Do You Do Diffusion In 2009?

Nearly 6 months now since I joined Diffusion and it's gone pretty damn quick...guess it's all that stuff about time flying when you're having fun and all that.

I've had an amazing time working at Diffusion Towers seeing our company grow and it's been really refreshing to be part of a growing team that's working for some really exciting brands and digital companies...but before I continue gushing, tears come to my eyes and you all start reaching for the nearest bucket, I need to come to the crux of what this blog post is all about....

The boss has asked that I harness the "immense broadcasting power" of my little blog to highlight the fact that we're looking for some new bright sparks to join the team.

Please see the job information below which probably explains it all better than I ever could - it's also on the career's section of our beautiful website if you want to have a peak.

"With a new year ahead of you it’s perfectly natural to be contemplating whether you are in the right job. Are you working for clients you love, in a culture that is constantly innovating and pushing the boundaries of PR? Is your career where you want to it to be and can you see a clear path to promotion ahead of you? Is your employer investing in you to make sure you have the digital communication skills which are essential for effective PR today?

If the answer to any of these questions is ‘no’, perhaps now’s the time to see what fresh opportunities are out there? Here at Diffusion, we are looking for another Senior Campaign Executive to join our seven-strong team in early 2009. After 18-months in PR, you will have a Blackberry bursting with media contacts across the digital media, marketing, technology and national press. You will have a real interest in how brands are using the web to engage with stakeholders and a real desire to represent clients across a wide range of industry sectors, from hot digital start-ups to global consumer brands.

At Diffusion, you’ll not only get job satisfaction from doing brilliant work with great colleagues for fantastic clients, though we think that always helps. Through our commitment to Talent Management we offer fast-track career development to the brightest and a tailored training programme. And it goes without saying that your hard work and commitment will be rewarded with a market leading salary and benefits package. So if you want to spend 2009 and beyond working for one of the fastest-growing and most talked about agencies of 2008, we’d love to hear from you!"

If you fancy joining us at Diffusion Towers then feel free to drop me a note on Twitter but the best person to speak to is our glorious leader Daljit Bhurji who you can reach through the following address daljit.bhurji@diffusionpr.com

Shoestring Inspiration

I was asked this week by the venerable Stephen Waddington to continue a meme passed on to him by Ged Carrol on what inspires him to keep up his blog posts.

I have to say I feel in part this tag was itself inspired by a quick look at my shabby old blog which hasn’t been updated for a while so first and foremost let me apologize...

So inspiration....I think the main one has to be what other people are writing on the blogs I read. I Really enjoy reading the thoughts of others on industry issues – Becky’s, Stephen’s, Chris’s, Drew’s and of course the boss’ blogs all ones I enjoy reading regularly and where I can find something mildly intelligent to add to the debate I will – only problem recently is that I’ve been doing too much reading and not enough responding...

Looking back through this blog since I started it – I guess the other main inspirations have come from the various forms of websites I’m reading on a day to day basis whether it be the trials and tribulations of Tottenham on white hart pain or music and gigs on sites like NME. Aside from that it’s really the events that I go to and the people I meet at them.

I guess one of the main problems I have found with this particular blog and why it has therefore been so neglected has been the lack of personal experiences I’ve been able to put into it...

I therefore have recently started a side project called Shoestring Spirit borne out of jottings and that dreaded word ‘poems’ I’ve put together since my spotty teenage years – it’s refreshing to get feedback from and meet other people online outside of the traditional ‘tech PR blog world’ and in a way it gives me inspiration to keep blogging in another realm outside of the professional – and get people to see some of these thoughts which (while often rubbish) would otherwise be left stewing in a dusty desk draw.

I’ll pass this little meme onto Drew, Becky and Ben

Three Memes For Whitney

Oh Jed Hallam you give me such a warm feeling fuzzy feeling with your meme love I feel compelled to continue this lovely if slightly odd trend of meme chains - sorry it has taken me so long Jed - wanted to make sure I did a proper job...

