Chapter 7: Framing the Story in a Corporate Campaign.

The basic element of framing is expanded by the research of focusing on the essence of the issues at hand rather than on a particular topic. The way, in which the news is brought, the frame in which the news is presented can be perceived very differently by the public. Frames are abstract notions that serve to organize or structure social meanings and it influences the perception of the news of the audience.

Framing is a quality of communication that leads others to accept one meaning over another. Essentially, framing consists of three elements: language, thought and forethought. Language acts to transform the way in how the public view the situation. To use language, people must have thought and reflected on their own interpretive frameworks and those of others. In order to frame news spontaneously, it is essential to have the forethought to predict framing opportunities.

Relating the relationship of the news media and the Public Relations industry is an increasingly complex one.

The media is the central vehicle to disseminate information, for most of the PR industry's messages. Most PR practitioners desire to place their stories in the media channel and, without being able to do this, PR would lose one of its main avenues for communication with the public. For many organizations, it is essential to establish positive media relations. Media is very influential and they have the ability to generate positive media coverage, which is fundamental to establishing and maintaining the reputation of a business entity. Media coverage is generated in a variety of ways and is usually conducted through a thoroughly planned strategic public relations campaign. No doubt, a media pitch resulting in maximum media coverage is made easy by developing a media list that focuses squarely on the correct media outlets, reporters and editors.

Let’s use one of the oldest names in the business, Louis Vuitton to do a case study.

Louis Vuitton: A French Saga was published in France. It alleged that the long-established and well-known French luxury luggage company had collaborated with the pro-Nazi Vichy regime after France’s defeat at the hands of Germany in 1940. The book described how Louis Vuitton ran a factory, which produced artifacts glorifying the regime’s leader, Marshal Petain, and how it became the only company allowed to run a shop within the building used by the regime as its seat of government. The Louis Vuitton Moet-Hennessy Group, the company’s current owners, did not dispute the facts in the book. Despite this, these seemingly newsworthy revelations were hardly reported in the French media. Why? A newspaper article in the UK drew attention to the fact that Louis Vuitton is France’s biggest advertiser. A company spokesperson told Le Canard Enchaine, a satirical magazine and the only French media outlet to report the story: “We haven’t put any pressure on anyone. If the journalists want to censor themselves, then that suits us fine.”

From this case study, it is evident that aside from having a good marketing line, PR also has to be creative and ingenious, by feeding the media with irresistible stories and images that they will want to use. To be successful, PR of this kind has to focus on what might be of interest to the media and, by extension, their readers, viewers, and listeners. Despite the negative news coverage, why do people still patronize this luxury brand? While newsworthiness here is a slippery concept, the news is framed in such a way that it is juicy and has a local angle for the local media, which makes the story good. This media coverage contains the desired name check for the organization and, it does not make clear that the media’s customers are actually receiving a PR product.

Chapter 11 - Risk, Uncertainty, and Crisis: How to identify and Manage Them?

(Photo courtesy of White Trash Repairs)

In life, there are uncertainty and potential risks in almost every decision we make. Whether it be a dilemma of taking a girl out for that first date to either a posh restaurant or the nearby fast-food joint or whether to plough down the entirety of your monthly salary for that brand-new spanking smartphone on the market - there will always be a certain amount of risk in that decision not turning out well or it being the best one you ever made in life.

It's not very different in the world of Public Relations as well. As explained in the chapter of readings stated in the title above, there are risks and uncertainty in a media campaign too. It's not a guarantee that when a media campaign is launched, the outcome will be positive and the public will endear themselves to you. As such, in order to execute a successful media campaign for a client, they have to be aware, first, of the entire issue at hand. A media campaign is designed to garner as much good publicity or, in the words of Richard Stanton, reputation capital from the public at the very least.

When an appreciation of the situation has been put forward by the PR practitioners to the clients, the next step will be to evaluate as much of the possible risks involved at every step of the way and ensure the best outcome possible in terms of public perception for the client.

Case studies are usually easier to remember if they were botched (think goalkeepers who never get remembered for their great saves but get castigated for an error leading to a goal). Hence, the recent Gulf of Mexico oil spill involving petroleum giants British Petroleum, or BP as it is widely known to the masses, will be used as an example. BP's handling of the public fallout from the spillage can only be described as lacklustre at the start but steadily recovering towards the end. Looking back at the incident, it seems like an oversight on BP's part to downplay the severity of what is now the largest accidental marine oil spill in its history. What got the masses angry was not the negative effects the oil spill had on the eco-system in the Gulf but rather the perceived ignorance of BP officials. If the initial claims from then-CEO Tony Hayward were true, then the "relatively tiny" oil blotch in the "very big ocean" will not have resulted in the mass destruction of the Gulf's eco-system and places of natural attractions such as National Parks and beachfronts.

