News International falls flat by blowing its own trumpet

Amid the ongoing phone hacking scandal News Corp has been desperately clambering for the public’s confidence through stories published in their own media titles. News Corp chief Rupert Murdoch, his son James and News International chief Rebekah Brooks have relied entirely on their own organisation’s media platforms rather than venturing outside the walls of News International for third party endorsements. Transparently biased cries for leniency and gentle support from News Corp titles have fallen on deaf ears with the anti-News International rally continuing to gain momentum, appearing in national and international publications, and especially social media.

News Corp is stubbornly continuing with its current strategy that still fails to deliver any PR success. The most recent failure to appreciate that people don’t trust their editorial can be seen in Trevor Kavanagh’s article in The Sun. Kavanagh paints a picture of a harassed and victimized organisation suffering a human rights abuse when all they were doing was standing-up for the public and putting a pair of tits on page 3.

Any PR Executive can tell you about the importance of encouraging media titles that your target audience trusts to carry your messages. Neutrality and non-biased stories are extremely important for news reporting. The public expects media titles to offer accurate stories on current affairs. One can even say that the public have romanticised journalism, expecting their news sources to be modest and integral members of society. Endorsements in mediums such as these that have the support from the public are extremely important to swaying general opinions.

The reputation of News Corp is tarnished following the scandal and the numerous arrests. The public’s trust has been lost and it is extremely difficult to gain back through a medium that they don’t believe in. The general public is disgusted with their behaviour and are now wise to the use of News Corp’s various content outlets across the world that pathetically pledge support and defend its UK titles.

In another attempt to rescue its reputation The Sun tried to remind people of all the good it has done, with the claim that: “News International's record as a friend of the armed services and of our servicemen and servicewomen, is impeccable”. Unfortunately for the UK’s most popular paper this was published in the midst of the revelation that servicemen and women’s families’ phones had been hacked by their colleagues over at the News of the World. This left their readership outraged, seething with anger and baying for blood in concert with other news organisations who were more than happy to puncture the chink in the News Corp armour. The public are enjoying reading about the destruction of the News of the World more than about any attempt to defend it - as most journalists at both The Sun and The Times know all too well.

News Corp media titles also received widespread criticism from American media. American magazine, The Atlantic, criticised TV Network, Fox News for down scaling its reporting on Murdoch dropping his bid for 100% control of BSkyB. The Atlantic said: “An hour after everyone else, the Fox site now has a small above-the-fold mention of Murdoch dropping the BSkyB bid. This is like the way the Soviet press covered Chernobyl: ‘small problem in the Ukraine’.”

Murdoch’s power in the media industry has not been enough to pull him out of this scandal. The media mogul has had to face up to his faltering public profile and bit the bullet last year to bring in the help of PR agency, Edelman. Edelman’s approach was to take a leaf out of The Evening Standard’s Ad campaign in 2009, encouraging the Murdochs to apologise to everyone who had been victims of the scandal. Apoplectic readers, however, didn’t care for the apology and saw through this latest PR ploy as a shallow, transparent and particularly crass exercise in spin.

The News of the World was never going to survive the controversy it had embroiled itself in, but elements of the scandal could have been avoided. The immediate resignation of Murdoch’s long time protégé Brooks would have saved the company from cultivating the perception that it was forcing an entire newspaper staff out of work to save the career of one executive. After resisting many calls for her to quit, Brooks eventually fell on her sword in an undignified manner. Hacking revelations, the collapse of the News of the World, her arrest and, of course, some fitting harassment from the media –all had to take place before she finally gave in to public pressure. Brooks has become nationally despised, perhaps even more so than Andy Coulson, as people reveal various ugly stories about her practices.

Funnily enough the strongest boon to News Corp’s PR was when Rupert Murdoch got hit in the face with a foam pie. What followed is the impassioned third party endorsement from this wife, Wendi Deng, who landed a right hook on the perpetrator Jonnie Marbles, that gained her and her husband widespread support. The Daily Mail claimed that the general opinion on her had changed from being an opportunist to someone who genuinely cared for her husband. Murdoch’s profile was also given a boost as the foam helped to wipe away some of the egg on his face, tackling the public’s perception of him as cold and difficult to warm to. Public sentiment to the scandal momentarily softened – but only momentarily.

Media companies can’t just rely on their own pages for effective PR. Third-party endorsement is extremely important when it comes to rallying support in the face of a crisis as seen in the case of News Corp. This is why political parties are so desperate to get a third party declaring their support for them, and why senior figures such as Tony Blair and David Cameron have always been so happy to form an alliance with News Corp. Politicians have looked to these publications for support in times of crisis, to gain that all important third party endorsement, because nothing better cements credibility than an outsider weighing in on your behalf.

When the hacking scandal broke with full force last summer News Corp was left floundering, drowning under its own weight. Without any third parties willing to throw it a lifeline, it will face a long and arduous uphill struggle to repair its severely tarnished reputation.

But last week, one might finally feel that News Corp was getting that third party endorsement it so desperately needs – and from a Government minister, no less. Education Secretary Michael Gove honoured the media mogul saying that Rupert Murdoch “should be applauded and not criticised” for setting up new – although looking very much like the old – Sunday newspaper, the Sun on Sunday. However, Michael Gove was an ex-News International employee, having previously worked with The Times, so can’t really be called a third party. Moreover one questions Gove’s motives in fawning over a media title and its proprietors. For the public to be persuaded, third party endorsements must come from true third parties.

Community management in iGaming video: Playscan

Sara Larsson, Chief Marketing Officer at Playscan, talked Parker, Wayne & Kent through Playscan's community management tools for iGaming and gambling websites:

 

Playscan is the first tool worldwide to offer players a way to keep track of their gambling behaviour, both in terms of their own perception of gambling via a traffic light system, and provides an analysis based on their actual gaming data.

Online gambling video: TopBetta

Todd Buckingham, CEO of TopBetta, introduced Parker, Wayne & Kent to a brand new social betting platform:

TopBetta is the world's first social betting platform for sports and racing tournaments that enables sports fans to compete against each other, rather than the bookie. It's changing the way in which people bet on sports to make it all about the users, and how wisely they can place their bets. Punters don't even have to put any money down, as TopBetta provides free to play tournaments that enable players to win cash prizes without betting a penny. TopBetta combines the best of social gaming and online gambling to provide users with a rich, unique and rewarding sports betting experience.