So I've put allot of thought into this (all five minutes of it)...but I'm not going to make you wait a minute longer...without further ado...Ladies and Gentlemen...I give you my three for three

Top Three non-work websites

1. The Daily Show
2. Facebook (sorry in social media circles it seems like the equivalent of admitting I enjoy McDonald's...)
3. White Hart Pain - just about sums up my Saturdays


Top Three Karaoke Songs

1. Elton John - Bennie & The Jets
2. Whitney Houston - I Will Allways Love You
3. Elton John & George Michael - Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me (as sung with Ivan)

Top Three Weekend Cocktails

1. Ladyboy Chasers
2. White Russian
3. Mojito

And the three people I will choose to pass this on to are:

1. That Chap
2. Lewis Webb
3. Will McInnes

Go on I dares ya....share the love....

Please Please Vote

I don't think I have many American friends....hey I don't think many Americans even read this blog...but I thought I'd do my bit - if you are in the US, know any Americans...whatever just register to vote...please....for Barack Obama if you can....

The 9 Lines Of Twestival

The little idea
We dream't up in a pub
Evolved into
Something so much more special
Thanks to a little help from our friends
It was great to meet so many new faces and
Value our friend's support
And despite a sore head on Friday morning, I'm
Looking forward to seeing everyone soon to do it all over again.

MP Wanted

Far be it from me to join the Obamamania that seems to be sweeping every corner of the earth except the US particularly Brazil where not 4, not 5 but 6 politicians have taken it upon themselves to rename themselve's Barack Obama. (an odd and perhaps not the most novel way of boosting your search rankings and general popularity) but hey if it's working for them well good luck to them...

But all this madness did get me to thinking that perhaps we should do a similar thing in the UK. No not rename our Gordon Brown and the rest of the cabinet Barrack - I don't think their sports skills would quite match up to his for a start...

However instead perhaps we should send open invitations to unsuccessful presidential nominees (the good ones anyway) to take up roles in Westminster. I'm sure Barrack would love a nice cosy constituency perhaps in the south hams, perhaps Al Gore wouldn't mind running Glasgow South and hey if they like it - what's stopping them getting their full citizenship and running the country!

However seriously, behind all the razzmatazz which I feel we like to cynically snigger at - what the Americans are good at producing is leaders and politicians that inspire and cause debate - clearly I dont agree with Sarah Palin's view on a number of issues especially the Bush doctrine, what ever that is...but what she has done is brought another dimension of debate to the election and has made more interested in what she has to say - more so than our own party conferences taking place at the moment in the UK - instead our party conferences tend to be bogged down with headlines more often than not dominated by infighting or cross party squabbling than anything of real significance.

Policies are important (and clearly the huge scale of an American election has an effect) but there needs to be an added dynamism to our politics - I may not have always agreed with Tony Blair (and was too young to witness Maggie in action) but there was generally an ounce of interest in what decisions they were making which I feel is wholly absent today.

We need people that inspire people - current coverage of UK politics often feels like the skies of August this year - relentlessly grey and disappointing.

So good luck to Barracks everywhere from Illinois to Rio and hey if it doesn't work out then there's always a backbench seat in the South Hams a waiting....

Worgle

Well I've done my duty and downloaded Chrome and yes it's a web browser, not a lot more to say as far as I'm concerned - not exactly going to change my world for the moment but hey...

I did like the way that even Channel 4 seemed to fall for the story that the news was 'leaked' hmmm....I rather agree more with Drew Benvie's take on the story - a story this big...published by accident..I'm not so sure...

Anyway while the A-Ha inspired Take On Me cartoons seem to have got most people's attention a quick wordle of Google's bog post seems to suggest that the key aim of the new browser seems to be to be to push their applications more and more and more...not bad as for the most they are pretty useful...

as for the browser...meh...it's a browser at the end of the day...seems to run pretty fast and of course...people who know their stuff will have more in depth views on the good points and bad points..but to me and my housemates as users (after 20 minutes) it seems pretty similar to most browsers...

anyway...enough of this boring post...it's all about enabling an enriched multimedia experience apparently so here is a taste of what people might be watching on it...

