The swine are on holiday. Widespread opinion is that swine flu may grip the world with a vengeance this autumn, giving pharma companies a handy period to grow enough vaccine. The NHS will be on full alert. But here’s a statistic you don’t see too often: Birmingham University researchers have quizzed more than 1,000 health workers and found as many as 85% are likely to be absent if a flu pandemic hits. The NHS is planning on an absence rate of 10% – 35%. They’d failed to take into account the fact that NHS staff will stay at home to care for family members, even if they themselves don’t get the flu. Effective handling of an outbreak will depend on generating trust and confidence amongst the public, so that the NHS’s plans work well, and crisis is averted. These days people respond well to honesty: I liked the quote from the report’s author Dr Sarah Damery: “The problem is that there are no easy answers.” Refreshing! She’ll go far.
He’s done it again! Jeremy Paxman’s most famous interview came when he asked Michael Howard the same question seventeen times. Fast forward to Tuesday 2nd June 2009 and here he is again, asking Williiam Hague the same question more than a dozen times. Watch it by pasting this into your browser: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/8080379.stm
The Grand Inquisitor once admitted that his approach to all interviews with politicians was “why is this lying b*****d lying to me?” A healthy approach, we agree. But the killer tactic of repeating, and repeating, and repeating has, in our view, the opposite effect to what is intended. It makes the interviewee look good. Particularly in the case of Michael Howard – watch it by pasting this into your browser: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/7740130.stm . In each case, as the politician finds a way to respond without accepting Paxman’s point of view, they show themselves to be mentally agile. We have a sneaking suspicion that Paxman knows this.
Oh so nearly right…a well designed marketing document thumps on Media Mentor’s desk this morning. Just as well – it comes from a design company. But read on…”I met many clients whose impressions of the graphic design business has been based on previous experiences of the creative process being shrouded in jargon, solutions post rationalised… (my italics). Erm, isn’t that jargon?
“This blood fest has got to stop,” said since-suspended UK Justice Minister Shahid Malik after details of his parliamentary expenses were revealed in The Daily Telegraph.
And a blood fest it most certainly is. The British media is in full frenzy.
If anyone doubted the life-or-death importance of getting your message to the public right, look at the hapless plight of the right honourable members who sit in Westminster, and anywhere else the taxpayer will pay them to hang their hats. On Friday, the day that Justice Minister Shahid Malik was suspended pending an enquiry into his expenses, BBC Radio Scotland asked Media Mentor’s Paul Murricane to come into the Newsdrive studio for a five minute interview to explain to listeners what MPs should say to win back public confidence. Read the rest of this entry »
Even the world’s best known billionaire hippy can get it wrong. Richard Branson was persuaded to take part in a Virgin Trains TV advert to publicise the new high-speed link between Glasgow and London. What better than a Hitchcock-style cameo blink-and-you’ll-miss-it teaser appearance as a jolly workman on Glasgow Central Station platform? What could possibly go wrong? Everything, apparently. The photos of Branson covered in tatoos, his teeth blacked out, looking like The Thing From The Black Lagoon is not the image most Glaswegians have of themselves, apparently. Outrage from the Scottish press of which the politest remarks were “Scruff At The Top” and “Patronising”. It certainly earned the rail boss massive free publicity – but at what price? We won’t know until he gets home to London and back to his dear wife. Who hails from…Glasgow.
LOS ANGELES, April 28 (Reuters) – Swine flu chatter spread swiftly through blogs and social network sites like Twitter and Facebook on Tuesday while U.S. cable news networks’ saturation coverage of the outbreak gave way to a major political story.
“As the number of swine flu cases continues to climb, so does public interest in the (flu) outbreak. Americans are looking for more information on the outbreak and specifically for symptoms to look out for,” said Heather Hopkins, analyst for Hitwise, which tracks Internet usage. Read the rest of this entry »
The media have rightly emphasised the one big difference between any possible flu pandemic in 2009 and previous pandemics: nations today are able to spot the signs early, and act coherently to prevent spread. What they haven’t emphasised is the vital nature of handling media announcements carefully and efficiently so that the public plays its part – the most important part – in preventing spread. But in these very early stages, there are good signs. President Obama’s “A time for concern – but not alarm” hits exactly the right note. Early warnings in the UK against non-vital travel to countries affected will be heeded – everyone knows this is not an idle threat. Here, the Scottish Health Protection Agency is coping admirably with the first two cases to appear in the UK. What is needed is a sure-handed approach which plays down fears but indicates that there are clear, straightforward plans of action which can be put into practice immediately they are needed. That’s being picked up by NHS trusts in the North West who have already been trained by Media Mentor for just this event. They took the view three months ago that it was only a matter of time – and more importantly, that the best line of defence against the spread of a flu pandemic is the action the public takes. And that can best be achieved by getting the media message right.
At last, something positive has come out of the misery that is the economic downturn! Council leaders have banned 200 of the worst uses of jargon in a bid to help the public understand exactly what civil servants are talking about.
