Why the News of the World scandal is about so much more than phone tapping

September 7th, 2010

Back in 2007, it seemed that the News of the World phone tapping scandal was over. The two journalists implicated were jailed for four months each, Andy Coulson resigned as editor and the world seemed to have moved on. If only.

It now seems clear that there was much more to this than meets the eye and the original revelations may be just the tip of the iceberg, with rampant illegal phone tapping activities going on right across the newsroom. This not only raises serious questions about standards in British journalism, it also had deeper implications as Mr Coulson is now head of communications for the Prime Minister, David Cameron. If it does emerge, as seems increasing likely, that Mr Coulson knew about these practices and permitted them to continue, it’s going to look bad for the Con-Dem administration as well.

What we have here is no more and no less than a major scandal that will affect everything from the direction of future privacy laws to the reputation of News of the World proprietor, Rupert Murdoch. Good journalism should not be about illegal phone tapping. We have a great tradition in this country of high quality investigative journalism, built over generations by legendary figures such as Roger Cook, which now risks being undermined by these underground tactics. The scurrilous methods used by the News of the World are closer to the criminal underworld than Fleet Street.

Then we need to look at what they are trying to find out. Can the private conversations of Prince Charles or a director of the FA really be described as being in the public interest, regardless of the legality of the methods used to obtain them? If the headlines are to be believed, we could be looking at hundreds of individuals in the public eye being violated by this scandal, with many more journalists from the News of the World facing a prison sentence. The fallout will be major and far-reaching, leading indirectly to the heart of government itself. Keen to stay whiter than whiter, David Cameron will not be pleased if Mr Coulson is implicated further, although it was always a risk to employ him in the first place.

The other key question is how this was allowed to happen. There is no doubt that the British have an insatiable appetite for the sort of stories delivered by the News of the World and there is a huge rivalry between the leading tabloids to deliver the next big scoop. As a Public Relations professional, I am always keen to distance myself and the profession from people like Max Clifford (A publicist, not a PR), who may be very good at what they do, but also play a key role in the dumbing down of the media. It’s quite possible that, once the technology for phone tapping was in place, News of the World journalists felt pressured into taking part in order to secure potential headline stories.

We should not forget that underhand methods do have their place. Few would argue for example that the leaking of parliamentary expenses to the Daily Telegraph was outside the public interest, even if we were all wholly sick of the story by the end of the first month, but it’s about setting boundaries and sticking to them. Even people who choose to live in the glare of publicity have the right to personal privacy and, if the scope of the phone tapping scandal is as great as we’re currently hearing, I hope that an example is made of everyone involved.

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Workplace Communication in the Age of Austerity

July 22nd, 2010

Well, the coalition is well and truly settled at the heart of our democracy, the fate of the regional development agencies has been sealed and, like it or loathe it, Britain is heading for a new age of austerity. Sadly, but unavoidably, this will bring with it cost-cutting, pay freezes and employee rationalisation on a scale we have never seen before in the public or private sectors.

This is not a negative article, but I felt it was important to set the stage. Nobody, and especially not employees and HR professionals, should underestimate the challenges we face. It’s also true, however, that there are right and wrong ways to handle negative situations. The way you deal with them will affect your company, workforce and customers for a long time to come.

Here then, is Point Pleasant’s quick guide to concentrating on the positive:

  1. Keep your employees informed – Nothing breeds bad morale better than secrecy. If you try to cover up your company’s problems, efficiency and productivity will suffer.
  2. Don’t leave things until the last minute – If you’re having financial problems, your team will know about it, even if they don’t know the finer details. Don’t bury your head in the sand, a difficult decision taken early will benefit the business in the longer term.
  3. Consult and communicate – There are of course legal guidelines to making people redundant, but you can always do more. If you are making cuts, explain why and keep the process transparent. This will make it easier for those who go and those who stay.
  4. We’re all in this together – If pay freezes, bonus reductions or other cost-cutting measures are called for, communicate the reasons clearly and treat everyone, including senior management, the same. Also consider special measures to protect the lowest paid.
  5. Inspire a lasting commitment – Look for ways to keep your key employees loyal by offering long-term incentives in the form of a bonus scheme or share options. This will give them a focus beyond the current difficulties.
  6. Publicise the positive – Use eNewsletters, the intranet or staff newsletters to keep your staff informed of good news within the company. Good news helps to improve morale and commitment among your employees.
  7. Explain your decisions – If you’ve cancelled the Christmas party or cut your spend on CSR, explain the reasons why. Staff will be much less resentful if they know the background to a decision.