Another blip in the ocean

Have recently started using blip.fm, having seen the multitude of posts people were whizzing through twitter. For those not familiar with their blips and bobs Becky McMichael provides an excellent overview on her blog. At first I thought this was an awesome idea - being a big music fan (with varying degrees of taste) I thought it would be a great way of sharing music I like with friends I've already made through other networks like Twitter and Facebook...

Only problem is you can have too much of a good thing, and I agree with my old colleague Ben Matthews that the ability to automatically tweet every blip (if that makes any sense at all) I think there's a danger of really pissing people off, informing them of the fact you love that Punk infused Jazz Folk Track from 1987...

It's a great way of extending your self expression (horrible word again...sorry) and sharing stuff you like online but everything is good in moderation...Therefore I will do my best to go easy on the blips..perhaps a song every morning with my cup of coffee...although I hope everyone will be sharing their Karaoke Blips in the run up to Harvest Twestival on 25th September....please excuse the odd bit of Michael Bolton

Hitler Goes Mad @ The Fail Whale

Kudos to the guys over at Fallon for putting this video together...or at least posting it - turns out that even totalitarian megalomaniacs go bonkers at the sight of the Fail Whale sometimes.....




A clever play on an old Youtube footballing joke, any fellow spurs fans will share in my pain below;

Whoa!! What's Wrong with a Tweet?

It was interesting to read the mini debate that has developed over the past couple of days around 'twitter etiquette'; when to tweet and when not to.

I agree to a certain extent with Sally Whittle's comments that it's good to take a break from twitter and actually enjoy your boiled eggs than talking about them - I've had enough scolds from my flatmates and my girlfriend, questioning why I am on my BlackBerry on a Sunday talking about something as inane as ironing....

However in many ways for me that is the whole point with twitter. Like anything you do online - it's about (and excuse me for the crass term) but self expression. The fact that I'm ironing on a Sunday night is probably just as much a shared experience (if be it a crap one) for people who follow me on twitter as the fact that the Russians have invaded South Ossetia which before last Friday I had never heard of and had no reason to.

Since I was introduced to twitter by my old boss and all round digital media legend Drew Benvie, my living room has been transformed into one of epic proportions - enabling me to share my thoughts with Becky McMichael on Anelka's penalty taking ability and asking Daljit Bhurji whether Raif should have stayed in the Apprentice....if you're not interested - I perfectly understand - just dont follow me....

What I've enjoyed most from people's posts whether they be about the fact we are about to witness a new world war, or the fact they want to go to nando's soon is that it gives away little snippets of their personalities & has encouraged me to make new friends through things like team twitter and the Harvest Twestival which it would be great to see you all at.

So please keep twitter fun (and I'll try not to be so trigger happy with twhirl) as the old sage of social media, Will McInnes says, "I have truly formed and developed real relationships with lovely, interesting people I haven't yet or may never meet in the real world - in that respect it's much more like a forum than a Facebook"

oh...and thanks again to Wadds for directing me to this debate...guess how I found out about it? yep - you guessed it through twitter

Inflation - A Government Statement

So the latest inflation figures out this morning didn't make the most pleasant reading with the UK''s annual rate of inflation rising to 4.4% twice the government's 2% target....

Ok...Ok...boring post alert - but I thought the video below might sum up how Gordon Brown felt as he tucked into his Ready Brek this morning (imagine that's what he eats when holidaying in Norfolk...)

...funny how history repeats itself (just replace unemployment with inflation)

Working 9 - 5 - What a way to make a living!

Anyone who reads this will probably know that I recently joined Diffusion PR. I've really enjoyed working here; exciting clients, great team (excellent tea making skills) and a bevy of pubs and cafe's just around the corner for lunchtime and after work fun and games in deepest, darkest Soho.

If this sounds like your cup of tea, the good news is we're hiring. It would be great to hear from you if you're interested in positions outlined below.

