JT Saga Opens the Floodgates to a Free Press in the UK

John Terry has received plenty of criticism over the past couple of weeks and rightly so, but I’m not going to drag on about how wrong he was and that he should speak out rather than remain silent because I’m sure everyone has heard enough about it! But one of the most notable developments that has come about from the John Terry episode is the landmark ruling by Mr Justice Tugendhat that swung the pendulum back in favour of freedom of speech, when he revoked an injunction granted to John Terry, the Chelsea and England captain, which had blocked reporting of his extra-marital affair. Mr Justice Tugendhat commented that while “freedom to live as one chooses” was a valuable principle, “so is the freedom to criticise – within the limits of the law – the conduct of other members of society as being socially harmful or wrong”.

Since then Portsmouth manager, Avram Grant, has been named as the Premiership manager that last year was seen visiting a Thai brothel. At the time, the newspaper blamed “creeping privacy laws” for preventing it from publishing further details. For too long the rich and famous have been using the law in ways that are not open to the rest of us. Super injunctions appear to be used by celebrities to invoke a privacy law by the back door. A privacy law that was designed to help those who are weak and vulnerable rather than rich selfish footballers such as John Terry who was more concerned about losing his sponsorship deals than anything else.

However, it remains to be seen whether Mr Justice Tugendhat's ruling marks a sea change, or a fleeting zigzag.

Drowning in your manifesto?

Here is the link to a blog entry I wrote for the Independent Network, whilst on work placement with Parker, Wayne & Kent.

Katie Price...The Ultimate Money Making Machine!

Katie Price (a.k.a Jordon) married Alex Reid in Las Vegas yesterday. The pair, who’ve been dating for seven months, tied the knot in a “simple, private” ceremony and surprisingly enough, there was no magazine deal involved! A spokesman for the couple stated “Their decision to marry has not been made with any pre-conceived commercial plan or media deal in place, and their reason for getting married is purely down to their love for each other”, which is fair enough, but how long will it be until Price and her PR team, sit down and start putting their commercial and media plan in to place, if they haven’t already done so!

Reid was voted the winner of Celebrity Big Brother last Friday. When entering the Big Brother house he was booed, but came out to a rapturous reception after winning the show, having turning around the public’s negative depiction of him. But what if he didn’t win and he came out of the experience still portrayed in a bad light, would Price have married him, would she still be with him! Personally, somehow I don’t think so...she is a very clever character at grabbing any opportunity and trying to put a positive spin on it, though she still seems to be faltering since her high profile divorce with former husband Peter Andre last year. When I say faltering, by no means on the financial side of things, more in terms of her public image.

In November, Price, 31, revealed during a live interview on reality TV show I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! (Cha-Ching £££) that she had split up with Reid. She said at the time: "It's best that I'm on my own. I don't want a relationship... I'm not with him, no."
Price went onto to apologise for her behaviour since her break-up with Andre, saying she had "acted like a right twit". Does acting like a “right twit” include getting together with Reid! The reason she went onto I’m A Celebrity, was to regain her popularity (whilst earning a few bob!) after breaking up with Andre, but after that failed she went on to dump Reid live on national television as a last resort to try and somewhat salvage her way back into the public’s good books.

Yet, more or less two months down the line the pair have wedded. In a magazine interview last week (Cha-Ching £££) Price revealed that "This year I will marry Alex and I'm going to have his kids" and no doubt she will be laughing all the way to the bank with the commercial and media deals heading their way, after Reid’s new found fame.

I’m not knocking the girl, as I know for sure that she can’t be as bad a person the media makes her out to be, but she certainly knows how to make the most of a money seizing opportunity when it comes her way and as a result at times doesn’t do herself any favours. After Price and Reid’s “quickie” wedding, bookies are already setting odds on when they split. William Hill is taking bets at 10/1 that the happy couple will officially announce their separation by the end of the month and if they make it to March, the odds lengthen to 12/1.

Oh... and have I mentioned that I wish the newlywed couple all the best for the future!

Work Placement...Done!

On Friday last week, I completed my work placement at Parker, Wayne & Kent (pwkpr) in North London. It was an enjoyable experience, where I learnt a great deal about the everyday INS and OUTS of working for a PR firm.

I worked on various projects that required:
• conducting research
• conducting vox pops
• editing the company website
• e-mailing and phoning potential clients
• writing blogs
• writing news releases
• writing press releases &
• writing a photo-call

I was constantly busy and never had time to take it easy, demonstrating the busy nature of working for a PR firm and furthermore I didn’t have to make a single cup of tea whilst I was there! The area in which I most improved in was my writing ability, as I improved considerably in writing news and press releases compared to before, where I was prone to writing in a university essay style format.

One of the more exciting assignments I undertook was conducting vox pops, which is carrying out interviews with the general public, engaging spontaneous opinions in a chance encounter. A work colleague and I hit the streets of North and Central London equipped with a microphone and video camera to find out the public’s thoughts on independent politics for the Independent Network (IN) - a loose association that provides support to political candidates that are not members of traditional political parties or organised factions. We got a good range of opinions from all ages and backgrounds and it was fun to get out of the office and gather an outlook of different people’s views. You can view one of the vox pops that we did on the IN's Youtube page, by clicking here.

Overall, the experience at Parker, Wayne & Kent has been a tremendous and memorable one.

