The Speaking Vote
When Peter Garrett announced he was standing for the safe Labor seat of Kingsford Smith, his dream run with the media could have come unstuck with just one question.
Why wasn’t he on the electoral roll?
Media relations is about providing credible answers for tough questions. But it’s also the skill of communicating those messages to sometimes sceptical audiences. On the first score, Garrett clearly failed in his answer to the questions about his voting record. But when it came to communicating that message, his performance was so masterful the issue effectively disappeared.
With a few exceptions, the media didn’t challenge Garrett over his belief that he was on the silent electoral roll and that he had voted at most elections. It was an extraordinary result given the damage the issue could have done.
The truth is that Garrett’s excuse was pretty flimsy. He enrolled on the silent electoral roll in 1984, when he stood for the Senate for the Nuclear Disarmament Party and 20 years later he still believed he was on it. It’s hard to believe he never thought to check, even after changing his address and moving from one electorate to another. Didn’t the Australian Electoral Commission ever send a please explain or enquire about his status? This seemed to be the obvious thing to do, given Garrett had turned up to vote at least once when his name wasn’t on the roll?
Garrett’s answer went off the rails when he changed his story about when he’d voted. At first he was sure he had cast a vote in 1996 and 1998. But within a day he had altered this to “98, I’m not sure, and 96 I’m not certain yet. I’m checking.”
But luckily for Garrett, the damage was contained to a few small articles and some predictable comments from The Daily Telegraph’s Piers Akerman, who believed that Garrett was either ‘dopey or deceitful.’
Garrett’s responses were workshopped by ALP advisors at an impromptu meeting at Mark Latham’s Sydney house just before the announcement. The team conducted what could loosely be described as an issues audit, massaging key messages and no doubt rehearsing answers. But the ALP’s campaign director, Tim Gartrell, told The Age that Garrett’s greatest asset is that he “gives natural, straightforward responses.”
Of course this is what journos love and something very few politicians do. It was this openness and seeming sincerity that carried him across the line when his message fell flat. Garrett’s decision to accept ‘full responsibility’ for the mistake and his reflection that the incident was a “wake-up for me” also helped.
The combination of openness and preparedness helped Garrett answer a host of other tough questions like: How would he cope with the endless need for compromise? How could he justify all those anti-mainstream lyrics? Could he really work with big polluting corporations? Was he aspiring for something more than a safe seat? What did he think of George W Bush?
Even Kerry O’Brien was tamed by Garrett. With minimal ducking and weaving he satisfied O’Brien’s questions and steered his answers into territory he wanted to cover. He appeared confident, open and believable.
The whole affair could have ended differently, as it did for the Victorian Liberal politician, Robert Deane, who failed to nominate his candidacy at the last state election. The situation was different, but in Deane’s case, the outcome was a disaster. He sank into obscurity with his political career in tatters.
The Garrett episode proves the value of fully preparing for the media’s questions but it also illustrates that the way a message is delivered is just as important as the message itself.
image by Penny Bradfield, courtesy of Fairfax Photos
The Media and Biotechnology
Biotechnology companies have the odds stacked against them.
Whether they are specialists in drug development or medical devices, they're obliged to spend several years developing and winning approval for a single product. The companies are also destined to do so without revenue, because their products take ages to become saleable.
Biotechs also have a host of problems communicating what they do. The media generally doesn’t understand them. Very few journos have any way of verifying whether these products will ever work, and are rightly wary of spin.
Listed biotechs have the added problem of maintaining brand awareness during those long development years, and often feel compelled to pump out news releases to keep up their share price. These releases can contain almost nothing newsworthy, devalue the company’s currency and turn the media off.
Media Manoeuvres avoids this approach, believing the best way to promote biotechs is to target messages to key reporters at relevant times during the companies’ business cycles. As part of this strategy, it’s important not to over-promise because biotechs are speculative and their outcomes are rarely certain.
That’s the strategy with medical devices company Norwood Abbey, which has been a client of Media Manoeuvres for three years. Norwood Abbey aims to under-promise and over-deliver rather than vice versa. Of course, this isn’t always possible as the results of trials and listings can be unpredictable. Obviously the company makes disclosures to the Australian Stock Exchange such as appointments, acquisitions and quarterly results, but it also recognises these aren’t always stories the media wants to cover.
Dr John Ballard, the chairman of Adelaide-based biotech consultancy BioAngels, says “hype often becomes a driver” for biotechs, because analysts and brokers demand companies churn out news in order to keep their names in the public arena.
And, he says, sometimes the information they provide isn’t very helpful. For example, biotechs rarely discuss their competition openly, leaving investors unaware about a crucial aspect of the company’s potential for success.
Likewise, an announcement that a biotech has conducted a successful Phase One Clinical Trial doesn’t say anything about the financial viability of a new drug, as the first phase is only designed to assess the drug’s safety and not whether it actually works. Also, news that a company has filed for a patent is of relatively little value compared to the announcement that the application has succeeded.
There are 126 listed biotech companies in Australia, but many of these fit within the loose category of hospital and health related businesses. The others are divided between drug development companies and those specialising in devices and diagnostics. Most are small in size and relatively new to the market. During the 2004 financial year some twenty new biotechs were listed.
As a result, the market is becoming crowded.
Dr Ballard argues companies should “limit the number of announcements to just those that are truly material to the market, but counter this with a regular newsletter that explains what the company is doing in layperson’s terms.” He says the newsletter should be short – about three pages long – and come out every 6 weeks to two months. It could be sent to all the stakeholders, including investors and potential shareholders, and should provide details of the company’s failures and not just accentuate the good news.