Explain’ and ‘Communicate’ are the key words to remember. Hard decisions can’t be avoided and things will probably get harder before they get better, but keep these simples suggestions in mind, and you’ll find the whole process a great deal less stressful for all involved. ‘Explain’ and ‘Communicate’ are the key words to remember.

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Two Weeks in iSolation

April 27th, 2010

I’m heading off to Everest on Friday and will have to endure two weeks with no TV, internet or phone (Except in emergencies). I say ‘have to’, although there are in fact mobile phone masts up on Everest these days, but I’m leaving the iPhone in Kathmandu and that is that. It’s going to be weird though, as a person who spends most of the day either on the computer or on the phone, to switch off completely. I know the business and my clients will be in safe hands, but usually I’m always on the other end of the phone, even when I’m away.

Of cours, when Mallory and his team went in 1924, they were a week’s trek from the nearest telegraph cable. We will have a satellite phone that can be used in an emergency and we’ll check in for messages once a day. Hardly total isolation then, but compared to the constant stream of media we’re used to, it will feel like it. It’s going to be particularly galling on Thursday next week when the election is on. As a huge fan of general elections – I usually stay up all night – I’m gutted to be missing it. Perhaps we’ll get the World Service, if we’re lucky.

This has all made me think about what the world was like without electronic communication and how we’d survive if we lost it again. The volcano cloud didn’t really affect business as people were able to use the phone or email, so it didn’t matter where they were, but if the internet ever failed it could spell doom for the entire global financial system. In the old days there was a lot more room for personal initiative, particularly in the fields of war and business. In 1982, for example, the  Captain of HMS Conqueror had to surface and radio for permission to sink the Belgrano, which came from the Prime Minister herself; Nelson would never have had that option.

I’m not saying that all decisions have life and death implications, but it demonstrates how regulated our world has become, and it’s all down to technology that we largely take for granted. With the advent of the satellite phone, there is no place on Earth where you can genuinely claim to be beyond reach, there are simply degrees of contactability sic. As I’ve written this, I’ve become less fearful of my impending remoteness and I’m actually looking forward to it. If I took the iPhone up the mountain, what would I have to gain, except of course for a whopping great bill when I get home? Maybe it will do me good. So, I’ll see you in a fortnight. Until then then, don’t call me and I won’t call you.

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And they’re off! Election 2010 will be the hardest fought yet

April 6th, 2010

Well, here we are folks. They started off this morning as they mean to go on, with David Cameron stealing an unprecedented lead on Gordon Brown as he held a press conference before the PM had even returned to Downing Street from Buck House. So what does this tell us, well regardless of your political viewpoint it’s downright bad manners. The Prime Minister should be given the right to announce the election on the steps of Downing Street, something that  traditionally signifies the starting gun for the campaign. A masterful manoeuvre on Cameron’s part or a calculated risk that will backfire hugely? The electorate ultimately probably won’t care and we’ll know their decision in four weeks anyway.

This election will be remembered as the first true fight of the digital age. Yes, they had the web in 1997 and Flash swingometers in 2001 and blogs in 2005, but those elections were all forgone conclusions, something which 2010 most certainly is not. We’ve already seen on both sides that online communications can backfire, most recently with the Tories’ ‘Cash Gordon’ effort that was brought down by spammers within hours when they made the mistake of permitting unmoderated comments. It will be interesting to see which of the main parties, if any, can make effective use of tools like Twitter. Blogs will provide a vast resource for commentary and debate, but the main online battle will still be carried out across the sites of the mainstream media.

One thing we will see is unprecedented levels of polling, with Yougov issuing daily polls and sites like www.ukpollingreport.co.uk serving as a single point of access and analysis for every opinion poll conducted in the UK. Whether  this is a good thing or a bad thing depends upon your own personal point of view, but you can be certain that it will provide the primary focus of a hard-fought campaign. The French actually ban all polls for seven days before the election, but from my perspective this would make people even less likely to vote than they already are.

So where will we be on May 7th? Well I’ll be half way up Mount Everest on a trekking expedition, not my first choice you understand, but these things are planned a little further in advance than a general election. As for the politicians, it may well be into the afternoon before they know where they stand thanks to the well-meaning  jobsworths who have moved many counts to the morning after, thereby destroying one of the few genuinely exciting spectacles in British politics as the results come in through the night.

