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.

Educational technology video: Learnetic

Parker, Wayne & Kent has been visiting a great deal of trade shows this year. We’ve met lots of new people from very different industries, and they always seem to be doing interesting things. We’ve decided to launch this video blog to showcase why it’s great to meet new people, and give them a chance to show just how and why their companies stand out from the crowd in their industry.

Parker, Wayne & Kent met Artur Dyro, Chief Executive Officer at Learnetic, who talked to us about the future of device agnostic content in educational technology:

Learnetic is the international partner of Young Digital Planet, a leading worldwide educational software publisher and eLearning technology provider based in Poland, which became part of the Sanoma Group in 2010. Learnetic's interactive and personalized resources adapt to students' skills and learning preferences while supporting a wide range of teaching styles. Working with educational publishing and other business partners, Learnetic is dedicated to satisfying the diverse needs of contemporary educators and learners worldwide.

Pimping out our girls

Good A-level results are only awarded to pretty girls. Otherwise why would bright beauties be bouncing across our breakfast broadsheets every August, front pages splaying their pictures as they amorously congratulate their equally brainy, ever so good-looking girl friends? Just take a look at this young geordie lass.

Charlie Brooker discusses in The Guardian this summer’s fiasco with Badminton school in Dorset. Brooker shames the school which contacted journalists before results day to offer “beyootiful girls” for A-level results coverage that promised the added benefit of eye candy. According to Brooker, Badminton responded to accusations that they were guilty of prostituting their girls to the media with the nonchalant response: "We always do this and to be honest, most girls are attractive at eighteen." Frighteningly, the rest of the world is unconcerned with the attitude Badminton have demonstrated as we can see simply by browsing, for example, websites like www.sexyalevels.tumblr.com. This website dedicates itself to displaying the crème-de-la-crème of girls leaping, hugging, kissing and flaunting their youthful, beautiful bodies for photographers under the brief of ‘A-level Success’.

It is now a widely anticipated annual event that images of ecstatic young girls celebrating their results are displayed in the media giving a false representation of the country’s A-level successes. Good A-level grades are awarded to a great many pupils besides beautiful young girls.

Statistics released by the Joint Council for Qualifications show that the number of boys achieving at least a B grade has risen by 0.6% on last year whilst the same figure for girls has dropped by 0.2%. The number of boys achieving at least an A grade has also risen, but only by 0.1% whilst yet again the figure for girls has dropped by 0.2%. Most remarkably this year, the percentage of pupils achieving the new A* grade was consistent for both genders; in both cases 8.2% of pupils were awarded this accolade.

If parading the fairer sex is a tactic to inspire competition in young boys, it may be working. Graham Paton, Education Editor for The Telegraph, says: “Boys are catching up with girls as they 'rise to the challenge' of achieving elite grades”. This sentiment is echoed by Andrew Hall, Chief Executive of AQA exam board. He says: “The sense I have, and it’s a personal opinion, is that boys, I think, are recognising that the challenge is there”. However, it is unlikely that photographs of boys celebrating A-level success will ever dominate the front pages.

Andrew Hall does not appear overly concerned that, despite some improvement, girls continue to out-perform boys in A-levels. In response to the issue he simply declared: "We've scratched our heads over this." Some efforts to level the playing field have been made. Notably, the syllabus has been adapted to promote learning methods thought more suitable to the male mind with a strong focus on mathematics and the sciences. Changes are underway but perhaps Mr Hall is right to be blasé - examination reforms seem futile when we consider that men continue to be far more successful in the business world than women.

Despite girls achieving better grades, their early success is dampened by a decline in professional achievement in later life, essentially rendering their A-level triumphs as artificial. Girls consistently outperform boys in A-levels, yet if we accept the 2009 Sunday Times Rich List as a fair, albeit abbreviated review of business success, we see that only one woman is mentioned amongst the top 12. Her name is Kirsty. She appears second to and as the wife of Ernesto Bertarelli who was worth, at that time, just shy of 6 billion pounds.

The media will continue to exaggerate affairs, fuelling a constant need to entice readers with fresh and attractive news. It is unrealistic that we might one day read about the short, fat, nerdy boy with painful acne who has gotten into his first choice of university with splendid results even though such boys clearly exist.

Attractive pupils make Badminton appear an attractive school and this attracts infinite potential profit from prospective parents. Wealthy parents exposed to photographs of attractive young people with respectable results will pay to have their brood fashioned in the same way. Understanding Badminton’s offence as a business drive does not excuse their exploitation of the young girls photographed. It is only a question of whether they are morally superior for prostituting girls with a business initiative rather than for the aesthetic pleasure of the nation.

The roots of the A-level media tradition can be traced to August 2004 when the media spotlight laid its eye upon a fetching set of Cornish triplets, each girl had been offered a place at Cambridge University. Media coverage of their success was vast and the trio were termed the ‘Truro Triplets’. The novelty of the girls’ achievement and their sweet image presented to the world a blissful Britain, an image which the media elite make an effort to maintain. Images of the ‘Truro Triplets’ endeavoured to ignite our patriotism. It is not so outrageous to suppose that the girls were dressed in red, white and blue with more than fashion in mind. Take a look at their press shots from seven years ago and squint your eyes ever so slightly. You are sure to see a bright, beautiful, bouncing Union Jack, with excellent A-level results.

