Bikies’ PR company taking a risk

The Brisbane PR company that represents bikies has this to say on its web site: “We will not support business activities that we believe cause fundamental harm to people, communities, or the environment.”

With reputation management a cornerstone of PR, I wonder if they’re risking their reputation by having the bikies as a client?

Whatever the effect this will have on the PR company (whose ethics I find hard to fathom) certainly the bikies are spending up big. The campaign they’re running has all bases covered, including a raft of web sites (national and State bodies in NSW, SA, Qld and WA). Some are on Twitter. However, I do wonder why one of the links leads to a gang in Norway.

The angle they’re taking is that the proposed legislation, curtailing the right of freedom of association, will affect everyone in the community. Certainly, they have a point. But, as WA Police Commissioner Karl O’Callahan pointed out, it only applies to groups with criminal leanings. Scouts, fear not.

Sport heads into the abyss

Several items on the TV news this week made me wonder whether AUstralian professional sport is heading for extinction.

First you had the Socceroos asking for more money when playing for Australia. Given the relatively small financial balance of soccer in Australia, that’s a BIG ask. There’s only so much money you can wring out of a competition that doesn’t really deliver the spectator numbers that equate with wages. I thought it would be enough that the players would be honoured to turn out for their country, rather than make financial demands.

The Wallabies were at it, too, wanting to be paid for what amounts to training, for a Possibles versus Probables match prior to their tour of Japan and Europe, complete with a fourth irrelevant Bledisloe Cup match in Tokyo. So the national rugby union players also seem to have lost their pride in the gold jersey. On this season’s performances they are lucky they’re getting paid anything at all.

The national cricket team, fresh from victory in a seven-game, one-day series in England, had no sooner won last week’s World Cup in South Africa, yet here the players were (in contrived regional teams) at it again in some limited-overs tournament in India. More money. Maybe that can work financially, as it seems the Indians have an unlimited supply of money to throw at a sport played in a handful of countries, just like …

Netball. Last night I watched as some ridiculous international tournament was being played. It’s ridiculous because, it’s always the same few Commonwealth nations that play one another, so it’s boring. But they have now given “fans” a shortened version of the game, the World Netball Series, complete with rolling substitutions, shooting from outside the goal circle and power plays. God help us. Never mind the “world tournament” has only six teams, including those “powerhouse” sporting nations of Malawi, Jamaica and Samoa. Interesting, no South Africa.

I’m just not sure where sports watchers can find the energy to watch this too-often-repeated diet of mediocrity. If they’re like me, they have long ago switched off. I’m going for a swim.

Advertised PR jobs rise in September

The number of advertised PR jobs in Australia and New Zealand rose in September.

There were 134 jobs advertised, which was almost double that of August, which recorded only 70.

The worst period for job seekers was November and December last year and July this year, with only 52-54 positions each month.

The increase may indicate that PR reflects what a lot of people are saying about the economy: that it’s picking up.

If you’re in PR and looking for work, the best places to be are Sydney (38 per cent share), Melbourne (21%) and Brisbane (16%). The worst places are Perth and Adelaide, with only three per cent of advertised positions. New Zealand, with eight per cent is a better choice.

The survey has been running for the past 11 months and looks at fulltime jobs advertised nationally on line by Seek, Career One and Randstad.

@prlab

Wounded soldiers deserve recognition

The decision by the government (via the Department of Defence) not to name 83 Diggers wounded in Afghanistan is a disgrace. So disgraceful is is that on Monday I will tender my resignation from the Defence Force.

Defence says it is acting in the interests of the soldiers: protecting their privacy. Well, that’s the spin, isn’t it?

The real reason for the cover-up is the government doesn’t want the public to know about the injuries. There’s an election due soon. It doesn’t take a genius to know what the continual reporting of battle casualties will do for for Rudd’s popularity.

As reported on today’s front page of The Australian, this is at odds with the wishes of soldiers serving in Afghanistan. They want the public to know the truth. Their view is backed by former Chief of the Defence Force, Gen. Peter Cosgrove, and Lt. Col Dave Lewis, from the SAS Association.

I’ve spent 23 years in Army PR (for of them in the Regular Army) and served in East Timor in 2001. Sorry to say that ends on Monday.

Twitter can have my material

Some people are getting into a lather over Twitters new terms of service. They’re worried Twitter has right to use your material. I’m not one of them.

If you don’t like the terms of service, shop elsewhere.

For me, Twitter is about sharing, and that implies you’re not putting a commercial value on your contribution. Go somewhere where they’ll pay you if you think your material is worth dollars.

Twitter gives you something for nothing. Surely they’re entitled to some return (particularly as they still haven’t worked out how to make money).

Useful (?) PR links

Being a sharing, caring guy, here’s 170 or so PR resource links. These have been collected over a number of years, and I don’t check them regularly, so some will be “dead”, and I don’t have the time to make them active links, so you’ll have to copy and paste. I’ve listed them in response to a post (can’t remember where) by Richard Bailey, who was responding to another post.