Here's our official ad with all the contact details etc:

At Diffusion we naturally believe that Public Relations offers one of the most stimulating, rewarding and intellectually challenging career choices for graduates. We’ll be opening applications for our 2009 Graduate Programme in December, but due to impressive client growth we have an opportunity for two exceptional graduates to join the Diffusion team this September.

So what are we looking for? Well we’re not ashamed to say our standards are very high - you will need a First or 2:1 degree from a leading University. What’s more important than what you studied is a genuine interest in communication. That means a passion for the media, for writing, for speaking and a demonstrable understanding of the PR process in the 21st Century. As you’ll be joining an agency at the leading edge of innovation in digital communication, an enthusiastic and natural affinity to all things online is essential.

PR is an industry where people buy people, so as well as holding all these attributes you also need to be likeable, engaging, and credible, generate trust and ooze common sense and creativity. As we said, our standards are high.

So what do we offer? Firstly a commitment to training and development. At Diffusion you won’t spend most your time scanning coverage and writing reports. We will ensure you receive intensive education in PR practice so you can also quickly start making a genuine and satisfying contribution to the success of client campaigns. As well as internal training from some of the leading PR practitioners in the UK, we also invest in external training in areas such as video production and web design, equipping you with the skills that are essential for pioneering PR today.

Our culture is supportive and open and we thrive on creative ideas, entrepreneurial spirit and humour. By joining a young and rapidly growing agency, you will be perfectly placed to enjoy rapid career and earnings growth.

Do you think you measure up? Then please send your CV and a covering letter to Daljit Bhurji, Managing Director, Diffusion at daljit.bhurji@diffusionpr.com

For more information on our Talent Management approach and benefits packages click here.

Closing date: 28 August 2008: No recruitment agencies please

Harvest Twestival

Over some beers earlier this week, following another disastrous footballing defeat, this time at the hands of the mini Maradonas I like to call Fishburn Hedges, I sat with Tim Hoang and Ben Matthews and we decided it was time to take Team Twitter to the next level...a level that didn't involve panting, sweating and deep feeling inadequacy....and so over a couple pints of Peroni, Harvest Twestival was born!

The Harvest Twestival is a Tweetup with a difference.

Wouldn't it be nice to actually meet all those people you so often tweet with but sometimes havent actually had the chance to share a drink with and would that be even better if we could end the night shouting our hearts out to Bon Jovi (well I hear that's Tim's favourite)

As well as meeting the faces behind the avatars (and checking out whether they really are as good looking as their online appearances), there'll be plenty of songs to be sung with karaoke classics and while your at it do some good for the world (kind of like Band Aid but without Bob Geldof)

In the spirit of our schooling days, we'll be holding a food drive, where everyone's invited to bring a few cans of food, dug out from the back of dusty food cupboards, which we will be donating to a central London soup kitchen. It is hoped that this nostalgia trip will also be a way for the Twittersphere to help those in need.

There'll also be an announcement of a new project that will use the PR community to help charities non-profits and social enterprises, of which more details will be released closer to the time.

It all promises to be a fun evening, a chance to meet up with old friends and meet some new ones, all while doing a little bit to help those who are less fortunate.

Once we've sorted a venue and sponsors for a bit of beer money, we'll also set up an event invite on here.

In the meantime, get practicing on your singing voice, dig out a few cans of food, and we'll see you on the 25th!

Harvest Twestival
Date: 25 September 2008
Venue: TBA, but in the Oxford Circus/Soho area
FB Group: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=78175635192

Paris For President

For once an intelligent and entertaining response to a political jibe - now that's not something I expected from Paris Hilton....

See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die

Three cheers for sweet recession

and so it is...back from California with a bit of a bump...everyone seems so sad?

The papers are so filled with how we are about be hit with a cataclysmic economic downturn not seen since mickey mouse was donning his sailor's hat in steamboat Willie...and to top that, the weather has been tremendously British...

...I was cheered to see that The Sunday Times was this morning helpfully providing me a list of people who benefit from a recession listing cinemas, cosmetic producers and the arts as sectors of growth during tough times - Even Benny, Bjorn, Anni and Aggi are cashing in with economic downturns signalling boom times for Abba apparently!

well here's a couple more things that made me smile while writing this post on a bleary eyed Sunday Morning...