If the above was a sign of poor decision-making by the PR people at BP, then the next move by them seemed to work like a charm. Hiring Anne Kolton, a former head of public affairs at the U.S. Department of Energy and also a former spokesperson for ex Vice President Dick Cheney, was seen as a last throw of the dice for BP as they look to salvage whatever reputation they have left in tatters in light of political and media criticism for their earlier ignorance. A new division was set up to deal with the aftermath of the initial fiasco.

Cue a masterstroke as BP went about first publishing print ads in major newspapers apologizing for their part in the spillage and that they'll do everything in their power to salvage the situation before airing a television ad with Hayward personally apologizing for everything and assuring viewers that they will "make this right". The petroleum giants then went on to bid for several search terms related to the oil spill on Google and other search engines so that the first sponsored search result links directly to the company's website - this was hailed as a PR tactical masterstroke as prior research has shown that most people cant distinguish between sponsored links and real links so for them to be led to BP's website and explore the content there and ultimately learn more about their efforts to rescue the situation, it'll help repair their reputation a little bit.

Soon after, Hayward resigned as CEO of BP and he was to be succeeded by board member Bob Dudley, who led the new division set up to handle the crisis responses.

The above situation shows the need for a PR practitioner to think fast in terms of situational awareness and ensure that a public decision or announcement made by their clients are as beneficial as possible to their reputation and the incident/crisis at hand. Even if a wrong move was made, it is still possible to salvage the situation and it is not over until the fat lady sings, or as BP has shown at least.

Week 3: Chapter 6 (Developing Media Relationships Around News)

In order to foster a good relationship between clients and the media, practitioners have to understand both perspectives of news from the two differing point of view. Stanton (2006) describes the creation of this perspective by 'imagining' news. The most obvious reason for imagining news on the side of journalists and news owners is to provide an informational commodity to the public. Hence, it has always been the case to center news pieces with 'news-worthiness' to fulfill its role producing news for the benefit of the public.

Since news is imagined in such a way, journalists also frame news towards this model. McNair (2000) explains that the aspects of a journalists' work consists of interpretative, interrogative and adversarial. The simple connection to all of this factor is investigative. In other words, it is natural for journalist to be suspicious and on guard against all types of news - news with particular motive, false news or even genuine pieces of information. All media releases are treated with suspicion, until it is thoroughly understood and investigated, then it will be put through in a news room.

In these actions, journalists merely serve their stakeholders - the media owners and news sources, its secondary stakeholders; the audience absorbs this commodity produced by the media.

Hence, building a good media relationship is to provide clear, accurate information with a sharp angle to the story or media release to keep the journalist keen on providing objectivity in a story as well as a certain level of interest. A media relationship have similarities to building a personal relationship - based on trust and commitment. The next step is to choose a media to develop the relationship, a media to affiliate to to value add to the bond between media and the client.

Stanton (2006) also offers a good way to foster a good relationship by providing an equality in the relationship. Some industries like finance and government are favoured and prioritised over grassroots institutions and not-for-profit organisations. However, equality for these organisations can be achieved through non-threatening manner or less motivated intentions.

To link Stanton's theories of developing a media relationship to the real world, I took the liberty of providing an example as a case study. In this week Saturday (11th September)'s issue of The Straits Times Home Section in page B8, an article with a headline, "Body Shop campaigns against sex trafficking".

The organisation in this case, Body Shop took up a similar stance described, a non-threatening manner without motivated intentions to provide a genuine awareness raising campaign in Singapore for sex trafficking. The simple reason why this piece of news was selected is that it has news-worthiness; relevancy to the public, a campaign to raise awareness which is of public interest. The angle taken was neutral without business or political agenda which could put off the journalist as a Public Relations gimmick.

Body Shop or its public relations face, understood this relationship and concept that allows them to publicise their brand with a not-for-profit effort to maintain an image of Mezzanine (a space between corporations and organisations and NGOs).

In conclusion, a powerful media release and relationship must understand the mechanics of how the journalistic world works - angle, news-worthiness, neutrality in agenda and public interest, to create a strong bond and to maintain a relationship of providing a good source of news to the media as well as to create positive feedback from the media and its audiences.