Professional Documents
Culture Documents
PROFESSIONAL
INSIGHTS
Michael Burrell
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A Thorogood Report
Michael Burrell
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Acknowledgements
I could not have written this Report without the support and wisdom of many
of my colleagues and competitors.To the extent that it contains useful advice,
they should take much of the credit.To the extent that there are errors of fact or
judgement, they are mine alone.
I should particularly like to thank:Leighton Andrews (Westminster Strategy),Maurits
Bruggink (Grayling Political Strategy, Brussels), Howard Dawber (Bell Pottinger),
Jim Eadie (Strategy in Scotland),Richard Gordon (Stormont Strategy), Joy Johnson
(GPC),Heidi Lambert (Heidi Lambert Communications,Brussels),Matteo Maggiore
(Grayling Political Strategy,Brussels),Glyn Matthias (Strategy Wales),Huw Roberts
(Strategy Wales) and Laura Sandys.
Of the texts that I have consulted, I should particularly mention: Philip Norton,
The British Polity, Longman, 2001, Andrew Rawnsley, Servants of the People,
Hamish Hamilton, 2000 and articles by Stephen Coleman, Research Director of
the Hansard Society.
The author
Michael Burrell was educated at St Peters College, Oxford, where he read
Philosophy,Politics and Economics,specialising in international relations.He began
his journalistic career on newspapers in Durham and Brighton,before joining the
Parliamentary lobby. Based in the House of Commons press gallery, he reported
on both Westminster and Whitehall and the European Union, covering summit
meetings around Europe and plenary sessions of the European Parliament in
Strasbourg.
He began his career in lobbying in 1983,founding Westminster Strategy,of which
he is now Chairman,in 1986.Since 1999 he has been Chairman of the UK lobbying
industrys self-regulatory body,the Association of Professional Political Consultants
(APPC).
CONTENTS
Contents
INTRODUCTION
AN INTRODUCTION TO LOBBYING
2
3
HOW TO LOBBY
11
18
CONTENTS
24
32
38
Scotland ......................................................................................................39
Wales ..........................................................................................................41
Northern Ireland ........................................................................................42
44
CONTENTS
8
9
51
THE INTERNET
55
10
61
CONCLUSION
69
INTRODUCTION
Introduction
This is a how-to guide:how to lobby,how to handle the media and when and how
to use media relations in support of direct lobbying. The practical advice is
primarily aimed at those who are both lobbying and dealing with journalists,
though it should equally be of some interest to those who are doing one or the
other.
Although many of the principles explained are applicable anywhere, it is
primarily designed to help consultants and in-house lobbyists based in the United
Kingdom and Brussels.
The first chapter provides an introduction to lobbying, explaining its origins,
describing the growth of professional lobbying in Britain and Brussels and looking
at recent controversies surrounding lobbying in Britain, notably cash for
questions and Drapergate.
This is followed by a how-toguide to ethical and effective lobbying,with a series
of concrete and practical tips on how best to make your case to officials and
politicians.
A central theme of the Report is the issue of whether and how to adopt a media
relations strategy in support of a lobbying campaign. Often, where a campaign
is well on the road to success or alternatively where the issues involved are very
technical,it makes no sense at all to involve the media and can even be damaging.
However,there will be many occasions when a media campaign can provide vital
support to lobbying and this Report offers clear guidance on when this is likely
to be so.
Although the general principles of dealing with politicians,officials and journalists
are the same the world over, the professional campaigner needs to be aware of
the specific political and media landscapes in the key locations where he (or she;
please accept he in this Report as a simple abbreviation) may need to operate.
So,after a whistle-stop tour of Whitehall and Westminster,the Report looks in detail
at the London media, including the Parliamentary lobby, as well as the media in
Scotland,Wales and Northern Ireland. A review of the European Union institutions
is followed by a detailed overview of the Brussels press corps,perhaps the largest
single concentration of journalists in the world, and how to engage with it.
One of the situations where it will often be vital to run a co-ordinated lobbying
and media strategy will be in the case of a contested takeover bid.The Report
examines how lobbyists work with financial public relations consultants,lawyers
and investment bankers to maximise the chances of success.
INTRODUCTION
It is only very recently that the Internet has come to play an important role in
both the economy and politics. The Report seeks to draw some tentative
conclusions about the role of the Internet in political lobbying.
Finally it concludes with a practical how-to guide to dealing with journalists,
reviewing the basic tools of any media strategy and listing some pitfalls to avoid.
An introduction to lobbying
W H AT I S L O B B Y I N G ?
WHERE DOES THE WORD LOBBYING COME FROM?
LOBBYING IN WASHINGTON
L O B B Y I N G I N B R I TA I N A N D B R U S S E L S
T H E C A S H - F O R - Q U E S T I O N S A F FA I R
T H E A S S O C I A T I O N O F P R O F E S S I O N A L P O L I T I C A L C O N S U LT A N T S
chapter
CHAPTER
1:
AN
INTRODUCTION
TO
LOBBYING
Chapter 1:
An introduction to lobbying
What is lobbying?
The classic dictionary definition of lobbying would be something along the lines
of to attempt to influence legislators in the formulation of policy. In practice,
as we shall see,legislators are in reality only one of the groups that lobbyists seek
to target.
Although lobbying of various kinds is conducted around the world, its
development as a trade or profession is primarily an Anglo-Saxon concept and
has historically been treated with suspicion elsewhere for example, in France
and Germany though this is starting to change.
In Britain we can trace the origins of the right to lobby back to Magna Carta, the
charter granted by King John at Runnymede in 1215, recognising the rights and
privileges of the barons, church and freemen and, in particular, their right to
petition for redress of grievance.A lot of water has flowed under Westminster
Bridge since then and power structures have changed dramatically,but the basic
concept is recognisable.
One of historys most famously aggrieved groups were the American colonies,
who resented their treatment at the hands of George III,fought a war to gain their
independence and have been deeply suspicious of authority ever since. Hence
the Bill of Rights,the first ten amendments to the United States constitution,added
in 1791, guaranteeing the liberty of the individual. More specifically, the Bill of
Rights enshrines the American respect for freedom of speech and forbids Congress
from enacting any law that would place obstacles in the way of the citizens right
to petition for redress of grievance.
So we can see that the right to lobby,as we would say today,is deeply entrenched
in Anglo-Saxon culture.Indeed,many would argue that it is that right for ones voice
to be heard that distinguishes democracies from totalitarian societies,a voice that
can be heard every few years in elections but that, in the Anglo-Saxon tradition at
least, requires channels for every-day use.
CHAPTER
1:
AN
INTRODUCTION
TO
LOBBYING
Lobbying in Washington
Perhaps because Washington has always been a one-industry town, with most
businesses based elsewhere, and partly because it is the most powerful capital
in the world,it was there that professional lobbying grew into a sizeable business
of its own in the last century.Today the Washington lobbying scene is the most
developed in the world and some, though by no means all, of its characteristics
have been or will be emulated elsewhere.
