A Media Person's Musings

Too Little Too Late

The current media brouhaha revolves around two of the UK's leading, not to mention highly remunerated, broadcast personalities - Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand. Ross hosts a late night chat show (Letterman-style) and Brand is a stand-up comedian and actor who recently burst onto the Hollywood scene starring in the movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

The two recorded a sketch where they phoned the answer-machine of one of the UK's well-loved veteran actors Andrew Sachs (most famous for his portrayal of Manuel the Spanish waiter in Fawlty Towers) and leave a trail of obscene messages. The motivation can be seen at the BBC’s web site. The content included the fact that Brand had enjoyed a sexual relationship with Sachs' granddaughter.

 This has resulted in over 18,000 complaints lodged with the BBC. The very surprising fact about the whole situation was that the lewd, unnecessary and unfunny sketch  had been pre-recorded and had been passed for broadcast by a production team. Usually gaffes of this nature happen in live broadcasts but this incident was totally preventable.

So the mistake was made. What did the BBC do? 'Nothing' is the answer. They stayed quiet while the two protagonists also stayed quiet giving the impression that no one gave a damn. This just added fuel to the media's fire. What could have been an embarrassing news clip has escalated onto front page news and culminated in the Prime Minister demanding that the BBC (an organisation largely funded by tax payer's money) give some answers and take some action.

Had the BBC immediately issued a statement saying they were sorry and looking into the situation then they would have definitely averted the storm. Waiting for days to take any sort of action is at best foolhardy and worst unprofessional. It appears they laid the blame solely at  Ross and Brand's doors leaving them to make personal apologies (too little too late).

The BBC took action today, responding to the media pressure by suspending Ross and Brand. As for Andrew Sachs, like a true professional, he responded by speaking to the media, telling them the facts and behaving with dignity and transparency. The BBC should take a leaf out of his book.

The Importance of Good Advice

 Today ex-popster and general C-list celebrity Kerry Katona appeared on This Morning- the UK's popular morning chat show. She was promoting her new programme "Kerry Katona - Whole Again" which follows her going through various plastic surgery procedures to remodel her body including a breast reduction and liposuction. Kerry is well known in the tabloid press for being a girl of excess - to say the least. She has been reported as having a cocaine addiction and has been in and out of rehab. So when she appeared on TV this morning it was no real surprise when she started off the interview slurring her words. She was clearly under the influence of something. When the interviewers pointed this out she got very defensive claiming strong medication to help her sleep was to blame.

It must have been obvious to the production team that she was incapable of giving a good interview when she arrived at the studio. But the temptation of a TV scoop like this was clearly too much and the interviewers went in for the kill. It was car crash TV. Clearly Kerry had no strong advisers on staff - preferring the company of her leeching boyfriend who is her (self-styled) manager. Her long-time publicist Max Clifford (who irritatingly is often called a PR guru) was nowhere to be seen. I am sure if she had decent advisors this sorry spectacle could well have been avoided. She could well be dropped by her biggest sponsor Iceland as she clearly doesn't represent their wholesome "Mums go to Iceland" brand. This mum is going to the local off-licence instead.

No Soft Soap

Today's media storm centres around our popular soap opera EastEnders. The BBC has been inundated with complaints about the current storyline where the mother of a fifteen year old girl has a boyfriend who has apparently 'groomed' her since she was twelve. 'Outraged from Surbiton' complains that this is tea-time TV and as a family show EastEnders should not be running storylines like this that can be viewed by children.

Unfortunately (and I mean unfortunately) I have to disagree. Recent polls have shown that children today are far more sexually aware than they ever have been. With unfettered access to the Internet they are exposed to all sorts of sexual imagery and the means, via social networking sites and chartrooms, of forming close relationships with unlikely 'friends'. Interestingly despite all this exposure they remain largely uneducated about sex and consequently we are vaccinating young girls against cervical cancer and we continue to lead the teen pregnancy tables.

