‘PR Comment’

TV Studios for The Financial Times

The FT has unveiled new TV studios, as the quality newspaper title ramps up its multimedia output.

Press Gazette carries the full story.

Savvy newspapers and magazines, even the smaller, more local titles, understand that in order to keep their readers – and win new ones - they must move with the times and bring their media offerings bang up-to-date.

The days of being ‘just’ a print journalist are long gone – now, reporters and writers must think of stories and features in terms of video, podcast, visuals, blog, and online, as well as print, all of which makes for a rich and unrivalled story-telling experience.

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.

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.

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.

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.