One feature of Washington that sets it apart from London and Brussels is that the
consultancy landscape is more fragmented. In Europe consultancies tend to be
generalists, while in Washington consultancies tend to be more specialist, both
by industry sector and tools deployed. In Europe consultancies may call
themselves lobbyists or public affairs or government relations consultants, but
whatever the name, they all do much the same thing. By contrast, in Washington
there are some clear delineations by technique.
So,for example,a public affairs consultancy will be one that has a strong reliance
on media relations. A government relations firm will tend to focus on long-term
political positioning. A lobbying company will traditionally be a firm of lawyers,
whose key skills are drafting legislation (for a legislature where any Senator or
Congressman can initiate legislation) and lobbying on Capitol Hill.
CHAPTER
1:
AN
INTRODUCTION
TO
LOBBYING
One striking feature of lobbying in the US is the effort put into seeking
favourable media coverage.Here the single most important target,since the nations
capital is pretty much a one-newspaper town,is the op-ed(opposite the editorial
comment) page of the Washington Post.With the single exception of the midmarket newspaper, USA Today (and the weekly news magazines, Time and
Newsweek),no newspaper covers the country,though both the New York Times
and the Los Angeles Times are influential in the two key states of New York and
California. Of the business press, the Wall Street Journal, with an American
circulation of 1,800,000,is the most important.Beyond those titles,the lobbyists
will target the home newspapers of every Senator and Congressman.
CHAPTER
1:
AN
INTRODUCTION
TO
LOBBYING
CHAPTER
1:
AN
INTRODUCTION
TO
LOBBYING
In 1992 IGA celebrated its tenth anniversary with a party at the National Portrait
Gallery, attended by the then Prime Minister, John Major. Business was booming.
The Conservatives were re-elected in that years election and Neil Hamilton became
Corporate Affairs Minister at the DTI. Fayed wrote to him congratulating him on
his appointment,but,on the advice of his officials,Hamilton did not reply.Shortly
afterwards the Home Office rejected Fayeds application for British citizenship.
Fayed was furious, both about what he saw as his betrayal by Neil Hamilton and
by the Governments rejection of his application for British citizenship. He
approached the editor of the Guardian, Peter Preston, and so triggered the
Guardian investigation that culminated in the downfall of Tim Smith, Neil
Hamilton and Ian Greer.
In October 1994 the Guardian published its story, with the headlines Tory MPs
were paid to plant questions says Harrods chief and Mr Greer said to me you
need to rent an MP like you rent a London taxi.Tim Smith immediately resigned
as Minister for Northern Ireland, admitting that he had taken cash for questions
from Fayed. A day later the Guardian published a copy of Neil Hamiltons 3,600
bill for his stay at the Ritz.
Rejecting the Guardian allegations that he had obtained money from Fayed to
pay MPs to place Parliamentary questions, Ian Greer issued a writ.Within days
Hamilton had resigned from the Government and the Prime Minister had
announced the establishment of the Nolan Committee on Standards in Public Life.
It was another two years before the libel case was about to start in the courts,
but just days before that Ian Greer was told by his lawyers that the Guardian
had evidence of six payments by him to Michael Grylls, not the three he had
mentioned to a Commons committee in 1990.Though it was nothing to do with
the central allegation, the lawyers advice was that to be shown to have misled
the committee would be fatal in court.They advised him to drop the case and
he accepted their advice.
Released from the constraints of the case, the Guardian published further
damaging material. IGAs clients and staff deserted in droves. Just before the end
of 1996 the company went into voluntary liquidation.
To this day Neil Hamilton continues to assert his innocence and to dispute the
finding of then Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Sir Gordon Downey,
that there was compelling evidence that he had received cash payments from Fayed.
The cash-for-questionsaffair put a harsh spotlight on the nascent lobbying industry
in the UK and, in particular, on the issue of financial relationships between
consultancies and MPs.Ian Greer was an enterprising pioneer in the industry,who
made mistakes and paid a heavy price.
CHAPTER
1:
AN
INTRODUCTION
TO
LOBBYING
CHAPTER
1:
AN
INTRODUCTION
TO
LOBBYING
10
How to lobby
THE RULES OF LOBBYING
chapter
CHAPTER
2:
HOW
TO
LOBBY
Chapter 2:
How to lobby
Some may feel that Chapter 1 was a chapter on how not to lobby and since this
is essentially a practical guide, this chapter is designed to redress the balance by
providing some basic advice on how to lobby well that is to say both ethically
and effectively.
12
CHAPTER
2:
HOW
TO
LOBBY
13
CHAPTER
2:
HOW
TO
LOBBY
14
CHAPTER
2:
HOW
TO
LOBBY
15
CHAPTER
2:
HOW
TO
LOBBY
16
CHAPTER
2:
HOW
TO
LOBBY
17
chapter
CHAPTER
3:
INVOLVING
THE
MEDIA
THE
CASE
FOR
AND
THE
CASE
AGAINST
Chapter 3:
Involving the media the case for
and the case against
Media exposure
There used to be, perhaps still are in some quarters, two extreme points of view
on this issue. One held that lobbying was just public relations, with a particular
target audience,and so it was obvious that media relations would be at the centre
of what lobbyists did.The other was that lobbying was an elevated profession, far
removed from the gutter world of journalists, and that a lobbyist would no more
dream of seeking exposure for a clients case in the media than would a lawyer.
Today, I would argue, there is a broad consensus that the answer lies between
these two extremes and that it is a case of horses for courses, of making
judgements about when media exposure is likely to be helpful and when
unhelpful.
Few would dispute that in Britain politicians are acutely sensitive to how the media
report their activities.This can affect both policies and personalities.To give just
a couple of obvious examples:It is certainly the case that Tony Blairs pro-European
instincts have been tempered by concerns over the stance taken by the Eurosceptic media and in particular the newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch and
Conrad Black.Equally,his Governments emphasis on crime is certainly influenced
by the Daily Mails agenda and that newspapers belief that it has an instinctive
appreciation of the worries of crucial swing voters in Middle England.
Similarly, at a time when the size of Labours majority in the House of Commons
made effective opposition there almost impossible,many newspapers seemed to
take the view that it was part of their job to hold the Government to account.
At its most extreme this has certainly included creating an environment in which
Ministers have been forced to resign.This, of course, was a feature of the Major
years, but it has continued more recently, most notably with first the Guardian
and then the Observer twice forcing the resignation of Peter Mandelson from the
Cabinet.
19
CHAPTER
3:
INVOLVING
THE
MEDIA
THE
CASE
FOR
AND
THE
CASE
AGAINST
20
CHAPTER
3:
INVOLVING
THE
MEDIA
THE
CASE
FOR
AND
THE
CASE
AGAINST
21
CHAPTER
3:
INVOLVING
THE
MEDIA
THE
CASE
FOR
AND
THE
CASE
AGAINST
22
CHAPTER
3:
INVOLVING
THE
MEDIA
THE
CASE
FOR
AND
THE
CASE
AGAINST
23
chapter
CHAPTER
4:
WHITEHALL
AND
WESTMINSTER
Chapter 4:
Whitehall and Westminster
How you lobby and how you may campaign in the media will depend crucially
on who has the power to help or to hinder your case.