GENERAL PR

http://www.prfirms.org/

http://www.forward-moving.com/

http://aboutpublicrelations.net/aa042901a.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_relations#History

http://www.alternet.org/

http://www.mallenbaker.net/csr/index.html

http://www.b2bpublicrelations.org/

http://www.cios.org/

http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml

http://www.issuemanagement.org/

http://www.middleberg.com/home_static_frame.html

http://www.prmuseum.com/

http://www.netaction.org/

http://www.natterjackpr.com/

http://www.patronsaintpr.com/

http://www.poynter.org/

http://www.prnewswire.com/

http://prtalk.prpn.com/

http://www.prweb.com/

http://www.sinicom.com/

http://www.spinproject.org/

http://www.liszt.com/

http://www.globalpr.org/

http://www.managementhelp.org/pblc_rel/pblc_rel.htm

http://www.mediamiser.com/resources/

http://forward-moving.com/contribute.html

http://dmoz.org/Business/Marketing_and_Advertising/Public_Relations/

http://www.gabriellereillyweekly.com/

http://www.jwcom.com/iabcpresent/

http://www.lobbywatch.org/p1temp.asp?pid=30&page=1

http://trevorcook.typepad.com/

US-SPECIFIC

http://www.instituteforpr.org/

http://www.prweek.com/us/

http://www.prnewsonline.com/

http://www.prwatch.org/

http://www.natcom.org/nca/Template2.asp

http://hb.burson-marsteller.com/

http://www.iabc.com/

http://www.ipra.org/

http://www.niri.org/

http://www.prsa.org/

http://www.ontherecordpodcast.com/pr/otro/default.aspx

http://seeit.mit.edu/organizationalpractices.asp

http://www.prsalasvegas.com/rssnews.php

http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/awcmedia.htm

http://www.bulldogreporter.com/ME2/Default.asp

UK-SPECIFIC

http://www.prweek.com/uk/

http://www.cipr.co.uk/

AUSTRALIA

http://www.prinfluences.com.au/

http://prtalkback.com/

http://publicaffairs.alliance.org.au/

http://www.leehopkins.net/

http://www.pria.com.au/resources/cid/1/t/resources#blogs

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/media/

http://www.crikey.com.au/

http://www.pria.com.au/

http://www.pria.com.au/member/links.html

http://www.accpa.com.au/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Australian-PR-Network/

http://www.anzca.net/

http://businessnetwork.smh.com.au/sales_marketing.html

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/default.htm

http://praxis.massey.ac.nz/prism_on-line_journ.html

http://cserver.com.au/mglive/default.asp

http://www.usq.edu.au/masscomm/resources/course_resourses/public_relations.htm

http://www.frocomm.com.au/links.html

http://www.plugger.com.au/news/Public_Relations_Industry

PR PODCASTS

http://www.insidepr.ca/

http://www.edelman.com/podcasts/

http://prjunctionpodcast.com/

http://www.prweek.com/us/podcasts/

http://www.edelmanapac.com/index.jsp?series=21

http://www.mogulus.com/

http://www.bivingsreport.com/2006/pr-firms-that-blog-an-update/

http://prjunctionpodcast.com/

INTERNATIONAL PR

http://www.caslon.com.au/index.htm

http://www.aboutpublicrelations.net/international.htm

http://www.colorado.edu/conflict/peace/treatment/xcolcomm.htm

http://www.cultsock.ndirect.co.uk/MUHome/cshtml/index.html

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/10/g912/globalization.html

http://www.globalisationguide.org/07.html

http://www.globalpolicy.org/globaliz/cultural/

http://www.abc.net.au/global/default.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/reith/

http://www.globalization101.org/

http://www.globalpolicy.org/

http://www.culture-at-work.com/

e-PR

http://www.propenmic.org/

http://www.socialmediatoday.com/

http://sncr.org/

http://blogsearch.google.com/

http://www.online-pr.com/

http://www.newsdigitalmedia.com.au/index.html

http://www.wilsonweb.com/cat/cat.cfm?page=1&subcat=mp_PR

http://blog.e-fluentials.com/

http://badpitch.blogspot.com/

http://technorati.com/

http://vids.myspace.com/

http://www.ctvperth.com.au/

http://www.globalprblogweek.com/

http://searchenginewatch.com/

http://simplespark.com/

http://doodle.ch/main.html

http://aboutcommunicatie.nl/Search_Engine_Watch

PR STUDIES (for students)