Firstly a journalist has finally discovered that PR isn't all champagne and parties and that we actually have to put up with a bit of journalist self importance from time to time - high five to Sally Whittle for her honest account of her experiences of a brief stint in PR -

I agree with my boss Drew Benvie that knowing who is on the other side of the phone always helps but a little understanding of each others faults added with a little professionalism on both sides never hurts...think it was all summed up best by Becky McMichael's law which I saw her post on twitter earlier this week, "For every flack that is stupid there is a hack that is late"

and if that sentiment of common humanity isn't enough...well looks like the lovely British weather is going to treat us this weekend....

and if that's not enough to cheer you all then sod you all....mind you at least you don't complain as much about petrol prices as much as the Californians did....

Toe Jam

This video is odd to say the least but the song is awesome....never heard of The BPA but cant stop listening to this song!

California Love

So the bags arent quite packed but the countdown has begun for my Californian Oddesy...which loosely translates as me and my girlfriend pootling down the Californian coast in an old red VW camper....meet Rell Sun


In preparation, and to get my mood out of the drab June clouds that seem to persistently hang above us I have begun preparing my 'Cali Playlist' - come on any roadtrip needs good music...check out what I have so far...anyone have any tips?

1. California - Phantom Planet (hate the OC and wont be even going there but feel it sets the mood)

2. California Dreamin - Mammas & The Papas (this holiday was booked in November - so there has been lots of dreamin not so much doin but hope that changes soon)


3. No Rain - Blind Melon (well fingers crossed - plus awesome tune!)


4. California Love - 2pac & Dr Dre (one for my homies in Brugges)


5. Surf Wax America - Weezer (song just makes me happy)


6. California Waiting - Kings Of Leon (again lots of waiting, now time for doing)


7. In the Summertime - Mungo Jerry (have a drink have a drive see what you can find...most likely a car accident)


8. Hotel California - The Gypsy Kings (spanish for that added summer vibe and remenicent of Big lebowski_


9. Going To California - Led Zeppelin (dont really know what these lyrics are about but title is pretty self explanetory)


10. In My Hour Of Darkeness - Gram Parsons (just because Gram is the man!)


In the meantime I'll try to honour any requests for pressies when I get back...oh yeah and if you know of any places I should go then let me know...




how awesome is this number plate...I can allmost smell the cheese!

Eurovision Baby!

So its that time of year again..Eurovision Baby! Time for Terry Wogan to slowly get sloshed as a bunch of Bulgarians don their get up gear from a 70's Saturday night out and dance around to something out of time much more distant....

They seem to enjoy it and I guess I miss it a little...Eurovision was a pillar of my childhood - it was a Malcolm family pastime be gathered around the tv every May with my sister and I armed with scorecards seeing if our superior judgement of European musical culture matched up that of the mysterious European judges...I remember being particularly enamoured by Sonia's entry in 1993 and incredulous that she didnt win...beaten by Italy's Enrico Ruggeri amongst others and where are they now eh??!

With the changes to the voting system and the fraternal bond of dressing up and shouting that seems bond former foes in the Eastern bloc...added with the fact I guess that I am no longer 10 the competition has lost a bit of it's magic and sadly I wont be watching tonight...although the temptation to hop on a train back to Kent, whip out a scorecard, add subtitles (which have english translation dont you know) and debate with my mum on the merits of Azerbijan's entry are tempting....oh well there is always Sky+

However I havent totally missed out on the magic...we are having a sweepstake at work and in Nico and Vlad Mirita's entry from Romania (beautifully titled'Pe-o Mangine De Lume'...any Romanian speakers in the room?) I think I have a winner...although the fact that they are first up and their odds suggest i may not b so lucky...oh well for one night only Go Romania (come on its not as if UK is going to get any votes)!! As Sonia once said..It's better the devil you know!