So the theme of this chapter is where power lies in Whitehall and Westminster.
Obviously,this will vary from issue to issue and also over time,but there are some
general observations that can usefully be made.
There are any number of admirable,if lengthy,academic texts on this subject.What
this chapter seeks to focus on are those aspects of the unwritten British
constitution that are most likely to be of interest to the lobbyist.
25
CHAPTER
4:
WHITEHALL
AND
WESTMINSTER
26
CHAPTER
4:
WHITEHALL
AND
WESTMINSTER
27
CHAPTER
4:
WHITEHALL
AND
WESTMINSTER
Parliament
So much for the executive.What of Parliament, often thought to be the focus of
lobbying? Again, Norton gets it right in my view, when he says that:Lobbying of
MPs is an admission that attempts to influence ministers and their officials have
failed. It is often an unprofitable exercise: Failure to influence ministers will
frequently be replicated in a house dominated by those same ministers.
Of course we can find exceptions to this argument.Two of the most well-known
would be the defeat of the Shops Bill and the thwarting of Government plans for
Post Office privatisation.In the first case,a coalition of outside interests persuaded
72 Conservative MPs to vote with Labour to defeat the Bill. In the second, as we
noted earlier, the threat of 15 Conservative MPs to rebel (at a time when the
Government had only a small Commons majority) was enough to persuade the
Government to think again.
But these are rare exceptions to the rule that Parliament will rarely be decisive,
though it certainly has influence on the executive, where the decision-making
power generally lies.It is because of this influence,increasingly exercised through
Select Committees or party committees, rather than on the floor of the House
of Commons,that lobbyists pay attention to it.In some ways Parliament thus plays
a similar role to that of the media: both have considerable influence on
government and both are worth paying attention to for that reason.
28
CHAPTER
4:
WHITEHALL
AND
WESTMINSTER
29
CHAPTER
4:
WHITEHALL
AND
WESTMINSTER
30
CHAPTER
4:
WHITEHALL
AND
WESTMINSTER
example) certainly compete for attention. Ask where think tanks themselves get
their best ideas from and often the answer is from abroad, which usually means
the United States.
Interest and pressure groups
Much public policy starts life as the brainchild of an interest group or pressure
group.Some of these groups (the campaign for lead-free petrol,for example) are
successful single issue groups;others (for example,Keep Sunday Special and the
Countryside Alliance) are more responses to unwelcome Government initiatives.
Many interest groups have a quasi-institutionalised consultative role vis a vis
particular Government departments.
The centre of Government
More than was the case in the past,policy is being initiated and developed at the
centre in the No 10 policy unit, but also in the Cabinet Office: notably in the
performance and innovation unit, headed in 2001 by Geoff Mulgan (formerly at
Demos) and in divisions like the social exclusion unit and the office of the e-envoy.
The pressure from No 10 and 70 Whitehall for policy innovation may be relentless,
but turning big ideas into concrete policy normally requires input from Ministers,
special advisers and senior officials in the key departments:the Treasury,of course,
but also the Department for Education and Employment,the Department of Health,
the Department for the Environment,Transport and the Regions and the Home
Office.
The only safe advice for the lobbyist about policy formation and development is
to treat each case as different and to research the corridors of power carefully
before deciding where to focus the lobbying effort.
31
chapter
CHAPTER 5: THE DOWNING STREET PRESS OFFICE, THE LOBBY AND THE NATIONAL MEDIA
Chapter 5:
The Downing Street Press Office, the lobby
and the national media
At the heart of British media coverage of politics is the lobby and their principal
source of information,the press office at 10 Downing Street.So it is worth looking
at these two institutions, before considering which of the national media are of
particular importance to the lobbyist.
That requires a declaration of interest.For while I am now a lobbyist,I was a lobby
correspondent. Hopefully that means that I know what I am talking about, but
it almost certainly also means that my perceptions are influenced by my own
experiences.You have been warned.
33
CHAPTER 5: THE DOWNING STREET PRESS OFFICE, THE LOBBY AND THE NATIONAL MEDIA
While Tony Blair himself claims to spend little time reading newspapers (he once
told an interviewer:I cant think I spend more than five minutes a day reading
it I read the Financial Times and I flick through the rest), Campbells media
monitoring operation is impressively thorough and encompasses columnists, as
well as lobby correspondents. A leaked autumn 2000 document from the media
monitoring unit provided the Government with a journalist-by-journalist rundown
some examples were: Andrew Grice (Independent) One of Westminsters most
influential political reporters,Peter Riddell (Times) Is widely read in Whitehall,
Hugo Young (Guardian) Considered very influential among Labour-voting
chattering classesand Polly Toynbee (Guardian) Very well respected writer on
the centre left.
Alastair Campbells media operation builds on Labours media relations machine,
developed in opposition when Peter Mandelson was director of communications
(1985-1990) and, in my judgement, shares that machines strengths and
weaknesses.
On the plus side,where Labours media operation had been famously shambolic,
the new approach was based on the virtues of a proactive, structured approach
to delivering the partys key messages.This was visibly successful in the 1997
General Election when, for the first time ever, a majority of the national dailies
supported Labour,with only the Daily Telegraph,the Daily Mail and the Express
unequivocal in their support for the Conservatives.
On the negative side, Labour has often found it hard to disguise its contempt for
journalists a serious mistake, since the most effective media relations are built
on a foundation of mutual trust and respect.Those providing stories and those
writing them know that their jobs are different, but that each has much to gain
from the professionalism of the other.
Ian Hargreaves, Financial Times columnist and director of the Centre for
Journalism Studies at Cardiff University, has been assiduous in collecting the
quotations that display that contempt. Labour pollster, Philip Gould, for example,
has talked about:Taking power away from the media and grabbing back control
of the agenda it is basically about outwitting them and setting out our stall on
our terms. As Hargreaves has put it, Journalists are viewed as an enemy force
standing between New Labour and the electorate.He quotes an associate of Philip
Gould explaining the essence of running a government media relations operation
as forcing journalists to eat their greens.As Hargreaves concludes,If you think
journalists are fools and treat them that way, it will not be easy to build trust.
Campbell and the lobby have a love-hate relationship.There is certainly an element
of mutual mistrust and contempt but,at bottom,each knows that they could not
do their job without the other.
34
CHAPTER 5: THE DOWNING STREET PRESS OFFICE, THE LOBBY AND THE NATIONAL MEDIA
The lobby
The lobby is the collective name for journalists based at the Palace of Westminster,
whose day-to-day job is to report the ebb and flow of British politics. Founded
in 1884, when a single gentleman of the press was given official permission to
stand in the MPslobby of the House of Commons,there are today some 250 lobby
correspondents.They include 90 working for television and radio, 36 (so more
than one in ten of the lobby) working for the BBC alone. On the print side, the
most well resourced are the Press Association (20), most of whom are gallery
reporters,the Daily Telegraph and the Times (eight each) and the Guardian and
the Independent (six each).