http://www.nku.edu/~turney/prclass/index.htm

http://www.journoz.com/pol.html

http://www.cuttingedgepr.com/free_articles.asp

http://www.instituteforpr.com/

http://www.nku.edu/~turney/prclass/readings/

http://lamar.colostate.edu/~pr/

http://lamar.colostate.edu/~aejmcpr/teach.htm

http://lamar.colostate.edu/~hallahan/research.htm

http://faculty.buffalostate.edu/smithrd/

http://aboutpublicrelations.net/basics.htm

http://prbooks.pbwiki.com/

http://www.uwgb.edu/clampitp/

http://www.managementclarity.com/big_bibliography.htm

http://www.comm287.com/handouts.htm

http://www.comm387.com/

http://www.ipra.org/

http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itc/comm_theory.html

http://www.tcw.utwente.nl/theorieenoverzicht/

http://comm.colorado.edu/deetz/commtheory.html

http://www.pria.com.au/resources/cid/76/parent/0/t/resources

http://www.cuttingedgepr.com/free_articles.asp

http://www.prinfluences.com.au/index.php?theParent=6&pagMan=1

http://www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=1570

http://sarkoracaille.blogspot.com/2007/06/century-of-self-14-adam-curtis-bbc-2002.html

http://www.uiowa.edu/~commstud/resources/

http://books.google.com/

http://podcast.prtopics.com/

http://www.toprankblog.com/

http://badpitch.blogspot.com/

http://www.edelman.com/summit07/

http://www.newcommreview.com/

http://lamar.colostate.edu/~pr/

http://www.nku.edu/~turney/prclass/index.htm

http://www.comm.umd.edu/people/faculty/lgrunig.html

http://www2.hawaii.edu/~tkell/

http://www.comm.umd.edu/

http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/

http://www.evancarmichael.com/Public-Relations/

http://teaching.berkeley.edu/compendium/

http://www.marin.edu/buscom/index.htm

http://lamar.colostate.edu/~hallahan/resources.htm

http://prbooks.pbwiki.com/

http://com.hilbert.edu/curriculum/

http://www.khake.com/page66.html

http://www.socialpsychology.org/teaching.htm

PR RESEARCH

http://slate.it.utk.edu/~dob/index.html

http://www.cios.org/www/tocs/JPR.htm

http://www.quantcast.com/

http://attentionmeter.com/

http://lamar.colostate.edu/~pr/

http://journalsportsmedia.blogspot.com/

http://www.cios.org/www/tocs/JPR.htm

PR BLOGS

http://www.prlab.com.au/prblog/

http://www.problogger.net/

http://www.irishblogs.ie/categories/e-pr/

http://lmighton.wordpress.com/tag/e-pr/

http://blog.holtz.com/index.php

http://www.mwwstraighttalk.com/

http://glasshouse.waggeneredstrom.com/blogs/frankshaw/default.aspx

http://www.globalprblogweek.com/

http://prblog.typepad.com/

http://prstudies.typepad.com/

http://greenbanana.wordpress.com/

http://corpcomm.prblogs.org/

http://nakedpr.com/

http://www.wallydownundy.com

Gas deal a sell out

This has nothing to do (directly) with PR. But then again, it does, as it deals with a perception … my perception.

Surely it says something that we’ve signed a LNG deal with China, followed by the provision that is has to pass environmental scrutiny.

Logically (and morally) shouldn’t the environmental studies come before the deal is sealed? It shows how much importance this government places on the environment, and our future. Does this make Peter Garrett superfluous?

It’s also disturbing that all this take place amid the continuing detention of Australian mining executive Stern Hu.

A report in the Globe and Mail (20 Aug) said: “The LNG deal shows that China’s growing demand for gas, uranium, iron ore and coal – and Australia’s investment needs – will overshadow any short-term political rows.”

Indeed.

Twitter not for students

All this talk about Twitter. Just who is using it? Certainly not young university students, if my research this week is correct.

I asked for a show of hands in all my PR and business communication classes this week. Of the 180 or so students, perhaps 15 of them were using Twitter. Most just stared blankly at me when I mentioned it.

Facebook, it seems, is the social network tool of choice among this demographic. The question remains: why? Some more research needed

Rudd blog fails democracy test

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has dived deeper into cyberspace with his blog. This follows his folksy tweeting.

Unfortunately, the blog is a cynical and futile exercise because (a) it is not really
his blog, and (b) it is not democratic.

Is anyone gullible enough to believe he produces it? Sure, he may write the occasional post, but he has plenty of PR people to do the technical hackwork, and reading and vetting comments.

I joined the throng and made my first comment on climate change … and was rejected – presumably because I had a link to my web site.

However, that’s where the democratic nature of the web is being usurped by the PM. Allowing a free and frank flow of information is essential on the Net, and in any healthy democracy. If the PM can’t stand the heat, the he should get out of the kitchen.

As mentioned, he’s not really monitoring it, as any blogger worth their weight in words does.

Personally, I’m not really interested in what simply appears to be another PR exercise, aimed in re-election.

prLAB

Reputations at stake in Rudd car deal controvery

In all the hubbub about whether or not the Prime Minister (or his office) was allegedly involved in giving a car dealer mate a good deal, spare a though for the Public Servant at the centre of the controversy.

Sure, someone’s going to be a political reputational winner and someone a loser. But what will be the effect on Treasury official Godwin Grech’s career once the dust has settled?

I’m betting he may come out of it with his reputation (and job) intact. He doesn’t strike me as someone prone to making such damaging insinuations.