“No managing director likes to put out bad news,” he says. “But in the end it is good to be balanced and truthful. For investors, the truth may not be what they want to hear but it’s what they need.”
Norwood Abbey is now producing a regular briefing for investors. This allows it to communicate with its stakeholders without bombarding the press with announcements.
Media Manoeuvres helps biotech companies develop key messages and clear media strategies. The idea is to communicate the excitement of new and innovative research whilst avoiding announcements that unrealistically raise expectations. Media Manoeuvres helps biotechs communicate difficult stories and explain complex concepts in simple terms.
Lessons From The Great Communicator
by Jerry Brown, APR
reprinted with his permission
To friends and foes alike, Ronald Reagan was known as The Great Communicator. The reasons for his success provide a good lesson for anyone with a message to deliver to the public. There probably are more, but four come to mind:
∞He kept it simple. When it comes to communicating, simple is almost always better. Perhaps because of his background in broadcasting, Reagan was a master at simplifying his message.
∞He was a storyteller. He knew how to tell a story. Good stories are more memorable than lists of facts. Reporters tell stories for a living. And humans have been passing down history and legends through stories essentially forever. Storytelling and story listening are hard wired into our brains. Tell a story if you want to be heard, understood and remembered.
∞He said what he meant. Reagan's staff reportedly was virtually unanimous in opposing one of his most memorable lines: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" Too direct, too confrontational, too undiplomatic. He said it anyway. And it resonated with the media and the public. I'm constantly amazed at how many organizations that have a message to deliver to the public soften it or fuzz it up -- and then wonder why their story doesn't have impact and the media isn't interested.
∞He said it with a smile. Reagan was controversial. But he said what he had to say without histrionics -- and often with a smile. That served him well. You can say almost anything if you say it calmly and without attacking the integrity or motives of the other side.
Jerry Brown is Senior Counselor, Public Relations, at Corporate Advocates, author of A Practitioners Guide to Media Relations, and he also writes the Monday Morning Media Minute email newsletter, to which you can subscribe by writing to Jerry, .
image courtesy of AAP Image Library
Media Manoeuvres Partners' Page - AAP MediaNet
MEDIA LANDSCAPE - CHINA
∞There are more than 2,500 newspapers, 8,000 magazines, 1,600 television stations and 300 radio stations in China.
∞There are 38 media groups, all of which are publicly (Government) owned. There are no privately owned or foreign-funded media in China.
∞The national news agency is Xinhua News Agency, which also produces a number of newspapers and magazines.
∞Major metropolitan and provincial newspapers are classified as current events and political papers, while evening news papers are considered as entertainment and leisure papers.
MEDIA RELATIONS
∞The public relations industry is not very developed in China.
∞Very few media accept English language media releases.
∞The ideal time to send releases to newspapers is in the morning.
∞For weekend editions of papers, the releases should be sent to the newsroom before Saturday.
AAP MediaNet can assist with media targeting, news distribution and media management both locally and overseas.
For more information please contact 02 9322 8860 or 03 9619 9392.
Talent Talk
As the Director of Training at Media Manoeuvres’ new Brisbane office, Janet England is looking forward to sharing her wealth of experience in journalism and public relations with our clients in Queensland.
Media Manoeuvres opened its Brisbane office in April and has already attracted plenty of interest from corporations and government departments.
Janet has a background in journalism, public relations and media training. She is a former journalist with regional newspapers, metropolitan television and national radio and has held senior roles in public affairs in state and local government, as well as major corporations and the not-for-profit sector.
As a reporter with ABC Radio in Queensland, she covered rounds including State Parliament, The Fitzgerald Inquiry, the Supreme Court and Industrial Relations.
Janet was the State Media and Communications Manager for AMP, and managed the leveraging of the company’s sponsorship of the 2000 Sydney Olympics. She was Media and Public Relations Manager for the 2001 Goodwill Games in Brisbane and provided communications strategies for the 2003 Rotary International Convention, when 17,000 Rotarians from around the world visited Queensland.
She has a degree in journalism and lectures in “genres of journalism” at Griffith University.
Although Janet has only been in the role for three months, she knows there are great opportunities in Brisbane.
“Brisbane has a number of great organisations that can really benefit from a professional approach to enhancing their brand and media training,” she says.
“Being media training specialists, Media Manoeuvres can now offer a service unequalled in Queensland to both its existing clients and those we’ll get to know.”
To contact Janet, call Media Manoeuvres in Brisbane: 07 3892 2111
Media Speak Quiz
1. Who is the new Federal communications Minister?
2. Name the two areas Peter Garrett was caught out by the media after announcing his candidacy.
3. Which media outlet broke the story of the Iraqi Prime Minister allegedly executing six people in a Baghdad police station? For a bonus point, can you name the journalist?
4. How many test wickets did Shane Warne have to his name when the Nine Network switched its coverage to Larry Emdur’s ‘The Price is Right’ during the recent test match against Sri Lanka? For a bonus point, How many minutes did it take Nine to switch back again?
5. As well as anchoring the seven Network’s Olympics coverage, which two sports will Bruce McAvaney commentate on in Athens?
To be in the running for a bottle of South Australian Krondorf 2002 Chardonnay, from Media Manoeuvres’ own wine cellars, email your answers to . The winning entry will be drawn from a pool of correct entries on 13 August, 2004.