The lobby is a comfortable, if competitive, club and many of its members have
spent most of their working life there.Most of them share certain characteristics:
an abiding interest in politics, a competitive desire to come up with exclusive
stories,a certain cynicism about the motives of politicians,a preference for stories
that feature conflict, a relative lack of interest in or understanding of the civil
service,a focus that is more often on 10 Downing Street than other Government
departments and more on personalities than on issues and a short attention span.
The central event of the day for the lobby is the 11am briefing by the Prime
Ministers official spokesman,normally held in the basement of 10 Downing Street.
This time-honoured ritual begins with the spokesman reading out a list of the Prime
Ministers engagements for the day, but at its heart is the exchange of questions
and answers sometimes good-humoured,sometimes acerbic that follows.On
Fridays,there will generally also be a separate briefing for the Sunday newspapers.
Most lobby correspondents love their job and are very good at it.They are at the
heart of the British political machine and have privileged access to it,both in terms
of Downing Street and other briefings and their right to loiter with MPs in the
members lobby, immediately outside the chamber of the House of Commons.
They will often be the first to know of a shift in Government policy and they will
certainly have usually well-informed views on which politicians stock is rising
and which is falling. Hence they are a good source of information for lobbyists
and, after all, information is the basis of all good lobbying.
But there is a world of difference between monitoring carefully what the lobby
is writing,which is essential,and seeking to interest them in a clients case,which
is a high-risk strategy that may, on occasion, be either sensible or unavoidable. If
you find yourself seeking to make a case to members of the lobby then you need
to bear a number of caveats in mind, most of them relating to the characteristics
of the lobby outlined above.
35
CHAPTER 5: THE DOWNING STREET PRESS OFFICE, THE LOBBY AND THE NATIONAL MEDIA
Firstly,it may be difficult to secure their attention at all,since their job is to focus
on the hot issues of the day.Then you need to recall that it will be second nature
to most lobby correspondents to express the story in terms of conflict, so it will
be their natural instinct to balance your comments with an alternative viewpoint.
Thirdly, if your story has economic or financial implications, these are unlikely
to be given as much prominence as the political implications. Finally, even if you
secure one-off interest, this is quite unlikely to be sustained, since the
correspondents have a natural desire to move quickly on to the next story.
36
CHAPTER 5: THE DOWNING STREET PRESS OFFICE, THE LOBBY AND THE NATIONAL MEDIA
37
chapter
CHAPTER
6:
SCOTLAND,
WALES
AND
NORTHERN
IRELAND
Chapter 6:
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
Go back a quarter of a century and the story of political power in Britain was a
remarkably simple one. Essentially, it resided at Westminster or in Whitehall and
that was naturally where the first professional lobbyists were based.Today the
picture is more complicated.
A combination of Britains membership of the European Union (and,in particular,
of its single market) and of the establishment of national parliaments or assemblies
in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland means that today political power is
dispersed. As a result the lobbyist has to consider where or in which combination
of locations the power now rests to deal with the issues that concern him.
It follows that lobbyists who have concluded that their case would benefit from
media exposure need to be aware of the different media landscapes in Brussels
and the nations of Britain.This chapter looks at Scotland, Wales and Northern
Ireland, while the following chapter describes the Brussels scene.
Scotland
Westminster retains responsibility for defence,employment,foreign policy,social
security benefits and immigration and nationality,but the vast majority of day-today domestic issues are now the responsibility of the Scottish Parliament.The
Scottish executive or Cabinet is a coalition between Labour and the Liberal
Democrats, with the principal opposition party being the Scottish Nationalists.
Apart from the First Minister,there are eleven Ministers and ten deputy Ministers.
The backbench members of the Parliament exert their influence through 16
committees (which, in Westminster terms, are a blend of select and standing
committees), each chaired by a convenor.
Scotland has already had its very own Drapergate style scandal, similarly based
on an investigative sting by the Observer. Posing as a potential client, journalists
tempted employees of a public relations consultancy to brag about their access
to Scottish executive member,Jack McConnell,and to the then Scottish Secretary,
John Reid.The PR consultancy was forced to close its embryo lobbying operation
and the Parliaments Standards Committee set up an inquiry into lobbying.
39
CHAPTER
6:
SCOTLAND,
WALES
AND
NORTHERN
IRELAND
Before the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish executive were established, the
Scottish media were prominent in the campaign for devolution.Since their creation
they have been equally prominent in their criticisms.The important point to note,
however, is that they have not ignored the new institutions. It follows that they
can be an important way of reaching the 129 Members of the Scottish Parliament
(MSPs), Ministers in the Scottish executive and Scottish civil servants.
In the broadcast media,Good Morning Scotland,BBC Radio Scotlands equivalent
of the Today programme, has a substantial audience among the political classes
and therefore plays a similar agenda-setting role.Many in Scotland had hoped that
Scottish television might play a similarly influential role,through a Scotland-based
early evening television news programme in place of the BBCs Six oClock News.
That battle was lost,however,and the Scots had to make to do with the concession
of a 20-minute Scottish opt-out from BBC 2s Newsnight at 11pm.There are also,
of course,as elsewhere in the UK,early evening national/regional news bulletins:
Reporting Scotland on BBC television and Scotland Today,its more down-market
equivalent on ITV.
If London is unusual in the world in having so many newspapers,the same is true
in Scotland.For a small country,with a population of just five million,the breadth
of choice is striking.
Still the most important, in spite of a somewhat turbulent recent history, is the
Scotsman.With a circulation hovering around 100,000, it outsells all the London
broadsheets combined north of the border. Traditionally the left-of-centre
newspaper for the Edinburgh chattering classes, it has moved to the right under
the ownership of the Barclay brothers and has also attempted to reposition itself
as a national (i.e. Scottish as opposed to east coast) newspaper.
A similar repositioning exercise has been undertaken by its long-time rival, the
Glasgow-based Herald (also with a circulation close to 100,000), formerly the
Glasgow Herald,which has sought to reach out beyond its traditional west coast
readership.
The most intriguing new entrant is the Swedish-owned, Business AM, the first
daily newspaper to launch in Scotland for a century, which calls itself Scotlands
business, financial and political daily; its readership is small, but influential and
many Scottish-based lobbyists cite it as an important target for their messages.
Of the tabloid press in Scotland, easily the most important is the Daily Record
(circulation over 600,000),the Scottish equivalent of the Daily Mirror,left-of-centre
on economic issues, but socially conservative. It played an important role in the
hard-fought Scottish campaign against the repeal of Section 28; a campaign that
certainly forced the Scottish executive to reflect, but that was ultimately
unsuccessful in achieving its objective.
