This week in PR
News in brief
- Bell Pottinger has been expelled from the PRCA, gaining major media coverage. In the background, there are reports of a feud between former chief executive James Henderson and the firm’s founder Lord Bell. Michael Skapinker’s comment piece in the Financial Times is the best article you will read on the professional and ethical issues raised by this case. Also worth noting, this anonymous insider’s account exposes the macho culture within Bell Pottinger well before this latest scandal.
- Nominations for the Inspiring Communicator Awards 2017 are now open (via Charity Comms).
- Emma Leech has been confirmed at president-elect of the CIPR
- September 4-29 is AMEC measurement month #amecmm
Pick of the posts
These are the editor’s pick of posts about public relations this week. Recommendations are welcome to editor@prplace.com
- Amanda Coleman: Adapt and survive (3 September)
‘There have been huge changes in the world of communication… At the heart of it though the job is still essentially the same. It is about effective communication and engagement.’
- Mike Love: Corporate crisis planning – we can never over prepare. (3 September)
‘Keep Calm and Carry On is a great example of crisis planning. Hope for the best, plan for the worst.’ - Lydia Bryant, PR Examples: Twitter users share their school photos to support anti-bullying campaign (4 September)
‘The campaign called for Twitter users to share their old school photos, along with advice for going back to school, to encourage students to report bullying to teachers.’ - Ella Minty, PR Careers: How to respond to unethical requests from your boss (5 September)
‘How you handle these situations will certainly define the type of PR practitioner you will become.’ - Iliyana Stareva: If you pitch, then pitch the right way: what the media wants (5 September)
‘Media relations is done pretty badly. Journalists don’t really like PR professionals because they spam them with non-stop emails and phone calls.’ - Robert Phillips: Bell Pottinger: PR’s final curtain? (no date)
‘What is playing out now is the culmination of decades of ugly spin within an industry that has only the loosest of codes of conduct.’ - Rachel Miller: Want to be an IC strategist? Get your bake on… (6 September)
‘According to the latest UK issue of Cosmopolitan magazine, an internal comms strategist is concerned with cakes, headsets and jargon.’ - Marcel Klebba: 22 lessons on the 22nd birthday (7 September)
‘Introvertism [sic] is not a flaw. There’s nothing wrong with staying in and reading a book, rather than going out when you really don’t feel like it.’