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.

Media in the media

At Parker Wayne and Kent we receive the FT daily email, and usually we give it an interested glance over before moving on to the working day. Not so today, and the coverage was so amazing that I just had to write about it. Of the many brilliant stories in the paper today none of them grab your attention like the news that 63 year old former governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger is working with Spiderman creator Stan Lee on a new comic book character called ‘The Governator’. Based on the former movie stars 7 years in office the character will be the centre of a childrens TV series next year, in which the Governator will be pitted against Gangsters Imposters Racketeers Liars and Irredeemable Ex-Cons (or Girlie Men).
Whether or not this is a wonderful April Fools Day prank, the internet is currently blazing with super hero news – whether the new Wonder Woman costume or casting announcements for Christopher Nolan’s the Dark Knight Rises – and Schwarzenegger demonstrates that he still knows how to take the media by storm. Earlier in the week Arnie met Prime Minister David Cameron at the 1922 committee to advise on the current Libyan situation. Schwarzenegger endorsed Prime Minister Camerons’ leadership and applauded his action saying that the government were doing: “A great job on Libya, a great job for Britain in making it live within its means and a great job with policies to protect the environment."
Media in Libya has also been at the forefront of the FT today, as the first uncensored broadcast in 42 years was transmitted over the recently renamed Free Libya Radio Station. This event coincides with journalists launching free newspapers that are being seen as increasingly valuable tools for the opposition against Gaddafi’s forces.
In Turkey, however, the escalating controversy surrounding the arrests of several journalists has highlighted a more worrying attitude toward a free media. The European Union and US State department joined the rising criticism over this latest PR nightmare for the Turkish government, as their record for a free press continues to worsen.
This issue hits closer to home as James Murdoch is promoted to Deputy Chief Operations Officer and into the New York office of media giant News Corp. This move that has caused bafflement over at the FT as it comes at a time when News Corps highly publicised and controversial acquisition of BSkyB is at a final and delicate stage, not to mention the continuing controversy over the News of the World phone hacking scandal. The ever expanding control over the media exhibited by News Corp has caused grave concern and strong opposition from those who insist that the media in this country must exhibit plurality. The final decision from UK Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt will be delivered after the parliamentary recess on April 26th.
Publicis have also announced plans for succession in which Jean Yves Naouri is taking over as Executive Chairman of Publicis Worldwide to become the successor of Maurice Levy. The agency has relied upon Naouris’ technological expertise to deal with companies like Microsoft and Google, and will now rely on him in this senior position to continue to push digital advertising into new innovative areas.
Googles’ recent announcement of a new social networking feature could bring a viral element to search advertising for the first time. As a fight back against Facebook – who overtook Google as the most visited site in the US last year – Google have created the +1 button. Similar to the Facebook ‘Like’ button users will be able to set personal preferences and appear in their friends search results, vastly increasing the potential benefits for marketers.
Digital marketing’s focus on social media has led to 96% of marketers planning to spend more of their budget on it according to a survey of members of the World Federation of Advertisers conducted by Millward Brown. Half of these are unsure of the returns however, and a further quarter even says payback is average or poor. The point here – as the FT highlights – is that those 96% of marketers are seeking consumer engagement, and yet simply having a social media presence doesn’t guarantee this. True engagement comes from using social media not as an end in and of itself, but as part of a broader marketing strategy. PepsiCo have set up a glass wall to monitor the social media on its product Gatorade. The screen shows every tweet, like, and mention, while being monitored by a team of five representatives each from a different part of the company, such as PR, customer service and branding. Gatorade Mission Control, as it is known, allows the company to understand “the heartbeat of the consumer.”
The news is increasingly dominated by stories about the way in which stories are told, and the varying methods by which those stories are reaching consumers. The FT focuses on these because the implications for business are enormous. A strong media presence is more important than ever, and – with huge PR companies having been the target of some bad PR themselves lately – it’s vital that companies are able to put their trust in an ethical practice that is able to deliver the ever-expanding and ever-more significant media needs of the modern business.