The beautiful success of British youth also serves to impress upon the nation a beautiful, successful Britain. We would be excused for thinking that in recent weeks the media has been fickle. The image of the UK youth, punishable for grievous crimes to the community during recent riots across the country, has been quite suddenly transformed. Within ten days, an image of hooded youngster throwing a torched bottle at an elderly person with one hand whilst propping up a 32” LCD television (security tag still attached) has been replaced with a picture of the sweet success of middle class young ladies excitedly embracing one another. This bright and beyootiful image presents us with a healing Britain, or perhaps is simply make-up plastering the wound.


Of course, unlike a photograph, reality isn't absolutly flawless.

Cyber-Riots: London’s Rebels Without a Cause

Ferocious fires and looting louts have become the perceived face of the UK around the world over the last few weeks. Photographs of the House of Reeves furniture store in flames and a woman leaping from her burning apartment have provoked a global emotional outcry as the media voices its opinions on where the blame lies. The Internet has been set ablaze, with theories as ministers, the mayor and the international media lash out at social media as the easy target. Facebook, Twitter and BlackBerry Messaging (BBM) have been criticised as the medium for mass mobilisation for this social anti-social movement, as messages on where to meet, what was happening and how to join were posted on the sites to rally hordes of hooligans.

Psychologist Philip Zimbardo, who conducted the famous Stanford prison study, analysed the lack of reasoning and the total abrogation of responsibility that occurs in certain social situations to explain how people are persuaded to behave this way. Deindividuation is the process of a “loss of identity or loss of self-consciousness” resulting in loss of “cognitive control over motivations and emotions.” Chaos, disorder and aggression are contagious in group situations and social media is being blamed as the tool that brought people together to behave in this way.

The positive influence of social media during the riots has become overshadowed by the fevered and furious reactions of politicians – such as Conservative MPs Nadine Dorries and Louise Mensch – who are demanding it be restricted. Whilst another Conservative, Andrew Lilico has argued against them, explaining that means of communication can’t be blamed. Live updates helped people find safe routes home and escape from burning buildings; intercepting BBM helped the police prevent further riots occurring; and the video of the attack on the Malaysian student, Ashraf Haziq, went viral, causing Twitter groups to donate money to re-buy his stolen items. Social media has also been used to gather evidence following the riots as Facebook footprints led the police to the perpetrators of two attempts to instigate violence- a tactic the judge called "modern and clever policy… and policing”.

The images of smashed shops and burning buildings transmitted a message to the world that Britain is a place of chaos and brutality. Uploaded instantaneously & inundating social networking sites, these photos – published for the world to see – shattered the quintessential pomp and pageantry of Britain’s fairy-tale Royal Wedding. A darker message of volatile destruction – of an ‘underclass’ uprising – took hold of the global imagination. Russian papers have described the event as a “pogrom”, Italy deemed it urban guerrilla warfare, while Syria and Libya have used it to fault the Coalition government, comparing the UK riots to the condemned violence they experience. China on the other hand, has been criticising the negative effects of our unrestricted internet among other issues. People’s Daily, a Chinese newspaper reported:

"The West have been talking about supporting internet freedom, and oppose other countries' government to control this kind of websites [sic], now we can say they are tasting the bitter fruit [of their complacency] and they can't complain about it,"

Elsewhere, advisory cautions had been issued to travellers, concerns about the UK’s ability to host the 2012 Olympic Games have been expressed and Britain’s immigration policies, policing and economic recovery have been heavily criticised.

To regain control and put a stop to further damage of the national profile David Cameron gave a speech from his constituency in affluent Oxfordshire, where he was stood in front of community-licensed graffiti in a shirt and tie. Unfortunately his efforts were marred by the reluctance to end his Tuscan holiday early, as Twitter lit up claiming he was failing to take his position as Prime Minister and the volatile situation seriously. Using the riots as post hoc evidence to reinforce the Big Society agenda, his speech has also been criticised.

The world’s media has become fascinated by the UK in turmoil, as the destructive mob and the phone-hacking scandal cause Britain’s PR some serious damage. Linking such airs of tyranny, to the theme of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, one BBC reporter observed:

“There’s something rotten about Britain. From the richest and most powerful to the poorest and most excluded, turning in on itself, there is greed, selfishness and immorality.”

The UK has been playing out its woes on the world stage, captivating the media, provoking tempers and igniting social networking sites for better and for worse. The photograph of the army of brooms is a glorious symbol of Britain not only reclaiming the streets but defiantly and determinedly reclaiming its dignity. The huge @riotcleanup efforts were facilitated within in a matter of hours via Twitter, even drawing celebrities out onto the streets to sweep up the destruction. Thousands more immediately responded to clean-up Britain, in direct and heart-warming contrast to the number of people responsible for its break down; police having made around 2000 arrests so far. The burning buildings, violent thugs and frightened citizens may well have arrested the world’s attention, but it is the picture of a defiant Britain with its brooms in the air that spoke back about the state of Britain. This is the Britain we want people to see, a Britain where positive messages outweigh the bad.