The Local Government Association hopes that banning the gobbledygook that is so loved by public sector employees will encourage more effective communication – and help humble taxpayers understand what our hard earned cash is being spent on. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s a rollercoaster ride when you’re front page news, as egghead Gail Trimble has found. Suddenly, life in the tabloid lane for the woman dubbed the “human google” is beginning to reflect the media experience of her reality TV counterpart Jade Goody. Stripped of her title as Chief Challenger through an irregularity of which she was not a part, and almost certainly not aware, she was down in the dumps yesterday (Monday). Today (Tuesday..No conferring! keep up!) she’s bounced back again, by announcing her engagement to 27 year old Tom West, a trainee solicitor and the son of a vicar. All human life is here…and in our view that is what makes journalism a positive force. Up or down, tragic or bouyant, genius or intellectually challenged, we’re all human beings in the ultimate democracy of the red-tops.
Major wins for Media Mentor have made 2009 our busiest year ever – reflecting the view that the right communciation skills are essential to UK organisations’ chances of pulling themselves out of the recession. Birmingham City Council, Stockton Borough Council and South Lanarkshire Council in Scotland have signed up senior directors and elected members in their hundreds. A recent comment at one council was “every manager should go on this course” and it seems to us that they all are! The NHS continues to demand our services in almost every part of the UK, with NHS North West covering Greater Manchester and Cumbria assigning Media Mentor as their appointed supplier of media training. Already we’ve held over a dozen sessions on Flu Pandemic and other crises, and the NHS Computer system Lorenzo which has had more than its fair share of media attention in the past few months. Our work for the Blood Transfusion Service and Counter Fraud Services in Scotland has kept us busy behind the scenes of some of the most prominent headline stories in recent weeks, and with recent wins from the Scottish Parliament and a major National Park authority, 2009 is proving to be a bumper year for Media Mentor.
University Challenge brainbox Gail Trimble was thrown into the media spotlight this week when she led her team from Oxford University to victory in the 2009 grand final of University Challenge.
Even Jeremy Paxman was left speechless by Trimble’s intelligence; she scored a massive 825 of the 1,235 points amassed by Corpus Christi on the road to the final and was integral to their triumph in the last few rounds over Manchester University on Monday night.
But what does it say about Britain that she was labelled by fans on the programme blog as “horribly smug”, “immensely annoying” and a “hateful know it all”?
In the same week that Trimble has been vilified for her intelligence, Jade Goody, a woman famous (by her own admission) for her ignorance, has won the nation’s heart (yet again) by marrying a violent convict with only weeks to live. Although Goody’s story is undoubtedly tragic, it seems bizarre that she is being showered with love and support while Trimble is being publicly condemned. Read the rest of this entry »
Slumdog Millionaire, the moving and powerful rags-to-riches story of forgotten slum dwellers who struggled in the face of insuperable odds to pull themselves from the obscurity of ’straight to DVD British Film’ and won a life changing prize – Eight Oscars including Best Film and Best Direct0r! Oh wait, that was the real story, not the Slumdog plot. Everyone now knows what Slumdog Millionaire is about. But only two months ago it was largely unknown. Advertisements emblazoned with the title would have made no sense, and would have been largely ignored by the public. What catapulted this obscure film into worldwide fame was good old-fashioned PR. Articles about “The Real Slumdog Millionaires” explaining the reality of the teeming, vibrant extremes of life in the slums of Mumbai, followed up by the extraordinary story of the making of the film itself captured the imagination of the public. With understanding came enthusiasm – and how quickly it spread even to the insular world of Hollywood. Advertising can’t do this – which is why Slumdog proves the Power of PR.
From Edinburgh to Balloch then up to Inverness and back to Glasgow, Media Mentor is having a busy month in Scotland. Many of our courses this month have been taken up by the public sector – we’re training the NHS, Councils and Charity groups.
But in the private sector, Government -backed finance makes this the best time ever to book yourself in. New training grants are easily avaliable – you can get £500 per person towards our courses from the Learning Skills Council – and that’s more then enough to pay for a place on one of our open courses, at £275, reduced to £195 for more than a single booking. Check the link below for more information.
http://www.media-mentor.co.uk/media-training-grant.html
To find out more about out open courses in London and Scotland, click the link below.
We look forward to seeing you at a Media Mentor course in the future.
How powerful are digital TV channels? Has the brave new world of 300+ channels brought the giants of terrestrial broadcasting to their knees? Pity poor Five, forced to cut newly-commissioned programming. And ITV, scraping at the bottom of the barrel for any advertising they can get! And Channel 4 hawking its wares round everywhere from the Government to BBC World!! Well, it’s not quite as bad as it looks. Re-arrange these words into a well-known phrase or saying: Richard and Judy, Eleven Thousand, Watch. The channels may be available, but human behaviour is almost impossible to change. Where there is a BBC local radio station, where BBC and ITV run regional television bulletins, brush up your interview skills. There are still plenty of people watching…so better be careful out there.
The UK’s two most influential animal charities are, er… locking horns in what must be the year’s most unexpected dispute so far. 70% of people in Scotland who donate to the RSPCA think, quite reasonably, that at least some of the money will support the welfare of animals in Scotland.