So a TV show dealing with very real issues like paedophilia is actually necessary. It is probably the best way of warning impressionable girls and boys how easily they can be misled by someone they may have in a position of trust. Nowadays when TV is all-influential I am glad that EastEnders has tackled this storyline. My main criticism of the BBC is of how quietly they have gone about this. They are working with the NSPCC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children) on this storyline and are certainly doing their best to give an accurate and sensitive portrayal. In my opinion they should have publicised their work with the NSPCC showing how important these storylines are rather than wait for the complaints to come rolling in?

The Problem With PR

It was with disappointment, but no surprise, that I read a front-page story in PR Week about how "PR has failed to shed its 'ab-fab' image". Researchers found that the majority of coverage about PR in our national press was negative and only 35% positive. One newspaper article even described PR as 'the art of saying nothing'.

This one-sided view of PR comes from the press just following the antics of 3rd rate celebrities with their publicists who hawk their torrid little lives around. The other main culprits are the political 'spin doctors'. I live in hope that one day the media will stop calling upon the likes of Matthew Freud, Max Clifford and Alistair Campbell for interviews about reputation and PR. One day, maybe we will see the CIPR talk for the industry.

The fact of the matter is that PR is the best and most cost-effective way of building reputation, creating a dialogue and relationship with your stakeholders and building the bottom line. PR should be taken far more seriously at board level and PROs should ideally report directly into the CEO. Until we as an industry are taken more seriously this will never happen.

PR will always get bad press until we as an industry invest more in setting the record straight. We do such a great job for our clients why can't we do it for ourselves?

Lily the Lout

One of the stories that has created a lot of ink today is that of Lily Allen's behaviour when she was co-hosting last night's GQ awards. Lily Allen (for those of you who don't know) is a minor British singer and the daughter of a C-List celebrity actor. She certainly is not an international superstar like her co-host Elton John.

Lily is starting to become notorious for her drunken loutish behaviour and showed total disrespect for the occasion, organisers and guests by slurring her way through her job. She knocked back champagne on stage and when she announced "now we reach a very special point in the evening", Sir Elton, known for his waspish sense of humour replied: "What, you are going to have another drink?"

Did Allen laugh and gracefully acknowledge the pun? Hell no! She told him to F*** off and continued to have a little rant. Nice. Classy.

Unfortunately her behaviour is typical of a generation that has been brought up in a world where "I want" generally gets and if they don't they simply take it. And if you say something I don't like I will tell you to F*** off. I am sure a lot of Lily Allen fans will think what she did was hilarious and will applaud her for it and I am sure that she will continue to get herself a few more album sales by being in all the papers for this latest incident. Interestingly she has moaned about EMI not pulling their fingers out and doing something with her new album. Maybe she thinks that her growing notoriety will in some way persuade them to get on with it. 

Allen often moans about her negative press. On her blog she claims that she doesn't do these things as publicity stunts and that it upsets her when people write negative things about her. Well the answer is simple - do unto others as you would have done to you. If you treat people with respect then they will treat you the same way. The media will always find something to criticise about high profile people but behaving like a spoilt brat with no class is a surefire way to keep the criticism coming.

No Media Darling!

Alistar Darling, our Chancellor of the Exchequer is not known for giving interviews to the press. Indeed he is one of the quieter types in the Cabinet choosing to speak when he has to and when he does talk it has usually been very factual rather than fiercely opinionated. So it was with surprise that I read his interview with the Guardian this weekend. The content surprised me even more.

He had invited a journalist to spend two days with him at his Scottish retreat. You would imagine that a journalist given that length of time with one of our leading political figures would have had some sort of relationship with him but Decca Aitkenhead had only met him the once. To give someone that amount of access you either had to trust them not to do a stitch-up job on you or you were to be prepared for a 'warts and all' feature. True, the Guardian is a left-wing, Pro-Labour broadsheet so maybe Darling felt that by giving this searingly honest and opinionated interview he would get sympathetic coverage.

