takes its time responding to issues and he won’t comment until there’s an investigation. He is unclear of the facts. He is wooden in his delivery. He doesn’t believe there’s any reason to apologise or accept wrongdoing. Others are talking of witness accounts and he fails to comment.
All in all this is a very poor interview that reflects very poorly on the Federal Government and the Home Minister.
March 20, 2009 at 2:19 pm · Filed under America, Media Industry
Less than an hour ago in the USA “The Tonight with Jay Leno” made history. For the first time a sitting president of the United States appeared on the show. It’s great to see Obama breaking down barriers and appearing in a format that’s very known and comfortable to millions of Americans. Watch highlights here.
March 18, 2009 at 8:23 am · Filed under Media Industry
Have been suffering from heightened anxiety levels leading me to cut back to one cup of coffee each morning. As a reliable commuter on public transport, my routine includes tearing open the business section of “The Australian” as soon as the 8:05 am bus departs fot the city.
Today even the front pages is business-focused. The Fairfax family (an Australian publishing dynasty) have taken out morgages on property owned by the family for more than 100 years. In Seattle the daily newspaper closed turning 145 employees out on the street. Executives at AIG are still getting US$450 million in bonuses - as are the leaders at Rio Tinto and its Alcan division. Seems the rotten performance of their companies under their leadership is not linked to their pay packages.
So by the time I arrive at work at 8:35 I’m a hive of complex emotions and concerns. How can I survive this downturn? What’s to become of my family? How can I predict my business’ success when multi-million dollar enterprises are failing? (Did I say million? I meant billion!)
Perhaps the best advice came from my business partner. She recommends denial. Instead of reading the news on the ride to work I should bring a good novel. Take a fortnight off of newspapers and perhaps the negative side-effects of my addiction will pass (racing heart, sleepless nights, counting steps).
Now I’ll rely on my partner to act as filter. She just showed me a headline from “The Financial Review”:
“First stop worrying, then expect a rally”
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But Jothy’s emails trying to tempt 
