Something happens to footballers when they get on the pitch. They become almost human. By that I mean that they can become focussed, purposeful, freed of the mess of their other life as grotesquely overpaid and under-motivated playboys. That is the only explanation for Wayne Rooney’s first international goal in a year when he put England ahead against Switzerland in the first ten minutes of last night’s game.
Humans have the ability to walk into a different arena and become a different person. When the media rightly attack Rooney for cheating on his wife they make a mistake if they, like BBC commentator Mark Lawrenson, bring the controversy into sports coverage with a dig about his being the first to score.
The dilemma is best summed up in the Mirror’s photo caption today “The morals of an alley cat perhaps, but the ability of a genius”. The question is, as with many astonishingly talented men (and they’re usually men) at the top of the tree in sport, business and politics – can you get one without the other?
History shows that rarely happens.
So, one of Scotland’s biggest quangos, Scottish Enterprise, has become rather too enterprising in its media relations. Sniffing the air, the communications gurus at the organisation’s glass and aluminium temple which dominates the city’s newly renovated riverside “International Finance District” detect the acrid smell of burnt ash floating their way from the coalition Government’s bonfire of the quangos.
Cheryl Cole. Cheryl Tweedy is out and about again. Hurrah. Don’t misunderstand, she seems like a perfectly lovely woman but I wonder if she will soon fall foul of committing publicity overkill in the highest degree. Her face is everywhere. Guest appearances, hosting, singing you name it she’s done it. The public are smitten, but can it last forever?
Her recent unfortunate bout of Malaria incited national coverage of not only her but follow up features on the disease itself, the risks and stats, and of course, commentary on the issue of Malaria from many a health source, keen to bask in the Tweedy limelight.
The Times’ paywall has sparked fierce debate into the very fundamentals of what it means to be a newspaper. It all feels so aggressive. Newspapers are supposed to be for the people, sharing information that matters and is in the public interest, accessible to all!
Forgive me for playing devil’s advocate here, but what’s the big problem with paying for a product? Are we so used to free online content at the cost of being bombarded with advertisements? And anyway, we’ve all been paying for BBC content for years!
There is a certain guilty pleasure in reading about the exploits of high profile individuals, and mud flinging between the big characters at Ryanair and Easyjet are no different.
Take the advertising space purchased by Sir Stelios of Easyjet in this weekend’s papers. That doesn’t come cheap, but instead of using it wisely, the public were treated to cartoons depicting Ryanair’s chief exec, O’Leary, at confession captioned “arrogant” and “the ugly face of capitalism”. Yet another in a long line of digs between the pair.
O’Leary and Stelios as the faces of their respective brands clearly don’t have company image at the forefront of their minds. Slanderous retorts and jibes do nothing to protect, enhance or strengthen the image of their respective companies – which leads us to believe this is nothing more than a case of media narcissism…
Raol Moat’s final weeks have been played out on a public stage and now, with its morbid conclusion, it has to be said that the support he has been shown is mind boggling.
Facebook pages entitled ‘RIP Raoul Moat You Legend’, thousands of followers branding him a hero and shrines flooded with sympathetic messages of support for his ‘plight’ suggest something just isn’t right with the public’s perception. It simply must be a case of misinformation. Read the rest of this entry »
Despite thousands of fans descending upon Leicester Square for the premier of the latest in the Twilight Saga, Eclipse, the organisers ended up a few people short – the film’s three biggest cast members no less.
The Twilight Saga has developed a rabid global fan base and an audience which, quite rightly, may not be forgiving of such neglect. Note to celebrities; if your fans turn up to see the premier of your film, you probably should too.
Reports of fans protesting and cold-shouldering the film, is the obvious result of Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner not giving enough back to their fan base.
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Our new Government is still learning the ropes…and the first few weeks in power have shown just how tangled those ropes are when it comes to handling the media.
Today another cabinet minister, this time Health Minister Andrew Lansley managed to direct a comprehensive shot to his own foot when he informed the BMA conference in Brighton that Jamie Oliver had got it wrong about school meals. We can imagine his press team’s delight that the Minister was giving a bold and controversial policy statement “yes Minister…a very, er brave decision”.
ed Branding at the World Cup has been a much discussed topic of late. Its global audience is so great that any affiliation with the event is an enticing and much covetprospect. Past presidential involvement with the World Cup exemplifies the power of the association, cue a host of politicians lining up to exploit the event’s public appeal.
Take French President Nicolas Sarkozy, for example – he took it upon himself to exercise damage control following the French team’s disastrous campaign as he knew that the World Cup would be the perfect platform to show what a reliable and reasonable guy he really is. The French team’s 12 days in South Africa included a player being sent home, the team refusing to train and outbursts against the coach – lapped up by the media and the public alike.
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The England team have weathered the storm and are into the last 16 of the World Cup. As usual, certain characters have emerged from the team such as goal scorer Jermaine Defoe or manager Fabio Capello to take the spotlight and portray the ‘personality’ of the England team as a whole – a personality that may well be based on fact, or the manipulation of public feeling at the time. The success of Wednesday is cause for English celebration certainly, but one look at news headlines reveals a hyper-confidence generated by the press. The Guardian’s sports headline read ‘Mission Accomplished’ while the Telegraph stated ‘Bring On The Germans’ when in actual fact, the team played Slovenia and the result was only 1-0.
The promise of the forthcoming England vs. Germany match has ensured that the victory over Slovenia and the draws in the earlier group games are nothing but a hazy memory as the English press fill the public with promises – The Daily Express’ headline was ‘Land of Hope and Glory’. Forget the team’s inability to ease to the top of their group, the media – and therefore much of the public too – have a distinct tunnel vision for the final on July 11th. Read the rest of this entry »