In fact Aitkenhead did her job. She reported what she heard from the Chancellor's mouth and the subsequent article sent the media into overdrive. Darling had declared that the economic times we are facing are "arguably the worst they've been in 60 years. And I think it's going to be more profound and long-lasting than people thought." To compound his gloomy outlook he said that he had had a terrible time since he took the position, went into detail about Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs losing two disks containing the personal details of just about every family in the country and his wife cheerily chipped in saying it had been a "crisis a week".

I'm not sure what Darling was hoping to achieve from giving this interview. In fact I don't think he can have thought about his objectives or messages at all. It was all 'me, me, me'. I get the impression that he just went along with it. His wife, an ex-journalist, Maggie was reported as cheerily streering everything and even his press adviser (another former journalist) was quoted as saying; "Now Alistair tell her everything. Make sure you tell her everything." The result of Darling 'telling her everything' was that the markets went into freefall on Monday. Sterling plunged to a historic low: the pound slumped to 1.23 euros, its lowest level since the launch of the single currency in 1999, and $1.80, its worst rate against the dollar in two years.

The Tories accused the Chancellor of having 'talked down' Britain's prospects with his suggestion that it faces its worst crisis in 60 years. And, even worse, his estimate was wildly inaccurate anyway as Management Today pointed out in its analysis of the effect of this single interview: "Back in 1948, there were about 3m people out of work – about twice the current total – rationing was in force, and inflation was running at about 25%. Unless the Chancellor knows something we don’t, we’re a long way off that."

Now I am all for giving journalists good access to senior player but there has to be a reason for it. If you are not ready with clear objectives and messages in line with those objectives then the results can be incredibly damaging. This interview has not only damaged Darling's reputation but it has had a direct affect on the economy that he is supposed to be working, on our behalf, to stabilise. 'Making matters worse' is an understatement. The Labour party has been made to look less than credible and his good friend the Prime Minister Gordon Brown doesn't appear to have taken any action to rectify this mistake. A lot of people are calling for him to be sacked because of his ineffectual performance as our Chancellor. I think this is in some part unfair because a lot of what we are suffering is down to World forces. But in giving this interview he has shown a grave error of judgement and for that he should be reprimanded at the very least.

Bumbling Boris

China did itself proud in its staging of the Olympics in Beijing. There was much scepticism about whether the country could pull it off with worries about whether journalists would be able to use the internet to file their stories and of pro-Tibet protests. However the Chinese authorities staged a well run, efficient and wildly sucessful event. No mean feat. They put on spectacular opening and closing ceremonies and UK audiences watched curiously to see what our contribution would be to the handover part of the closing ceremony. This was our opportunity to give a glimpse of what the Olympics might be like when we host it in 2012.

To say our contribution was lame would be an understatement. Indeed the Chinese media is full of articles and comment damning our contribution and saying that we were disrespectful. They are especially damning of our Mayor of London Boris Johnson. Boris is often portrayed by cartoonists as a shaggy dog due to his unkempt appearance and his exuberant nature. Boris is notoriously eccentric and his appearance and behaviour at the closing ceremony when he received the Olympic flag were to us watching at home 'typical Boris'. In fact we were all hooting as we saw him wander up to the stage jacket unbuttoned and hands in his pockets. He stood out like a sore thumb amongst the neatly coiffed Chinese dignitaries. It was no surprise to us when he acted so casually. It was simply just Boris.

But, to the Chinese, he was really very rude and disrespectful. I have done business with people from the Far East for many years and have seen how polite and courteous they are - a far cry from our Western casual and off-the-cuff way of doing business. The Chinese put an incredible amount of thought and effort into their contribution for the Olympics and our reaction to our chance to shine was to send in a London Bus with Jimmy Page (a faded rocker from the 70s), Leona Lewis (who no one recognises in the Far East) and David Beckham on top. A really terrible effort. This was only to be topped by Boris, who had in fact brushed his hair for once, standing knock-kneed with his hands in his pockets to receive the Olympic flag. If this is the message that we are sending out to the World about Great Britain and London then I am not surprised that we continue to dive in global popularity. I look forward to next year's Eurovision song contest when even Coldplay could enter for us and we would still get 'nil points'.