40
CHAPTER
6:
SCOTLAND,
WALES
AND
NORTHERN
IRELAND
Other Scottish newspapers worth a mention are the two principal evening
newspapers, the Edinburgh-based Evening News (circulation 75,000) and
Glasgows Evening Times (circulation over 100,000);both are well-read by MSPs,
with the former in particular beginning to play a role analogous to Londons evening
newspaper.Then there is the most significant regional newspaper with a 100,000
circulation in the north east of Scotland, the Aberdeen-based Press and Journal.
Most,though not quite all,of the UKs national newspapers have Scottish editions,
though in some cases this amounts to not a great deal more than a reshuffling
of the football match reporting. Still, their Scottish correspondents are generally
on the look out for Scottish case studies and comments from Scottish interest
groups, so they may on occasion be useful for Scottish lobbyists.
Finally worth a mention is Holyrood magazine,the Scottish Parliaments in-house
journal, its fortnightly equivalent of Westminsters House magazine. It carries a
wide variety of features on Scottish political issues,providing outside groups with
opportunities for both editorial coverage and advertising.
Wales
The National Assembly for Wales, with 60 members, has fewer powers than the
Scottish Parliament;Wales is a smaller country (with a population of just under
three million) and the print media is correspondingly less diverse. As in Scotland,
the Cabinet is a Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition,with Plaid Cymru the principal
opposition.There are nine Ministers and five deputy Ministers, together with 12
subject and standing committees.
Partly because most Welsh people read London newspapers, the perception of
Welsh-based lobbyists is that it is the broadcast media that perhaps play the key
role in Welsh politics.
Certainly Good Morning Wales, the BBC Radio Wales equivalent of the Today
programme,plays the familiar agenda-setting role and is widely listened to by many
of the 60 Assembly members (AMs). Equally, where the objective is to reach the
widest possible audience,the key programme is the early evening BBC television
news programme,Wales Today,which has up to 400,000 viewers.HTV Wales,the
most watched channel in Wales, has a similar early evening news programme,
though many Welsh television viewers in mid-Wales and the north have their sets
tuned to Central and Granada. BBC television also has a weekly Welsh political
programme, currently Dragons Eye, transmitted on BBC2 Wales on Thursday
evenings.
41
CHAPTER
6:
SCOTLAND,
WALES
AND
NORTHERN
IRELAND
The unique features of Welsh broadcasting are the Welsh language channels,BBC
Radio Cymru and Sianel Pedwar Cymru (S4C)/Channel 4 Wales.One in five of the
Welsh population, principally in the north and west, speak Welsh and the news
on S4C (Newyddion) is the main way of reaching them.
Of the Welsh print media,the most important is the Western Mail,with a circulation
close to 60,000 across south and west Wales. Its north Wales counterpart, is the
Daily Post, with a circulation of 70,000.
Some of the national newspapers have Welsh editions, for example the Welsh
Mirror,but these primarily relate to sport coverage and are relatively unimportant
in political terms.
Northern Ireland
Of all the new devolved institutions it is the Northern Ireland Assembly, created
in April 1998 as part of the Good Friday peace agreement,which is both the most
fragile and in which the greatest hopes reside.
The Assembly and Executive have full legislative and executive authority over most
domestic issues. The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, however, retains
responsibility for security, policing and judicial matters, as well as international
relations, taxation, national insurance and the regulation of broadcasting,
telecommunications and financial services. Each of the principal parties
represented in the 108-member Assembly shares executive responsibility across
ten departments.A North-South Ministerial Council,including representatives of
the Irish Government,seeks to develop and co-ordinate policies in areas of mutual
interest, including food safety, waterways, trade and business development and
the European Union.
For 30 years the bomb and the bullet were the most common form of lobbying
in Northern Ireland.The attempt to switch to a more normal way of conducting
politics is recent and still distrusted by substantial sections of the community.
Political lobbying is in its infancy in Belfast,but if the peace process can be made
to stick, could have a bright future, since, with the exception of criminal justice,
almost all day-to-day domestic issues are the responsibility of Stormont and the
ten Government departments in Northern Ireland.
42
CHAPTER
6:
SCOTLAND,
WALES
AND
NORTHERN
IRELAND
43
chapter
CHAPTER
7:
THE
EUROPEAN
UNION
AND
THE
BRUSSELS
PRESS
CORPS
Chapter 7:
The European Union and the
Brussels press corps
45
CHAPTER
7:
THE
EUROPEAN
UNION
AND
THE
BRUSSELS
PRESS
CORPS
The Parliament gained significant new powers in 1999,when the Amsterdam Treaty
came into force, extending co-decision (with the Governments of the member
states) into a wide range of new policy areas,although still excluding agriculture,
fisheries,foreign and security policy,justice and home affairs,taxation,international
trade and economic and monetary union.
The Council consists of Ministers of national governments, who meet behind
closed doors to take decisions. In many areas, principally relating to the internal
market,the Council shares decision-making authority with the Parliament;in the
event of disagreement between the two bodies a conciliation procedure has been
established.
As within member states, much of the detailed work is carried out by officials,
initially through Council working groups and subsequently at more senior
ambassadorial meetings, known as COREPER (Committee of Permanent
Representatives). Most Council meetings are in Brussels, though some are in
Luxembourg or in the country that holds the Presidency.The Presidency is rotated
every six months around the member states and has the responsibility for moving
the Unions agenda forward.The order of Presidencies in the current decade is:
2001,Sweden and then Belgium;2002,Spain and Denmark;2003,Greece and Italy.
At least twice a year, the Council meets at the level of heads of government and
this is the Unions ultimate decision-making authority.
Brussels-based lobbyists are divided about the merits of involving the media in
lobbying campaigns. Some are strongly of the view that there is rarely a role for
a media campaign, partly because most of the issues at stake are technical and
partly because there is really no such thing as European public opinion, only a
series of national points of view.
Others take a more positive stance, pointing to subjects (such as BSE and
corruption) where the institutions have undoubtedly been influenced by public
opinion expressed via the media,and arguing that all three institutions are sensitive
to media coverage of the subjects that they are tackling.
It probably is the case that the Commission,which lacks democratic accountability,
is somewhat less sensitive to the media than most political institutions.To a lesser
degree, the Parliament and the Council may feel somewhat remote from public
opinion,but on major issues at least they are acutely sensitive to what journalists
are saying about them.
46
CHAPTER
7:
THE
EUROPEAN
UNION
AND
THE
BRUSSELS
PRESS
CORPS
Certainly, in a European Union context, campaigning via the media should only
ever be a supplement to, not a replacement for face-to-face lobbying. Equally, it
is worth emphasising that (contrary to widely held perceptions in the UK) both
the Commission and the Parliament are very receptive to direct lobbying. Given
the immensely broad canvas across which they operate and the technical nature
of many of the proposals they are considering, both institutions are, in general,
grateful for an informed view from the front line about the real world impact of
the policies under consideration.
