Mock Press Release

While in today's Strat Comm class, we received breaking news of a protest in Melbourne's Central Business District. This took place near a construction site where three people were tragically killed after a wall collapsed on them. Our task was to create a Press Release that the Mayor of Melbourne would be likely to release.

Mayor condemns union protestors

  Lord Mayor of Melbourne Robert Doyle has condemned the actions of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) for disrupting traffic in Melbourne’s CBD during an impromptu protest.

Mayor Cr Doyle expressed dissatisfaction with the Union for not alerting authorities until the morning of the march, disrupting the routine of many commuters.

“While I am sympathetic to the CFMEU’s cause and believe that protesting is a right in any democracy, nobody from the Union contacted the council or the police and said that they were holding a protest in Melbourne’s streets," Mayor Cr Doyle said. 

 "They had plenty of opportunity to contact the City of Melbourne and say that they were holding a rally today, rather than walk off the job at 10am this morning.”

The Mayor will be holding a press conference outside the Melbourne Town Hall at 1pm today where he will take further questions on the matter.

Brochures and issue marketing

How do you market a pair of food tongs, a fez or party sparklers? How do you stop a media "issue" from becoming a "crisis"? These are just two areas that the Strat Comm class has covered within the past week.

Print media, despite evidence to the contrary (such as this blog!), is still an effective communication tool. A brochure is the best way of providing someone with detailed information about your product. The best way of ensuring further attention is by making the product you're selling stand out - what is unique about these tongs, for instance, and how are they better than the competition? Also, try and be emotive and think of another use that your product might have - "This fez will look good at a party, while these sparklers will further add to the atmosphere!"

Also discussed in the past seven days was "issue management". With social media now a common source of news and discussion (as I poorly tried to point out last week) companies and others need to respond to any issues that arise as quickly as possible. Not doing so will make the public believe you do not care or have something to hide, which might not be the case.

A good example within Australia is the "slush fund" allegations leveled at Prime Minister Julia Gillard last year. As soon as the story was known to the press, Ms Gillard held a press conference regarding the issue and even answered questions in federal parliament. To counteract this, the media slowly released more information to put further pressure on the PM (a good tip for journos).

Still on Australian politics, an example of bad issue management would have to be the Craig Thompson affair. This has well and truly become a crisis, with Craig Thompson almost guaranteed to lose his seat at the next election. Moreover, unlike the PM who dealt with this issue within a fortnight, "Thompson-gate" has been a story for two years and it isn't going away. Thompson has always expressed his innocence but with every development he seems further and further implicated in the scandal.

Selling the conservative and stopping (or creating) crises - just another week as a Strat Comm student.

Rolf Harris is "Yewtree 5"... says Social Media

About a month or so ago now, the Metropolitan Police in Britain questioned a man as part of "Operation Yewtree", the police investigation into the Jimmy Savile abuse scandal. The recent Levison inquiry into journalism has prevented mainstream media (including press releases) from revealing names in specific cases, so social media has been guessing as to who "Yewtree 5" is.

British newspapers eventually revealed the person as an Australian entertainer. When this got back to Australia, media sources reported it widely but only referred to the person as a "prominent 60's entertainer", with some revealing his age (82 years old). More info on this can be found by clicking here.

Some small-time social media bloggers quickly deduced that Rolf Harris was the person who The Met were referring to. After all, he is Australian, has just turned 83, has been in the British entertainment industry for some amount of time and, like Savile, seems an unlikely sexual perpetrator.

First, this person who is allegedly Rolf hasn't been charged. Second, no one in the Metropolitan Police is suggesting that he has taken part in a sexual assault. While the Savile case is in the public interest, it is worth noting these two facts before anybody draws conclusions about Rolf Harris, whether he is the perpetrator of a crime or not.

The point is, don't believe everything you read on social media. "Yewtree 5" might not be innocent, but he or she is until they are proven guilty.