Professionalism, standards and ethics in blogging I'm pleased to read on Micro Persuasion that "Wiki Debate on PR Opens to Firms of All Sizes". I don't always agree with Steve Rubel on his somewhat robust stance about blogging and PR but I still do think he has some expertise to share. Previously I hadn't been able to understand why the discussion was restricted to "firms over 15 people". I totally agree with Steve's comment that he "wanted to make sure we had the right people in the room who can create change on a large scale". It just doesn't have any connection with the size of firm. There are fantastic people in small firms and as sole operators. There are fantastic people in large firms. It's more to do with the choices people have made. One comment I would make in favour of small operators is that they typically have to try harder  than people in a larger firm. If you've only got four people in the company you don't have anywhere to hide. It's always sink or swim. In a big consultancy or large in-house department you've more of an opportunity to float along with the rest.

29.11.05 15:07 Permalink / 1 Comment / comment

Rebuilding hope - the role of communicators in the aftermath of the London bombings Next Thursday I'm one of the speakers at the Rebuilding hope - the role of communicators in the aftermath of the London bombings conference. The keynote speaker is leading broadcaster, journalist and commentator Darcus Howe. Others include: Robert Webb, PR officer at Cardiff City Council who lost his sister in the London bombings Colin Parry whose son was killed in the 1993 Warrington IRA bomb and has set up the Tim Parry Jonathan Ball Trust to promote peace and reconcilitation through conflict resolution learning programmes for young people Adeem Younis founder of Singlemuslim.co.uk Robin Campbell, head of media relations at Westminster City Council Philip Young from the University of Sunderland who will discuss the ethics of inclusion Andy Green, the author of Creativity in PR (a very good book that every PR person should read), on using brand communications to help bring communities together. It promises to be a very interesting event with delegates from the police, health trusts, local councils, PR consultancies and charities. They include both public relations and communications professionals as well as diversity, equality and regeneration specialists. If you want to attend there are still some places left. See the CIPR website for details.

29.11.05 13:50 Permalink / 1 Comment / comment

PR really works - a client says so Trevor Cook has an interesting link to an article on The Submarine by a real life user of PR consultancies spelling out why PR works and the real business benefits that a client  gets. Worth reading.

25.11.05 09:17 Permalink / 1 Comment / comment

Where in the world are UK journalists and PRs You can find the answer at the new Frappr map of the UK press (via UK Press forum). I quite like Frappr but it still needs a few of its beta problems sorting out - the registration simply doesn't work for me.

23.11.05 09:48 Permalink / 2 Comments / comment

Hypocrisy of the media on PR, politicians and spin Piaras Kelly has a sensible post about the hypocrisy of the media when it comes to public relations, politicians and spin. He points to two stories in the Irish press. In the first a government minister is lambasted for a "PR gaffe" in which he posed for a photo call pointing a gun at the camera. The second story criticises the government and politicians for spending so much on public relations advice. So let's get this straight. According to many journalists you're wrong if you don't know how to work with the media but you're also wrong if you try to get professional help to do it? I get annoyed by this whole debate about political spin. It's simple. Politicians are forced into "spin" because that's exactly what the media does to them. If the media could be trusted to report stories truthfully and without bias (spin) then the politicians wouldn't need to resort to it.

21.11.05 14:26 Permalink / 1 Comment / comment

1,024 beer bottles standing on the wall There's 1,024 beer bottles standing on the wall, 1,024 beer bottles standing on the wall, If one beer bottle should accidentally fall, there'd be 1,023 beer bottles standing on the wall Anti-virus company BitDefender is offering 1,024 bottles of beer (1k) to beta testers who find bugs in the latest beta release of its BitDefender Mail Defender for Enterprises product. Read the rules and stuff here.

21.11.05 10:40 Permalink / 2 Comments / comment

Is reputation the secret of success for start-ups? Management Issues reports on research by Harvard University that says the secret to start-up success might be intangible resources such as legitimacy, status and reputation. It reminds you of the importance of good public relations management.

19.11.05 11:42 Permalink / 2 Comments / comment

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