Is Social Media a Negative Form of Communication for Sports Professionals?

A couple of weeks ago, Liverpool player Ryan Babel hit the headlines for complaining that he had been left out of the squad for his team's match against Stoke City on social networking site Twitter. "The Boss left me out," Babel told his Twitter feed, "No explanation." At the start of the season, Sunderland striker Darren Bent also complained on the social networking site about his previous club Tottenham Hotspur. The pair of them were reprimanded for their use of Twitter. Last week, the Manchester Evening News went on to claim that Manchester City and Manchester United had placed a ban on social media, which since has been denied.

On a personal level as a Liverpool FC fan, I believe that it was wrong for Ryan Babel to publicly criticise the club and manager for being left out the squad. The reason for this is that firstly, I believe that he did not do himself any favours by posting his opinions on Twitter. Secondly, it was wrong for him to openly be disrespectful to his employers in the public eye, considering that they are the ones who pay his wages.

However, on the grander scale of it all, websites such as Twitter give millions of sports fans the chance to debate, discuss and interact with their sporting idols every day. If sports clubs were to ban players from using social media, it would put up a brick wall between the two. Social Media is a gateway for sports clubs and professionals to better engage with their supporters, wherever they may be.

A better way to encourage the use of social media such as Twitter, would be to draw up a series strict guidelines, so for example, players cannot talk about internal matters or team selection, like Ryan Babel did for instance. As a result, sporting professionals would be able to communicate with their supporters, whilst minimising the risk of sensitive information being leaked.

Is Twitter Pointless?

Ricky Gervais has quit Twitter, branding the network site as pointless and the adults that use it as "undignified". Twitter is a free social networking and micro blogging service that allows users to send and receive messages called "tweets". Since its creation in 2006, the website has gained plaudits and popularity worldwide as an information network keeping everyone up to date with what is happening in the world.

The reason for the famous British comedian quitting Twitter is that he just didn’t "get it". He understood it being used as a fun networking device for teenagers, but felt that it was a bit undignified for adults to be using it, in particular celebrities who seem to be showing off using the networking site. He is the latest in a long line of celebrities who have stopped tweeting, including the likes of Miley Cyrus who exclaimed that Twitter should be "banned from the universe".

I do agree to a certain extent with Ricky Gervais that Twitter can be pointless, in terms of people, famous or otherwise posting updates on what they have been doing. I mean who really cares if Jonathan Ross for instance posts a tweet saying that he’s just had breakfast and a cup of coffee, I certainly don’t! However the point that the likes of Ricky Gervais and Miley Cyrus seem to be missing is that Twitter is much more than just that and the networking site can be used in a greater breadth than just tweeting lifestyle updates.

Twitter has actively played a part in campaigning, education, emergencies, politics and many more fields. During the 2008 Mumbai attacks eyewitnesses sent an estimated 80 tweets every 5 seconds. Twitter users on the ground helped compile a list of the dead and injured. Furthermore, users sent out vital information such as emergency phone numbers and locations of hospital needing blood donations. CNN went as far to call this "the day that social media appeared to come of age" since many different groups made significant use of Twitter to gather news and coordinate responses. In June 2009, following allegations of fraud in the Iranian presidential election, protesters used Twitter as a rallying tool and as a method of communication with the outside world after the government blocked several other modes of communication.

These examples show Twitter‘s vital contribution in everyday life, as a vital information networking tool. In Public Relations, Twitter is becoming an ever important communication device for businesses and government to promote their work effectively. Democratic president Barrack Obama effectively used the site for publicity in the 2008 US presidential campaign to his advantage, showing that Twitter is an essential PR tool in reaching a wider audience.

So, is Twitter pointless...no it isn’t!

Public Relations: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly!

I am now a month into studying an MA in Public Relations at De Montfort University and my views on PR have changed significantly. I come from a culture that rubber-stamps family as number one priority and I have one hell of a big family. This meaning that there is a constant flow of relatives visiting my household, where everyone wants to know everyone’s business. Just before I started the course we had a big family get together and when asked "What are you up to these days?" I responded by telling them that I am doing an MA in Public Relations to which I got either one of two reactions. The first being the more often from those who do no have a clue what PR is, usually coming in the form of a bewildered look, a pat on the back, followed by the words "very good", with the family member just happy by the fact that I am doing a masters. Then the second reaction that really put the boot in was "Why on earth are you doing that for?" When I told one of my cousins who is an office manager what course I was about to undertake, his response was "When any PR people walk into my office I chuck them out straight up, they're d*******s full of b******t" leaving me thinking thanks for that vote of confidence! But when I quizzed these family members why they thought what they did, they became stuck for words and it became apparent they too did not have a clear understanding of what PR was. At the time I had a strong sense that going into PR would turn me into somewhat of a conniving individual to put it lightly, considering everyone’s negative portrayal of the industry.

However once I embarked on the course my perceptions on Public Relations changed dramatically. PR is an industry growing rapidly, which is essential for organisations in managing their reputations. The work carried out by Public Relations practitioners is vital to an organisation’s success in engaging with the public. The industry can support really good causes, people may argue that this is done for a tidy sum of money, but at the end of the day money makes the world go round! One of the biggest things I have learnt from the course is the importance of social media and its necessity in the PR world to channel communications. All in all I believe that Public Relations is a prosperous industry where my future career positively lies!