As the system is weighted fundamentally in Labour’s favour and there is simply not the same tide of public enthusiasm for Cameron that Blair enjoyed in  1997, I’m going to put my head on the line and put the Tories on 36%, with Labour on 32%, a result that would deliver a hung parliament. Even if the Tories get a few more seats than Labour, Brown would still be offered the first chance to form a government as the incumbent PM. It would then be down to the Lib Dems who, incidentally, will be down to about 45 seats. Despite Clegg’s constant protestations, they won’t be able to resist the prospect of a seat at the top table and we will end up with a Lib-Lab coalition. Whether we’ll also see Vince Cable in No 11 is a different question, but I think that a great office of state may be a step too far. Perhaps Chief Secretary to the Treasury? Only time will tell.

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BA Comms Battle Really Takes Off

March 26th, 2010

Sorry to return to this old chestnut, but it really has been fascinating to watch this battle of wills developing over the past couple of weeks.

In the left corner, we have the Unite union desperately trying to portray BA and its management as the school bullies – Big Brother trying to do down the little guy. In the right corner, we have Willie Walsh and his cronies claiming to have delivered more than 70% of passengers safely to their destinations. If you’re like me, you’re probably sick of the sight of both sides by now.

My first post made it clear that nobody wins and this remains true, but it’s rapidly becoming clear that there are different levels of loser. What is most striking about this dispute, if you’ll excuse the pun, is that the public seem very much on the side of the management. While they may sympathise with the strikers, this recession has inspired the feeling that we’re all in this  together, so we simply need to knuckle down and ride it out.

The strikers have not been helped by Ryanair’s comparison of BA staff pay and conditions to those of its own cabin crew, making it crystal clear that BA staff will still be on a far superior package even after the proposed changes. Mr Walsh’s hand has also been strengthened by his announcement that the airline will follow through on a threat to remove non-contractual travel perks from strikers, a decision that is sure to have caused many cabin crew to cross the picket lines.

It was telling that, on the third day of the strike, BA’s share price actually went up. This is a sign that the city does not believe that the airlines image and long-term viability will be affected by the strike. Put simply, they think the workers will ultimately lose out. In a recession where everyone has made sacrifices to the altar of austerity, there is no public appetite to back a strike over something so trivial as overnight accommodation and the loss of a single crew member on transatlantic flights.

So, where do we go from here? My prediction is that, having failed to achieve the devastation it sought, Unite will be forced back to the negotiating table by the end of next week. BA will table the same offer that Unite’s leadership rejected last Friday, which will be put to a vote and accepted by staff. To keep his reputation for hard-nosed negotiation intact, Mr Walsh will not restore the travel perks as this would be a volte-face too far. So the cabin crew are the biggest losers.

In the battle for hearts and minds, nobody wins, but BA will emerge victorious in the PR battle., if only on points.

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Managing the Message: The Devil’s in the Detail

March 15th, 2010

Walking in the Lake District at the weekend, I saw a sign that said simply ‘Keep Off’. There was no explanation, no visible indication of risk, no obvious geographical feature that might mean danger, it was simply a field gently sloping away from the side of the path, with no fence or barrier of any kind to deter entry, except for this stumpy little sign. It occurred to me later that, had I not been aching from a 10 mile hike and desperate to get back to the car, I might have been overcome by curiosity.

There’s a message in there somewhere. If you simply tell someone something, but give them no reason, they’re far more likely to ignore it than if you have provided a valid justification. There might have been a danger such as quick sand, or even a sign saying ‘Private Land’. At least then you know where you stand, if you’ll excuse the pun.

The message conveyed by the sign itself can also play a role in its effectiveness, so ‘Please Keep of the Grass’ would probably not be as effective as ‘Trespassers Will Be Shot’. Like in PR, it’s all about deciding on your message and then looking at how it can be conveyed most effectively. The owners of this sign have gone for the simplest and cheapest solution, but they haven’t thought through why the sign was needed and whether it would achieve its desired purpose.

My favourite sign of all time was next to a hotel swimming pool in Jersey. It read ‘Push for Emergency’. Of course, I knew the actual meaning, but every time I passed I wanted to press and see just what horrible fate might befall the occupants of the pool! It turned a sign with serious meaning into an object of fun, and that’s what you can do to your business if you don’t get your communications strategy right.

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“Keeping 18 as age of gay consent ‘would be a PR disaster’” – You would hope so

March 11th, 2010

Interesting to note a war of words that’s broken out on Guernsey between gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell (Quoted in the headline) and locals over a proposal to reduce the homosexual age of consent to 16 (http://tinyurl.com/y9rslvu).