Fabio Rules!

The appointment of Fabio Capello as the new manager of the England football team was greeted with an inevitable media furore. Some journalists were up in arms because the UK's football authority couldn't find a decent enough English candidate to take on this highly paid yet unenviable role. Capello's credentials are impeccable and despite the challenges (he can't speak English and the press are just waiting for him to trip up) he is already making his mark.

Tonight the England team (and Capello has made some controversial selections) will play its first match under his direction. The match is a 'friendly against Switzerland b ut everyone is keen to see if Fabio has already made an impression on our lacklustre and overrated players.

Many pundits say that English football players are over-paid, over-rated and are not as professional in their approach to training and fitness as their European counterparts. It seems that Fabio agrees! He has implemented a new, strict system of rules that include timekeeping, access to players from WAGs (wives and girlfriends), diet, training and even how they address eachother. He is a consumate, serious professional and he is setting the standard for every manager out there who is managing young, petulant, super-talented players. The key to success is discipline and respect, something the youngsters in our society have no concept of because of the very bad example set by their spoiled role models. So well done Fabio, bring it on, I hope that you show us all that discipline and application will ultimately bring us the results we want.

McCanns and The Media (Continued..)

A little while ago I wrote a blog on the relationship that the Kate and Gerry McCann (parents of missing Madeleine) have with the media and how the previously supportive press corps is showing signs of turning. The McCanns have their own crack media relations team, access to media training and briefing and now their own personal spokesperson who makes appearances on prime time TV shows on their behalf. In the last month or so they have kept a deliberatley low profile and tried to get their lives back in some sort of order and I think that was absolutely the right thing to do.

However, today's news is full of their 'first broadcast interview' in months. Interviewed for a Spanish TV show, the couple were asked all the same questions as they have ever been asked so they should have been more than prepared. When asked if they had sedated their children Kate McCann practically snapped that she wasn't going to answer the question. Gerry McCann jumped in appearing to try to justify her response by saying such questions were not to be tolerated as they were so ludicrous.

Reacting so badly to suspicions that they are more than aware of already was a big mistake and very likely to further alienate the McCanns. Kate and Gerry should have been fully briefed for those questions and prepared to answer them too.

McCann Media Dilemma

Yesterday I was interviewed by a Finnish newspaper about the PR machine that is behind the campaign to find Madeleine McCann, the toddler who was abducted in May from her holiday villa in Portugal. Immediately it was front page news and since that time her parents and their helpers have managed to keep her disappearance at the top of the news agenda. They have managed to raise millions for a marketing fund and they have met with world leaders and even the Pope. I have been totally impressed and frankly stunned with the speed and efficiency of this campaign. Children all over the world go missing every day and yet the McCanns have managed to create a news story that just runs and runs. It is impressively slick, there has been no Madeleine 'fatigue' and the McCanns have been totally 'on message'.

The campaign also provided them with a great buffer when they were named as suspects by the Portuguese police and all of a sudden there was a smidgen of doubt about their claims of innocence. However, they had been so accessible, so media friendly, that the media didn't turn on them as badly as they could. The media had been on their side from day 1 and I wrote on this blog that they were lucky that they hadn't been villified for leaving 3 kids under four alone in the first place.

How have they managed to achieve all this? Well as it turns out they have had a media machine behind then from the start. And, maybe it is all a bit too much as now I can detect a slight turn against the McCanns as the campaign seems to have become all about them. A couple of days ago they appointed a new spokesperson (ex BBC man Clarence Mitchell). Today Max Clifford ('PR GURU' - NOT) backed this move saying they had to do it to protect their reputations. I am not so sure. PR also involves deciding if the timing is right. I think in this case they run the risk of turning the public against them. At the very least this 'Mousetrap of a media production" (as Ian Monk refers to it as in PR Week) runs the risk of a few eyebrows being raised and at worse of distracting people from its original purpose - that of finding Madeleine.