This is a definite, er…bone of contention with the SCOTTISH SPCA, an entirely separate body. Not a penny of RSPCA funds goes towards animal welfare in Scotland, even though the RSPCA advertises for donations in Scotland. The SSPCA, having failed to get a line introduced into RSPCA adverts making this clear, today published their own ‘knocking’ advert, complete with heart-rending pictures of emaciated pooches, and claiming the RSPCA is “stealing food from the mouths of Scotland’s defenceless animals”.
But of course the real publicity comes from the news coverage of the dispute. SSPCA Chief Executive Stuart Earley has been in every newspaper, radio and TV bulletin he can, putting his case with determination and passion. And the RSPCA? No spokesperson on the Today programme. Nor on Radio 4’s PM. Nor any interview in the papers.
Why? Instead they issued a statement. A statement which does not answer the SSPCA’s points, or any journalist’s questions, or say whether they will clarify where their funds are spent in future. So the coverage in all parts of the UK has been overwhelmingly supportive of the Scottish charity. We have said it before, and we’ll say it again: don’t just issue a statement. As a tactic, it flies in the face of open debate. It does not allow an organisation to be held to public account. It’s the equivalent of running away with your tail between your legs.
According to advice from the British Medical Association’s General Practitioner Committee, the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Department of Health, a UK-wide 24-hour telephone and web-based service would be the route of information for the public in the event of a flu pandemic.
The advice, as reported in Health Insider, warns that a pandemic would put the NHS under “unprecedented pressure” and stretch general practice “beyond its current limits.”
It also estimates that during the flu pandemic’s peak, an average GP practice could see almost 200 additional cases of flu a week.
So how can the NHS prepare?
Another route for relaying information of course is through the media – namely on radio and television. It is vital that NHS bodies prepare their communications strategies in advance, and prepare their spokespeople who will undoubtedly face great pressure once a pandemic hits.
Media Mentor will assist the NHS to:
● Understand the dynamics of a flu pandemic crisis situation
● Handle an influx of media enquiries, from local and national media
● Develop key flu pandemic messages.
● Generate trust and professionalism during interviews
● Perform confidently and calmly in the face of probing, persistent and critical questioning on radio and television.
A motto often quoted by hardened journalists is “never let the facts get in the way of a good story”…usually as a warning to callow enthusiastic young pups tempted to exaggerate.
But politicians rush in where journalists fear to tread. No one more enthusiastic than Alex Salmond, the First Minister of Scotland who told an amazed audience that no less a person than Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations had written to him asking to be allowed to come to Scotland to make a speech in honour of the poet Robert Burns as part of the Scottish Executive’s tourism campaign, called Homecoming.
Beaming with pride, Mr Salmond said “It’s a sign, a symbol, of the power of Robert Burns that the former Secretary-General of the United Nations actually writes to offer a lecture as a contribution to our Year of Homecoming.” But none of it was true. Kofi Annan actually wrote regretting that he would not be able to come to Scotland for the Homecoming celebrations, but would be giving a speech in Scotland on the economy later in the year and was looking forward to that. The First Minister was happy to seize on the phrase “I would like to travel to Scotland to deliver a speech later in the year” as hard evidence that the great man was an ardent fan of Burn’s broad Scots poetry.
Anyway it’s hardly a diplomatic blunder is it? After all, Kofi Anan’s office merely issued a statement to the media saying: ““There has been some misinformation and Mr Annan would appreciate a correction. We are irritated by this.” Jings!
Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg scooped the Slot Of The Week by getting a major interview on BBC 1’s Andrew Marr Show last Sunday (January 25th).
But the occasion must have got the better of Cameron-Lite. When asked to explain his view that Britain could survive the recession better by acting more like the rest of Europe he said… (I paraphrase) Well…reducing spending, tackling global warming…in things like HOME INSULATION we’re LAGGING behind. Yeesss….
“In recent years there has been no bigger disaster than the visit of David Miliband.”
- Arun Jaitley, a politician from the Opposition Party BJP
Foreign Secretary David Miliband could have done with some media, and diplomacy, training before he set off on his recent trip to India.
By publicly airing his views on Kashmir, Miliband managed to upset the Indian establishment so much that Indian Prime Minister has allegedly written to Gordon Brown about the matter – although Downing Street denies receiving a letter.
India sees Kashmir as an internal matter and so did not take kindly to Mr Miliband writing in a report for the Guardian: “Although I understand the current difficulties, resolution of the dispute over Kashmir would help deny extremists in the region one of their main calls to arms and allow Pakistani authorities to focus more effectively on tackling the threat on their western borders.”
He then managed to worsen things by going on to say that India needed to “incentivise Pakistan” by showing “some movement on Kashmir”.
Oh dear. The storm that this has caused has overshadowed Business Secretary Peter Mandelson’s current trip to India. Miliband’s comments have been described as “shabby,”, “unacceptable” and “a textbook example of how not to conduct foreign policy.”