As Nadine Dorries and Louise Mensch call for a crackdown on social media, it is worth asking whether killing the messenger is the solution to the problem. Whether “looters are scum” or whether “rioting is the language of the unheard”- as Martin Luther King put it, people are communicating on social issues. Cameron, retorting to his “Broken Britain” rhetoric, at least looks at possible causes for the disorder, although perhaps his “Big Society” is a label for something that already exists. For the image of brooms brandished in the air is a triumph for social networking sites and also for Britain’s PR. The schadenfreude surrounding the scandals of Britain is swept away with the debris, as Britain’s pride and determination pulls the country back together with the final photograph of the 2011 riots.

Hoax Releases Take No IQ

The infamous prankster behind the urban fox hunting hoax once said: “If you want to make something news, all you have to do is put it on the internet”. Seriously, anything goes. The power of the internet enables a simple tweet, blog or amateur website to easily become front page news. Well, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but the increasing frequency of hoax stories gaining legitimate media coverage do suggest it’s getting easier to get almost anything reported, as long as almighty Google concurs.

Most recently, the media-elite likes of CNN, the BBC, the Telegraph and Forbes fell victim to a prankster when they all reported the results of a survey that found Internet Explorer users had lower IQs than any other browser users. As it turns out Internet Explorer users were able to breathe a sigh of relief, as this turned out to be a hoax press release from ‘ApTiquant’ - a fake research specialist - who fooled the media giants with a make-shift website and a well written press release. As thousands of disgruntled IE users questioned the findings the BBC decided to do some investigating of their own. According to Professor David Spiegelhalter of Cambridge University, the statistics were “implausible”. The story was swiftly rubbished and the journalists who acted as puppets for the hoaxer were left a radiant shade of fuchsia.

The ease with which the rogue release penetrated the newsrooms of the UK highlights a cause for concern in the media world. Not to suggest reporters have been transported back to a 1940s newsroom where the phrase “Never let the truth get in the way of a good story” echoed around Fleet Street, but it seems some journalists have forgotten the simplest of rules: check your facts. Hacks aren’t checking the credibility of their sources before sending the story to print, and this isn’t a first time offence.

Back in February, the Media Standards Trust decided to play a hoax of their own to test the naivety of the media. The organisation investigated how many articles had sections cut-and-pasted straight from their original hoax press release, using their Nick Davis inspired website churnalism.com. They fabricated a spoof story to try and fool the British press into reporting them as a legitimate newsworthy article and found alarming results. The Sun reported on the new craze of ‘the Penazzle’ – the male alternative to the crystal accessorising offered by the Vajazzle; a bogus Facebook-led campaign to return the new stray cat at 10 Downing Street to its rightful owner hit the Metro and BBC 5 live; and the fake ‘alarmed chastity garter’ made worldwide news. These all showed that journalists are all too eager to cut, copy and paste without corroborating their source material. Three-nil to the Media Standards Trust, who successfully showed idle journalists that they shouldn’t take the latest social media trend as a reliable news source.

The first rule of PR is: you do not annoy the journalists. The second rule of PR is: you do not annoy the journalists. Successful PR is built on strong media relations and transparency, and news reporters need to be able to trust the releases they receive. If time-wasting pranksters cause hacks to lose faith in the fail-safe press release, there could be precarious consequences for relations between the PR and media industries.

The IE IQ hoax demonstrates the potential danger pranksters pose to the PR world. Sniggering at the misfortunes of the journalists who got it wrong can feel shamefully good, particularly at a time when their reputations are in tatters after the phone hacking fiasco. However, mockery plays straight into the hands of the hoaxers. Journalists need to build up their defence strategy through careful research and corroboration.

Creating a hoax release is very easy – too easy – as literally anyone can do it. Generating interest in them is also relatively easy, as the more shocking the better; hoaxers can roam free through their imagination for the most bizarre concepts, unlimited by truth. However, as they say, “the truth is stranger than fiction” and finding a scoop backed up by real statistics, communicating real issues and based on a real investigation, is what people want. It may be more difficult to find the interesting stories but credible, creative news generation – the business of PR people – is highly valuable, and it takes skill to achieve coverage when being honest.

Taking a release at face-value is dangerous, leaving journalists open to hoaxes. Moreover, the net isn’t a trustworthy source for information in isolation. Tarnishing all journalists with the ‘lazy’ brush is unfair though. In the 24/7 internet age journalists are under huge pressure to deliver current and quick news. Hacks have been rendered constantly on deadlines and whilst it may not be surprising that mistakes get made, it is surprising the levels of senior news authorities that these imaginary tales can pervade. A firmer line has to be drawn, for it was only the BBC who rang the alarm on the IE findings.

After all, if everything published on the internet was reported as true, the world would have far more to worry about than the latest accessory for the nether regions and the Prime Minister’s new cat.