Mr Roy Sarre, described as a ‘prominent churchgoer’ said: “Next they will be talking about civil partnerships and then after that it will be on to children being adopted into civil partnerships.” As if it’s the equivalent of introducing compulsory flogging for crossing the street when the green man’s not showing.

It’s interesting from a communications point of view that the Channel Islands seem so far removed from the mainland. An opinion like this is now viewed by most in the UK, in my experience, as just a bit cranky. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for free speech and I simply smile with sorrow for the sad and empty lives of the so-called Christians who stand and chant obscenities at gay marches, but hasn’t the real world moved on?

I was discussing the issue of homophobia with a police officer yesterday and there’s no doubt that this country has come a long way over the past 10 years. It’s also pleasing that, no matter who wins the election, the march of acceptance is too far on to turn back.

I only hope that Guernsey, small and insignificant as it may be, will prove that Mr Sarre and his kind are just as much a minority there as they are in the UK.

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“There is such a thing as bad publicity” admits Goldman Sachs

March 5th, 2010

Goldman Sachs has broken ranks with the rest of the banking industry and admitted that the long-running furore over banker’s bonuses might actually be damaging its brand (http://tinyurl.com/yalx48h). The person who said that the only bad publicity is your own obituary may have been right up to a point, but the banking industry has been subject to such harsh and protracted criticism over the past two years that I wonder if this is still the case.

Still, there was some good news for the beleaguered banking giant this week as it emerged as the lead partner in a bid to buy Manchester United from the Glazer family (http://tinyurl.com/yf5z7zt). If it succeeds, and it looks unlikely, there will be a few more Goldman Sachs fans in the North West. I can’t remember seeing a branch of Goldman Sachs in Salford though!

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Taking Flight: Why nobody wins in the BA debacle

March 3rd, 2010

The recent furore over British Airways cabin crew, which looks likely to culminate in a damaging strike this Easter, is a lesson in how not to do it. What’s interesting about this case, however, is that neither side seems to have won the battle for the hearts and minds of the British public. This is unfamiliar territory for the newspaper industry, which has been left slightly nonplussed by the lack of bandwagons on which to jump, but what is the reason for this lack of public sentiment?

In essence, this is a dispute that reflects the age we’re living in and the new realities of 2010. The natural instinct of the British to sympathise with the little guy is being tempered by our subconscious agreement that companies like BA must change in order to survive, combined with the natural human fear of being stranded in a foreign airport over Easter.

The Unite union did itself and its members no favours by botching the industrial ballot over Christmas, which gave BA management the opportunity to take them to court and block strike action. The subsequent ballot for the forthcoming strike may have been done properly, but it leaves the public with a sense that the whole thing is a stitch-up. More recently, Unite created further uncertainty and public anger by refusing to reveal exact dates for the planned strikes.

British Airways then scored what appeared to be another own goal with the revelation that it has been training ground crews to act as a flight stewards, using a six-week fast track course to give them the minimum safety training and skills needed to work onboard a plane. This could have been a PR disaster, and the press certainly treated it as such, but ironically BA’s share price went up as investors calculated that the initiative would lessen the financial impact of the strike.

Amid all this jockeying, it’s easy to forget what caused the disagreement between BA and Unite in the first place. British Airways made a loss of £50m in the final quarter of 2009 and it needs to adapt if it is to survive. The changes that are being disputed involve a cut in the number of flight crew on transatlantic flights from 14 to 15 and a two-year pay freeze, as well as revised pay and conditions for new recruits. Where BA went wrong was in its failure to consult the union before announcing the changes.

Ultimately, everyone will suffer from this dispute, which is only the latest in a series of PR disasters to hit BA. Passengers don’t like uncertainty, which means they’ll look elsewhere, deepening BA’s financial woes and leading to further staff cuts in the longer term. How many people have already booked with other airlines in the face of such uncertainty we will never know, but it’s likely to be in the hundreds of thousands.

So what can we learn from this as employers? Whether you have union representation or not, it’s better to consult than to present a fait accompli. When asked, most BA employees agreed that something had to give, but they objected to the fact that they were being told rather than asked. You need to make your staff feel that they have a stake in the business, be it moral or financial, if you want them to make sacrifices on your behalf.

If you’re planning any changes in your business, especially those involving rationalisation or job losses, you need to include communications in your planning from the very beginning. By co-ordinating internal comms with external PR and staying on-message, you can ensure that you maintain control of the situation. If there’s one thing we can learn from BA, it’s the value of planning and conveying the right message in order to win the argument.

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