In those cases where you are seeking to interest journalists, or where they are
already interested, it is important to bear in mind some simple, but easily
overlooked considerations.You need to remember that of the three institutions,
in general, it is only the Commission officials, whose main media consumption
will be Brussels-based; even in their case many Commission officials will
frequently return to their home countries at the weekend.MEPs divide their time
between Brussels, Strasbourg and their home countries and, for most, their main
focus will be on their national media. Ministers are but infrequent visitors to
Brussels and will be almost wholly focused on their national media.
Then there is the language issue.Most Commission officials can operate in English
and French,as well as their own language,but many MEPs and Ministers will only
be comfortable in their own language.This is particularly true of the British and
the southern European nationalities.The best linguists tend to be the Belgians,
the Dutch and the Nordic countries.
47
CHAPTER
7:
THE
EUROPEAN
UNION
AND
THE
BRUSSELS
PRESS
CORPS
48
CHAPTER
7:
THE
EUROPEAN
UNION
AND
THE
BRUSSELS
PRESS
CORPS
Media targets
The range of possible media targets is almost infinite.Where you are seeking wide
dissemination the wire services Reuters, Bloomberg and Agence France Presse
will be important. Agence Europe covers EU affairs in mind-boggling detail.The
single most widely read newspaper in Brussels is the Financial Times; with an
increasing circulation and a treasured reputation for objectivity.Your choice will
often be determined by nationality.
Europes largest single market (population 80 million) and, increasingly, its most
important government is Germany, home also to Europes largest-selling
newspaper,the Axel Springer-owned Bild Zeitung (circulation, four and a quarter
million) but, just as its UK rival, the Sun (circulation, three and a half million)
will rarely be an important target for lobbyists, so in Germany their focus will be
the quality broadsheets.The media landscape reflects the decentralised nature
of Germany,with Suddeutsche Zeitung,Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Die
Welt among the most important.
The German television market is dominated by three stations: RTL (owned by
Bertelsmann) and the two national public channels,ARD and ZDF.
The German business newspaper market has long been dominated by
Handelsblatt, with a circulation of 160,000. Now it faces a new challenge from
Financial Times Deutschland, jointly owned by the Financial Times Group and
Gruner & Jahr, with daily sales of 62,000.
In France, as in Germany, the regional media are important, with Ouest-France
the countrys largest-selling newspaper (circulation 783,000).Among the Parisbased press the most important are Le Figaro (on the right), Liberation (on the
left), Le Monde (deeply serious, published in the afternoons) and Les Echos (the
principal French business newspaper).The two principal television channels are
TF1 (privatised in 1987) and the publicly owned FR2.
Italys single most important and largest-selling title (circulation 685,000) is Milanbased Corriere della Sera.Other important targets include Fiat-owned La Stampa,
Romes daily Il Messaggero and the main business newspaper,Il Sole-24 Ore.Bear
in mind that the favourite reading of European Commission President, Romano
Prodi, is Terra e Vita, the weekly magazine for Italian farmers. Italian television
is effectively a duopoly: divided between publicly owned Rai and the channels
owned by Mediaset,the television interests of Forza Italia leader,Silvio Berlusconi.
49
CHAPTER
7:
THE
EUROPEAN
UNION
AND
THE
BRUSSELS
PRESS
CORPS
In Spain the media landscape has been partially transformed since the death of
Franco in 1975. Of the four most important newspapers today, two (ABC and
Barcelona-based, La Vanguardia) pre-date Franco, while the other two (El Pais
and El Mundo) have been created since his death.As in Italy,of the two principal
television stations, one (TVE1) is public and the other (Antena 3) private.
Looking at the EUs smaller countries,one might focus on Der Standard (Austria),
Le Soir (Belgiums French language daily), Politiken (Denmark), Helsingin
Sanomat (Finland),Kathimerini (Greece),the Irish Times (Ireland),Luxemburger
Wort (Luxembourg), De Telegraaf (the Netherlands),Publico (Portugal) and Dagens
Nyheter (Sweden).
If your story has an American business angle,the Wall Street Journal Europe will
be an important target;expanded coverage and design improvements in 2000 led
to a 20% gain in circulation within a year to around 100,000.There is also CNBC
and CNN.
In a class of its own, because it is solely devoted to EU affairs, is European Voice.
Its coverage is thorough and extends beyond the institutions to encompass, in
particular,the economic interests affected by EU action.Remember,however,that
because of its unique focus you will need to come up with a genuinely fresh angle.
Finally, there is the weekly magazine, the Bulletin, worth a mention not because
it is particularly relevant to lobbying, but as the most useful lifestyle magazine
for the English-speaking expatriate in Brussels.
50
chapter
CHAPTER
8:
MERGERS
AND
ACQUISITIONS
Chapter 8:
Mergers and acquisitions
The classic scenario where lobbying and media relations need to go hand-in-hand
is in the case of mergers and acquisitions.
The outcome of many takeover battles will be decided by the shareholders,almost
always on the basis of price.The lead advisers in these cases will be the investment
bankers and lawyers, assisted by financial public relations consultants, whose
principal job will be to communicate messages to shareholders via the media.
In a significant number of bid battles, however, the outcome may turn on the
decision of competition authorities, either in Brussels or at national level.
The decision will rest with Brussels in the largest bid battles or those having an
impact on a number of member states. Specifically, the Commission will have
jurisdiction where the companies involved have a combined world-wide
turnover of five billion euros and an EU turnover of 250 million euros (except
where each of the parties has two thirds of its turnover in the same member state).
Where the decision to block a bid,to allow it to go ahead or to allow it to go ahead
with conditions rests with the European Union, the key role is played by the
Competition Directorate (formerly DGIV), the Unions competition authority,
headed by the Competition Commissioner, currently Mario Monti. In the most
significant cases he presents his recommendation to the Wednesday meeting of
Commissioners;their decision is not subject to review by member states. A Brussels
decision may be relatively speedy (four to six weeks), but where Commission
officials conclude that a detailed investigation is required, this will take four
months.While formal responsibility rests with the Competition Commission, it
will be responsive to views expressed by other DGs and national Ministers.
Where the decision rests with a member state, precise arrangements vary from
country to country. In the United Kingdom, the key players are the Office of Fair
Trading, the Competition Commission and the Secretary of State for Trade and
Industry. In theory, the UK Government has decided to take the politics out of
mergers, with the exception of defence and media-related issues. In practice,
political influence still appears to be a factor, with the competition authorities
looking to make recommendations that they think will find political favour.
52
CHAPTER
8:
MERGERS
AND
ACQUISITIONS
The key role of the Office of Fair Trading is to recommend to the Secretary of
State whether or not a bid should be referred to the Competition Commission.
Before making its recommendation the OFT will seek information from the parties
to a merger and from competitors, suppliers and customers. It operates a system
of confidential guidance, which allows the parties to a bid to seek a view on the
likelihood of a reference. In the case of utilities, their sector regulators will also
have an important part to play.
In those cases where the competition authorities are or may be involved,whether
in Brussels or at member state level,there will invariably be considerable lobbying,
both formal and informal,by the companies whose future is at stake,but also often
by third parties who may be affected by the outcome.
