Archive for October, 2008

Jumping on the media bandwagon

Wednesday, October 29th, 2008

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So the two latest casualties of the trial by media culture we have are Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand. Depending on your take on the issue it’s likely you care little or not at all for the welfare of these highly-paid media stars but that misses the point.

Many commentators (nods to Borkowski and Will Sturgeon) have already shared their thoughts on the issue and my own rather flippant opinion has been given short shrift both on Facebook and Twitter (nod here to Anne Wollenberg).

To me there are several things at play here: a media hungry for alternative stories to the credit crunch endlessly being played out before our eyes, a rather antipathetic feeling towards Brand and Ross and the hyping up of the chattering classes who view anything mildly tasteless as hugely offensive. Essentially, a recipe for a media storm in a teacup.

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Wednesday’s This Morning appearance by former Atomic Kitten-cum ubiquitous reality star Kerry Katona left many people concerned for her health and state of mind. Watching the clip on Youtube raises serious doubts about whether she should even have appeared – indeed my posting of it on Facebook lead to a slew of comments, many sympathetic to Katona’s cause (nod to Sally Whittle here).What struck me as a PR is the reaction of her publicist Max Clifford. Speaking on the BBC he denied any knowledge of the interview prior to it airing and said that if any of ‘his girls in the office’ had known about it, he wouldn’t have let her go on.

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The news that that our regional ITV news coverage could be further eroded due to a shortage of advertising prompts fears of quality of output being compromised - particularly as it was not that long ago that a television news team in our region underwent the trauma of re-applying for their own positions and cutting jobs. As a former regional TV journalist with organisations including the BBC TV news in Manchester and  HTV, the announcement that ITV is shrinking news output from 17 separate programmes to just nine begs the question of how viewers will react to having stories imposed on them with little ‘local’ interest if geographical boundaries are further stretched. 

With union warnings of 250 journalists and technical staff being axed, discerning producers will, more than ever, welcome story outlines from savvy PRs who understand this visual medium and who can present stories which will ‘stand up’ and come to life through great pictures and strong interviewees who are well versed in the art of producing ‘soundbites’. Companies wishing to maximise opportunities are also advised to undertake expert media training to ensure they handle their media interviews confidently and competently.                   

So maximise the wealth of regional TV opportunities by thinking pictures and soundbites – and visualise how fabulous it will be when your organisation’s story makes the flagship news programme!    

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