Time for Turnbull to give credit

It’s about time Malcolm Turnbull stopped carping from the sidelines.

No matter what the government does, Turnbull opposes it (yes, he is in Opposition).

But the latest plan by the government, to introduce a fibre optic network has merit – if not just for the thousands of jobs it will create.

But big Mal just waded right in to rubbish it.

There are times when some credit might just help Mal's flagging popularity.

Prime Minister's media man should go

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's press secretary Lachlan Harris should resign, or be sacked, for lying.

Harris, who is actually a "novice" when it comes to public relations (he's more a political operative) denied the Prime Minister had upset an Air Force flight attendant because the meal he ordered wasn't available. Trivial stuff, really, but enough to warrant an official RAAF incident report.

If Harris lied about that, what lengths would he go to when it comes to more sensitive issues?

School sex scandal a classic

The sex scandal enveloping Knox Grammar in Sydney will go down as one of the “best” examples of PR mismanagement.

My Issues and Crisis Management students began studying the case after the first teacher was arrested. At the time of writing (a week later) three teachers had been arrested. It's a "living" case study - one I knew would become "hot" because the pattern has become so regular, and I've been through a similar school system, in which abuse is covered up.

One of the most bewildering aspects of the affair is the School’s reaction: say nothing. It even went as far to instruct its alumni to stay silent. Amazing, but sadly true. Possibly this is a reaction to legal advice.

But the school digs its own grave by admitting it knew of the issue five years in advance. This indicates (a) scant regard for the truth and (b) a pitiful approach to risk and reputation management.

If all they had done was show some concern for the alleged victims, then things may not have gotten so out of hand.

Meantime, the PR students at Notre Dame have a “living” crisis, which is sure to get worse before it passes.

For the school, the damage to its reputation will be hard to fix.

Some journalists must be idiots

This has nothing to do with PR, but has everything to do with PR. 

It's all about journalists spreading misinformation. Dangerous misinformation.

We are continually told that Perth's hot weather is ideal beach weather. Channel 9 told us so last night, as Perth heads for a 39C day today – the first of the annual heatwaves.

Bloody irresponsible. Journalists mustn't know anyone that's had skin cancer.

This type of reporting is trite, but is also insidious and irresponsible.

What's it got to do with PR? Well, I'm going to run a PR campaign against idiotic journalism. This could also include things like over-use of unnecessary adjectives (i.e., gruesome murder). But it won't.

It might even save someone's life. 

Malcolm Turnbull's gone nuts

I read one article on Malcolm Turnbull using Twitter while in Parliament, so I decided to check out the Leader of the Opposition.

I'm not fan of Twitter. However, Mal's presence led me to discover he's spreading himself all over the social media landscape.

Mal's got a presence on: a personal web site, Facebook, YouTube, two blogs (one is on his two dogs - a dog blog?), Flickr and MySpace. And of course, he has e-mail and his parliamentary web presence. I don't think there's much more he could use.

And there's the key word, "use". What exactly is Malcolm using these platforms specifically for? I'm awaiting the conversation to determine the strategy.

Methinks it's a just a matter of the scattergun approach: try to engage as many people as possible. However, I think he may find this won;t work, as all these mediums have different user demographics.

And who's putting it all together? These things take a lot of time, thought and energy. Hardly enough left for walking the dogs. If it is to be successful it will have to have the personal touch, otherwise he'll be "outed".

I wonder if he's on LinkedIn?

From the PR Lab at http://www.prlab.com.au

WA miner's puzzling stance

WA miner Fortescue Metals is a strange beast.

On the one hand its owner, Andrew Forrest, is heralded as a “saviour” of Abroigines by creating a scheme to employ them. On the other, the company is taking them to court in oder to access their tribal lands - or in this case, part of Port Hedland Harbour.

Whether the Aborigines or Fortescue is found to be in the right by the Supreme Court, the action has undone all of the goodwill the company built with its employment initiative.

And from the company? Stony silence. The normally media-friendly Andrew Forrest seems to have gone to ground.

The PR Lab: http://www.prlab.com.au