53
CHAPTER
8:
MERGERS
AND
ACQUISITIONS
For all those involved, over a period of many weeks and months, events will
resemble a game of chess, with each move needing to be carefully considered
for the impact that it will have on the bigger picture.
Those working on media aspects will need to ensure that their reach extends to
all of the countries involved. Invariably, the Financial Times coverage will be
perceived as crucial,as will that of the Wall Street Journal Europe,especially where
US companies are involved.Depending on the countries involved,other financial
media,such as Les Echos in France,Handelsblatt and FT Deutschland in Germany,
Business AM in Scotland and so on, will also be important.
In a UK context, financial public relations consultants will also pay particular
attention to the Evening Standard, which is well read in both the City and
Westminster and Whitehall,as well as by journalists on the national broadsheets.
Similarly,they will seek to develop a good rapport with the principal Sunday media,
notably the Sunday Times, the Sunday Telegraph and Sunday Business, in the
belief that their coverage has a particular impact on shareholders, politicians,
officials and other media.
54
The Internet
T H E I M PA C T O F T H E I N T E R N E T O N L O B B Y I N G
THE MAIN POLITICAL USES OF THE INTERNET
THE ROLE OF ONLINE MEDIA IN LOBBYING
TEXT MESSAGING
chapter
CHAPTER
9:
THE
INTERNET
Chapter 9:
The Internet
56
CHAPTER
9:
THE
INTERNET
It isnt just that many people cant use the Internet; significant numbers simply
dont want to a recent MORI poll suggested that 15 million Britons have no
interest in using it.However,there are other more optimistic statistics;for example,
18% of adults who use the Internet do so to access web-based Government services
or information.The UK Government is committed to being able to transact all
business with UK citizens electronically by 2008.
In the 2000 US elections nine out of ten major party candidates for the Senate
had campaign web sites (compared to seven out of ten two years earlier) and in
the House elections two out of three (compared to one out of three).Yet, it was
still the case that the candidates with the most developed new media campaigns
(John McCain and Bill Bradley) failed to topple the front-runners,George W.Bush
and Al Gore.
The major UK political parties have been running web sites for five or six years,
but until recently their use by individual MPs or constituency parties was small,
with web sites for some 15% of MPs and rather fewer constituency parties.As
the 2001 General Election approached,the major political parties were devoting
considerable resources to their web sites and that seemed bound to have some
effect on the general attitude of MPs and Ministers.
Tony Blair,of course though a famously slow learner himself has pledged (like
leaders the world over) to make Britain the best place in the world for e-business.
As part of that,sustained efforts continue to put Government services online,with
the aim of setting an example for others to follow. More than 40% of UK
Government services are now available online and this is due to rise to nearly
75% by 2002.There is a new citizens portal, UK-Online, as well as a Government
Gateway and UK-Online for Business.
By some measures, not universally accepted, the UK is already the world leader
in businesses trading online, just ahead of the US, Canada, Germany and Sweden.
Certainly,the Governments target of a million businesses online by 2002 had already
been achieved by 2001. According to a survey of European executives, Britain is
viewed as the preferred location to start an Internet-related business,followed by
Germany and France. Similarly, a third of European business managers perceive
the UK to be the leading information economy, followed closely by Germany.
What evidence there is about the impact of the Internet on lobbying comes mainly
from the United States and suggests that the reasonable conclusion to draw is that
it is not going to change the lobbying world overnight, but will have a slowly
developing impact.
57
CHAPTER
9:
THE
INTERNET
Perhaps the most vivid effect of the Internet on lobbying (together with that of
the mobile telephone) relates to its use in grassroots campaigns.As a way of helping
protesters to keep in touch and to mobilise supporters,the Internet clearly played
a role in both the global anti-capitalist campaigns of 2000 and in the British fuel
protest,where petrolbusters.com provided an effective discussion board to inform
and organise. So politicians may still not be looking at web sites very much, but
they can begin to see their effects.
The unique feature of the Internet is of course its interactive nature and yet the
early evidence suggests that it may be more used for governments and parties to
communicate with voters than the other way round.There have been some early
experiments in the use of the Internet to broaden the scope of consultation (for
example, several hundred women who had lived with domestic violence gave
online evidence to the Commons all-party domestic violence group),but in reality
the numbers of those participating have been modest.
There are many reasons why, on the whole, politicians and officials continue to
approach the Internet with caution. One is simply their innate conservatism.
Another, however, relates to widely-expressed concerns about the digital divide
the reality that it is the poorest and those in rural areas who are least likely to
have access to new technologies.That, for example, helps to explain why many
politicians are deeply resistant to suggestions that various activities (such as
Government procurement) should be conducted uniquely online.They simply feel
that this would be deeply unfair and it is hard to quarrel with that conclusion.
58
CHAPTER
9:
THE
INTERNET
59
CHAPTER
9:
THE
INTERNET
Appropriately, the final report from the independent investigator, Kenneth Starr,
was released on the Internet at the same time as it was made available to Congress
and the traditional media.The New York Times reported that The downloads were
slow, the error messages were many, but in the first experiment in electronic
communication between the United States Government and its citizens on a massive
scale,millions of persevering Internet users were devouring the Starr report within
hours of its release; it described this and the subsequent influx of views on
electronic message boards as an unprecedented kind of electronic town hall
meeting.
In Britain there is a remarkable degree of consensus about the best media web
site. Almost everyone will point you to BBC Online,the largest web site in Europe,
praised for its in-depth,factual content.Its UK Politics section is given high marks
and certainly rates as a trusted source of breaking stories as they happen.
The evidence to date would seem to be that online media can be a useful source
of news, but that their relevance as an outlet for lobbying campaigns is modest,
given the relative infrequency with which most politicians and officials surf the
net. Rather as with trade and specialist publications, the online media generally
assumes importance only when its stories are taken up by the traditional offline
media.
Text messaging
By way of a footnote,it may be worth taking a brief look at one other new medium
and its potential impact on politics: text messaging on mobile telephones.There
is a considerable body of evidence that they played an important part in the
downfall of both Slobodan Milosevic in Serbia and Joseph Estrada in the
Philippines.
In the vivid language of Alex Magno, a professor of politics at the University of
the Philippines in Manila,In revolutions people used to say keep your powder
dry. Now they say,keep your cellphone charged. Of the up to a half a million
people who converged on Manila on the day that Estrada was toppled, huge
numbers were responding to the simple message:Full mblsn (mobilisation) today.
60
chapter
10
CHAPTER
10:
HOW
TO
WORK
WITH
JOURNALISTS
Chapter 10:
How to work with journalists
62
CHAPTER
10:
HOW
TO
WORK
WITH
JOURNALISTS
Always provide telephone contact details and,if available,e-mail and fax numbers
at the end of your release for those who will want to follow up with questions.
Keep your press release brief and where you feel the need to include detail, put
this in notes to editors after the main body of text.Where you have a web site,
remember to keep this up-to-date with your most recent press releases.
