mediations

Cocoon-ed

Checking my email as a yet another distraction from the pressing need to finish the new edition of Online Public Relations I find a message from Peter Kwong who wants to know if I will review a new phone for the O2 Cocoon blog. This afternoon I am actually writing something about how PRs should go about engaging with bloggers so it will be an interesting real time experiment....

I am not sure I am the ideal person to comment on mobile phones (basically I don't like them!) but at least Peter has taken the trouble to have a look at Mediations and includes a reference to recent posts in his intro. This is definitely a good sign.

I will enjoy road-testing the phone - and analysing Peter's PR skills - with the help of a new bunch of students who are even now packign their bags and preparing for the great adventure that is studying at the University of Sunderland. Proud parents will pack them off to college thinking they are going to hear erudite lectures grounded in rigorous academic research; in fact they will probably spend the first few weeks talking about my new Cocoon phone and messing around on Facebook.

(They will probably do that in every other class they go to, too, but the thing about PR is that we can plausibly describe it as relevant to their studies...).

UPDATE: Interesting to see that Neville Hobson responded to Peter's pitch in pretty much the same way I did. Now we have both written about Peter and the Cocoon, and our posts are linked, 'creating reputation' and starting a conversation - even before either of us have seen the phone... 

The case against astroturfing

Supporters of Trevor Cook and Paull Young's admirable Anti-Astroturfing campaign might be interested in this theoretical justification by Kathy Fitzpatrick which is grounded in USA First Amendment principles that underpin the PRSA Code of Ethics.

In Baselines for Ethical Advocacy in the Marketplace of Ideas (the opening chapter of Ethics in Public Relations: Responsible Advocacy (Sage, 2006, edited with Carolyn Bronstein) Fitzpatrick identifies four 'market place' principles that shape the First Amendment jurisprudence and have a particular application for ethical PR practice:

• access
• process
• truth
• disclosure. 

Market place theory holds that 'truth' will emerge from robust public debate and be determined by people evaluating competing messages and ideas. Fitzpatrick uses these principles to test the ethical legitimacy of 'front groups'; her conclusions can, in the most part, be applied equally well to astroturf websites.

They fail each of the four tests.

• Well funded front groups tend to dominate the marketplace and diminish other voices, limiting or interfering with access to information
• They corrupt communication processes by deceiving marketplace participants about about the both source of communication and the true level of support for their views
• They create false truths by misleading the marketplace participants about either the potential impact of proposed policies or genuine citizen support for them
• The lack of transparency regarding the true source of communication violates the marketplace principle of disclosure which requires that information needed to aid informed decision-making be revealed 

Fitzpatrick suggests that these fundamental marketplace principles provide an ethical floor on which public relations practice standards can be built.

If she - and the PRSA - are right, it is pretty clear that the case against astroturfing is compelling.   

Managing issues

Anyone just getting to grips with the new social software world should read a typically practical but insightful take from Trevor Cook, who gave a lecture at the University of Sydney on Managing issues in a new media environment. His 'five takeout points' were:

• Think networks not audiences
• Focus on information flows, not 'news'
• Educate your key stakeholders
• Get stakeholders involved, build relationships (the essence of PR)
• Use the technology if you want to understand it

Read it...! If I were a practitioner who wanted to understand what is happening beneath the hype and wanted a steady source of ideas that might actually build a business I would bookmark two sites - Trevor's Corporate Engagement and  Stuart Bruce's Musings.

Pizzaman saves world

Tom's PR Opinions pointed me towards CMO's Ten Best Press Release Quotes, which includes at Number 3, this remarkable effort:

Birth of Food Embossing & Imprinting Industry Helps World Peace.

Inventor, founder, and CEO of Gourmet Impression LLC, Rich Errera (a.k.a. 'Chef Pizzal') is a rising, sought after, culinary star. Single handily, this award-winning, creative innovator is about to start a new world industry with his two kitchen gadgets that will literally change the face of foods that are served and the messages they project.

'The Food Embossing & Imprinting Industry' is about to be born, thanks to his patent pending Gourmet Impressions Roller and Stamper tools. Foods may vary, but the common uniting denominaor (sic) to all are universal, 'Tasty Smiles' magically infused with their usage...

'The Food Embossing & Imprinting Industry' appears destined in path to somewhat parallel that of the great pioneer Johannes Gutenberg, who 569 years earlier yet similarly, invented the printing press with replaceable letters. What Johannes did for his Gutenberg Printing Machine to paper in 1436, Rich Errera intends doing with his Roller and Stamper to food in 2006.'

Hugely amused, I googled Rich Errera and found his Gourmet Impressions website, and despite the distraction of countless flashing gifs (click on the pic), clicked on media coverage, to read: "More than a thousand publications worldwide have featured and raved about The Gourmet Impressions..."

And he lists them. With links...

Just think what Rich could do if he could use an apostrophe and had a PR degree...

Fossilised fish hooks

I was sorry to hear of the death of children's author Anthony Buckeridge. As a boy I was an avid reader of the Jennings books and in 1996 was delighted to get an invitation to interview Buckeridge at his South Downs home. He was well into his 80s, but sprightly and engaging. I was expecting to chat for about an hour, but with photographs and a tour of his home and garden (I especially remember those wonderful Quentin Blake drawings) it was getting towards lunch time before we'd started and his equally charming wife Eileen insisted we break off for lunch (rather good soup).

By the time we sat down to business we had been talking for a couple of hours and covered a lot of the ground I had planned for the interview. It was interesting, certainly, but no amount of 'you were telling me earlier's could prompt the now tiring author to tell his stories with the same sparkle as he had done the first time round. Yes, it worked well enough, but I learnt an important lesson about getting things in your notebook.

To my disappointment, the feature didn't run and remains unpublished - if anyone can think of home for a tribute to the wonderful Anthony Buckeridge, please get in touch.