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‘PR Comment’

Footballer No.3 Granted Gagging Order

An unnamed England footballer has won an injunction preventing the media from publishing claims about his private life.

He is the third England international player in just 2 weeks to be granted such an order.

Rather than looking to High Court injunctions to protect reputations – as well as big-money contracts and sponsorships - PR Superstar suggests that high-profile figures and so-called “role models” clean up their personal lives, so there is no danger of embarrassing revelations coming back to bite them where it hurts.

Read the latest on this story in Press Gazette.

Tags: England Footballers, Injunction, PR Superstar, Press Gazette, Reputation, Reputation Enhancement and Protection | Posted in PR Comment August 30th, 2010

The Great Paywall Experiment, So Far, So Good…

The websites of The Times and The Sunday Times have fared well since a paywell was introduced last month, reports media trade magazine Press Gazette.

The two sites retained 1.6 million users in July, however, this was a fall from 2.8 million users who accessed thetimes.co.uk and thesundaytimes.co.uk in May, before paid access was introduced.

Other media are watching News International’s great paywall experiment like hawks, and may or may not follow suit depending upon how things go! So far, it looks like the gamble is paying off for media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

Tags: Paywall, Press Gazette, Rupert Murdoch, The Sunday Times, The Times, UK National Newspaper Websites | Posted in Online Media, PR Comment August 17th, 2010

PR Superstar Salutes Girlguiding UK

Girlguiding UK has launched a high-profile public relations campaign aimed at highlighting airbrushed photos and their damaging impact on young people.

The PR campaign is urging Government to introduce compulsory labelling on ‘touched-up’ images in magazines, following Girlguiding UK research which found that 50% of 16-21-year-old girls would consider having surgery to change the way they look. A petition has also been launched.

What a relevant and timely public relations campaign that should hopefully secure long overdue change - it should also help to shape a generation of self-confident girls and young women, as well as catapult Girlguiding UK into the 21st Century and drive an army of eager new recruits their way! Find out more on the Girlguiding UK website.

Tags: Girlguiding UK, PR, PR Campaign, Public Relations Campaign | Posted in PR Comment August 8th, 2010

PR Week: Hack V Flack Experiment

The similarities between the roles of journalist and PR professional are explored in an experiment conducted by public relations bible PR Week.

The age-old tension between PRs and journalists is well documented, says the magazine.

PR Week set up the experiment to find out what would happen when a ‘hack’ and a ‘flack’ swapped roles for a week.

What would a PRO think of a journalist’s deadlines, being on the receiving end of pitches and deciding on stories in the news meeting?

And how would a journalist cope with managing clients, pitching to other hacks, and having to make those dreaded follow-up calls?

PR Superstar aka senior journalist and PR professional Jill Kent is highly experienced in both journalism and public relations with a 20-year media career, and can relate to the similarities and differences between the two - perhaps the job swap, as demonstrated in PR Week, should become more commonplace to help bring about greater understanding and better relations between the two professions, that do need each other let’s face it.

Tags: Journalism, Journalist, PR, PR Superstar, PR Week, Public Relations | Posted in PR Comment July 29th, 2010

PR Disaster for BP

PR Week today reports that beleaguered BP is spending millions of dollars to minimise the PR damage caused by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, which has been named the worst oil spill in US history.

With no end in sight to the ongoing saga, BP chief executive Tony Hayward has said: ‘I think this is clearly a major reputational issue for BP.’

As £12billion was wiped off the value of its shares earlier today, it seems that BP’s reputation – and its future - is at risk every bit as much as the Gulf ecosystem.

The results mean the company’s stock has fallen £42billion – more than a third of its value – since the fatal oilrig explosion six weeks ago.

Some analysts are predicting that BP may not survive.

Greenpeace, who are masters of effective PR, summed up the feelings of many around the world when they hung a large flag with their own design on BP’s West London HQ, rebranding the company “British Polluters.”

Tags: BP, Effective Uses of Public Relations, Ethical Reputation, Greenpeace, Oil Spill, PR, PR Disaster, PR Week, Public Relations, Reputation | Posted in PR Comment June 1st, 2010

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