I'm off Jlogging

So this week I thought I would go for a run...not that unusual...man goes out too much, eats lots of crap...gets increasingly tubby - feels the need to recompense even if only psycologically by going for a bit of sweaty exercise.

However this week I thought I would share my route with a little bit of help from some friends on Flickr....so in 5 quick photo's please find my Jlog...

...and please bear in mind I did not take them myself...getting home was hard enough itself

Regents park to....

Camden Lock...the five minute wall is kicking in about this point but Jimi Hendrix is normally helping me through it...

But Little Venice makes it all so much better...my favourite part of London (after Wormwood Scrus Of course)



This spot is pretty cool actually...cant believe somebody bothered to take a photo but apparently its near Trellick Tower...at this point the Westway looks like Daytona as it banks on it's side...pretty cool

As it started to get dark I came to a halt at th North Pole Pub...didnt quite stop for a pint but just walked home from there....

I Dont know if I've started a new craze or (more likely) if I'm just boring people but would be cool for other people to start Jlogging! If you want to check out my route just click on this link and feel free to post your favourite London routs.

A Wally with a Brolly

Or

So Labour have lost, Boris is in and already the comparisons are being made between Gordon Brown and John Major, David Cameron with Tony Blair...

But I think the press are missing a trick - watching this week's coverage of the election and reading today's papers I thought that Gordon far more resembled the previous England manager Steve McLaren...both with a unhappy relationship with the press...both with a reasonably successful predecesor who only left the job when people got tired of him...and both giving you just about as much confidence that they can do the job as you have a wall to wall sunshine bank holiday...

anyway rain is predicted for tomorrow, and when I was looking for a wally with a brolly on google images, look what came up...

he's been very quiet hasnt he....odd that for a chancellor when the bad results were blamed on the economy...

The Beatles Were Bloggers non?

On the tube home today sitting next to a particularly large smelly man who insisted on sleeping on my shoulder, I looked to fade into an beatles infused reverie of something a little bit better as I dipped into Abbey Road for the upteenth time....

So I slipped through Lennon's clunky Come Together, into the whimsical Something, which I think Frank Sinatra said was the best song Lennon and McCartney had even written (even though it was of course the hand of poor old George Harrison)

Meanwhile the slightly large man began to lean slightly closer to my crotch...Boris Johnson gently tappy at my thigh on the front of his copy of Thelondonpaper...

And as we whoozily trundled allong the central line together the hypnotic sounds of 'Because' spun my mind around before we headed into McCartney's rock opera of side two hit me with stories of Polythene Pam and Mean mr Mustard which for some reason brought up thoughts of Ken Livingstone, "keeping a ten bob note up his nose" as we saddled into Notting Hill Gate station where everyone with any sense tends to get off...

But hold on...we trundled on through Holland Park, a closed Shephards Bush station and Ringo's rickety drum solo shook me as we rounded the bends underground darkness...but just as we came out of the ground at White City Station, an epiphany...The Beatles final message on their final album had a message for every flikrer...twitterer....blogger or anyone with enough time to put anything on the web, "in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make" a perfect definition of what I'm allways hearing about the karma of social media...

Was this an abberation? Was Ringo a dab hand with a bit of HTML and Flash or more the fact that whether your playing Sgt Peppers backwards...trying to profess that Paul McCartney died in 1966...if your bored for long enough you can end up reading a little bit too much into things...on that note I'm off to spread the true word of the 'fab four' on twitter.

and if your interested... I got off the train at White City and left my sleepy friend with Boris and Ken riding the central line into the sunsets of West Ruislip...pretty sure it wasnt Brian Paddick

What's in a Name?

Or

?

Summer is coming and as the thermometer ushers its way to 20C...posties get their ghostly legs out and everyone starts to strut around Holland Park and Clapham Common with their standard issue ipod and starbucks frappacino I want to give a shout out to the MUST GO destination for Londoners this summer....wait for it....WORMWOOD SCRUBS COMMON!

No No No...I know what you're all thinking but I dont want to hear it...

The place is amazing...

Ok..ok...it does have it's downsides...notorious historicly high levels of crime....being named after a prison (although pretty sure the park was there first) and the fact that it is surrounded by Acton...oh and dodgy men sitting in the shrubbery around the side...although sure Clapham has its moments of madness to...

BUT!

in a time when all the other parks are wilting under the weight of sweaty bods people need to be thinking of alternatives, the scrubs (as I like to call it) has all the footy pitches you could ever want...rugby pitches even...so you can practice johnny wilkinson skills...for the lovers out there it has space to lie in the grass miles from anyone else (watch ou for the dodgy men though as I said) and if you fancy a run well a quick trip around its boundry is more than a match for most people....I admit it in many respects I'm allmost in love with the place....

I admit if you live nowhere near west london its goin to be a bit of a waste of time...but I plead with you all if you get a chance...hop on a tube to East Acton or White City...dont stay long because they are both horrible but go to Wormwood Scrubs for and enjoy it, live it...but dont tell too many people because then it will become crowded and crap...

with Pete Doherty's arrival at her majesty's pleasure over the road it's only a matter of time until the place becomes cool...but just remember...I saw it first...along with those weird men...but for very different reasons I like to think...

You Lookin At Me?

I'm a fan of the movies of Martin Scorsese and even a greater fan of the great acting abilities of the likes of Big Bird and Bert and Ernie so was delighted when they recentley announced they would be collaborating on their next project - pure genius!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiKBoLXg5Cw

A Problem For PR?

I went along to a PR Comms event, this evening at of all places Milbank Towers, looking at PR's role in undermining the integrity of the media. There was some interesting debate, particularly from Nick Davies, author of Flat Earth News who was there to promote his book...looking at the degradation of mass media integrity.

The debate entitled, "The Media Accused", involved Elisabeth Lewis-Jones - president, CIPR, Jon Bernstein - multimedia editor, Channel 4 News and Danny Rogers - editor, PR Week all debating the role PR had had to play in taking advantage of the media's weakness in identifying news of value and truth to the public.

While there was much debate around the extent to which the media had succumbed to the pressures of deadlines and the, "economics of journalism" making itself vulnerable to the opportunistic (or manipulative skills) of PR....depending on what side you were on I found it interesting that the panellists expressed an uncertainty upon the future of the media's relationship with PR.

While Nick Davies presented a very strong thesis in which journalists have been weakened by the increase in stories and a decrease in staff there seemed to be very few answers in what can be done to improve the 'state we're in'.

While a solution was proposed where a private body could reveal the extent to which each newspaper was influenced by PR...Surely a good PR campaign in itself for an independent regulating body...non? There was little hope expressed for the future of the media as it became increasingly at the mercy of the clutches of us, 'manipulative pr's'.

I personally think that allot of value added by the PR community to the media is not all manipulative but perhaps more constructive as Elisabeth Lewis-Jones, president of the CIPR pointed out.

In the near future I think that Google's steps into Universal Search are going to have an increasing role to play in giving the media back it's integrity to an extent particularly in areas of specialized or vertical content where brand value for publishers like The Times and The Guardian will become more important.

While the relationship between PR and the media is an indicative product of what Habermas called the commoditization of mass media it is neither helpful nor effective when borne out in the most unsubtle ways as by the Conservative Party and Labour Party in the pictures above...but I guess they are politicians…as a PR man I wouldn’t understand it's a matter of communication of truth.

Why Blog?

And so it begins...

It's taken me sometime to set up this blog...largely because if there is one thing I cant stand it is people talking about themselves...so I'll try and keep that down to a minimum...If I break this rule at any time then please let me know.

I want this blog to be interesting so will try keep posts short and sweet, just some snippets of things I like, things I dont like and just expereinces from my day to day life....

with a bit of luck perhaps when the wrinkles start to show I can look back and realise I hopefully didnt bore the hell out of everyone!

The one thing I will try to remember is as Plato said, "No Human Thing is of serious importance" and this blog is no exception...so I'll try not to take it too seriously...except for the rants.