Before you send the press release out,give some careful thought to the questions
that it is most likely to trigger from journalists and make sure that you are well
prepared to answer them.
The press briefing document
This differs from a press release in that it is not announcing a particular
development, but rather conveying background information about your
organisation. Again it should always include telephone contact details and,where
appropriate,should both include your web site details and be posted on your web
site. Although,in contrast to a press release,the information in a briefing document
will be relatively timeless,it will need to be kept up-to-date.It will be a particularly
useful tool for a journalist who is new to covering your subject.
The press statement
This differs from a press release in that it is not prepared voluntarily and
distributed, but rather prepared defensively and used in response to questions.
There may well be occasions where you are not seeking publicity,but where you
need to be ready to make a coherent response to inquiries.You probably hope
that the statement never needs to be used, but it pays to be prepared. Such
statements should normally be brief and to the point.
Questions and answers
Where you are planning an announcement of some complexity or where you have
reason to anticipate hostile questioning, it makes sense to plan ahead and try to
anticipate the most likely questions and the most effective answers to them.Focus
this preparatory work on the areas that you feel least comfortable about. If you
expect a difficult press conference, it may well be worth holding a rehearsal 24
hours ahead of the real thing.
63
CHAPTER
10:
HOW
TO
WORK
WITH
JOURNALISTS
64
CHAPTER
10:
HOW
TO
WORK
WITH
JOURNALISTS
One great advantage of this kind of meeting is that it gives you, as well as the
journalist, the opportunity to ask questions and to listen to the response. Many
specialist journalists have an enormous fund of knowledge,which they will often
readily share. Some of the most effective media handlers are those who
appreciate that meeting a journalist can be an opportunity to find things out, as
well as to convey a message.
One other advantage of this kind of contact building is that you will then be able
to identify questioners at a press conference by name. It is a small point, but one
that will generally appeal to a journalists sense of self-worth.
65
CHAPTER
10:
HOW
TO
WORK
WITH
JOURNALISTS
Anger
Just occasionally a journalist may make an accusation or a comment that you feel
is grossly unfair.Well,dont get angry,get even.In other words suppress your anger,
both because it will not put you in a good light and because it will hinder coherent
thought. Rather, redouble your efforts to make your case courteously, calmly and
relentlessly.
Being rushed into an inaccurate or unwise response
Faced with a difficult or unexpected question, you are under no obligation to
respond immediately.Pause to consider your answer and it often makes far more
sense to give yourself time to think by promising to get back to the journalist
with a considered reply but make sure that you do so.Then use the time that
you have gained by using this technique both to check the facts and to rehearse
your answers to likely follow-up questions.
During a press conference you should feel free to pause and reflect before replying
to a difficult question. Indeed, there is benefit in occasionally doing so, since it
shows that you take the question seriously and are thoughtful.
If you are new to your organisation or job, it is both reasonable and sensible to
avoid giving substantive answers to questions about what you plan to do until
you have had time to be properly briefed. By all means provide answers about
your past or relevant experience, but dont allow yourself to be bounced into
offering prescriptions for the future until you are ready to do so.
Lies
Let your teachers be Clinton and Hamlet (To thine own self be true.).Time and
again it is not the original offence that brings someone down, but their attempt
to cover it up after the event.The best way of dealing with the media is to be
yourself.Journalists are adept at spotting someone who is forcing themselves,for
some reason, to behave out of character and will tend to suspect the worst.
Lateness
Most journalists daily lives are ruled by deadlines. It is worse than useless to
respond to a journalists inquiries too late in the day for him to be able to use
your response. Always ask what the deadline is and always respond within that
time-scale, even if you have little or nothing to say.
66
CHAPTER
10:
HOW
TO
WORK
WITH
JOURNALISTS
No comment
There may be exceptional circumstances (for example,legal constraints) that force
you to use this phrase, but it inevitably conveys the impression that you have
something to hide. It is almost always possible and preferable to say something,
however banal. More often than not you will at least to be able to explain why
you are not at that point in time able to give a detailed reply.
Complaining
Nine times out of ten if an inaccurate story about your organisation appears (we
are talking about facts here, not tone of voice), it will be because you or your
colleagues have failed to get the facts across. Even on the tenth occasion, where
you appear to be faced with a deliberately hostile journalist,complaining to them
(or,worse still,to their editor) will rarely improve things;far better to be relentlessly
charming, courteous, helpful and accurate in the hope of securing better
coverage next time. On those rare occasions when your are dealing with a
genuinely incompetent journalist you will generally find that they quickly move
or get moved without any intervention by you.
Favouritism
It has been a recurring theme of this Report that some media are more important
than others,with the Financial Times frequently cited.So it may often be tempting
to seek to secure especially prominent coverage by offering them an exclusive.
On very rare occasions that may be the right call, but more often than not you
will lose more through the resentment of other journalists who are important to
you than you will gain from the favoured individual.
Hiding behind your press office or PR consultant
Your PR consultant may give you invaluable advice and your press office provide
a first-class service to the media,but you should not hide behind them when your
organisation has important messages to convey.
Journalists expect to have access to the front line generally to the top person
in an organisation and will give you better coverage if you are available to them
at key moments.The opposite is certainly the case:if a company chairman or chief
executive seeks to hide behind his press office at a difficult moment, journalists
will resent this and their resentment may well influence what they choose to write.
67
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10:
HOW
TO
WORK
WITH
JOURNALISTS
Overkill
Dont become so infatuated with dealing with journalists that you bother them
when you have nothing important to say.They will quickly mark you down as
a time-waster and the danger is that they will not be there when you most need
them.
Irrelevance
You may fail to convey your message by being too vague or obscure. Decide on
your one or two key messages and make sure you convey them; dont be afraid
of repetition.This concentration on and,if necessary,repetition of central messages
is particularly important in the case of television.
Always try to remember where a particular journalist is coming from and convey
your messages in terms of what they mean for Leeds or Spain or teachers or
women or whatever is appropriate.
Being let down by your appearance
You need to be smartly dressed and alert, when dealing with the media.This is
obviously particularly important in the case of television,where viewers form their
impressions as much,if not more,from how you look as by what you say.So,unless
you are dealing with a particularly grave situation,remember to smile and to look
your interviewer in the eye.If you lack experience with television cameras,spend
some time and money on television training.
In summary,as I stated at the outset,dealing with journalists professionally is largely
a matter of common sense and courtesy. Provided that you remain alert and
thoughtful, you have nothing to be afraid of and much to gain.
68
CONCLUSION
Conclusion
Having read this far,you may well have concluded for yourself that there is nothing
particularly complex or mysterious about communicating effectively with
politicians, officials and journalists. Certainly, that is the conclusion that I would
invite you to reach.
This Report is, in a sense, an essay in demystification.Too often, I think, attempts
are made to suggest that effective lobbying and effective media relations are
immensely complicated and difficult tasks, best left to those who have been
initiated into these arcane rites.Yet all of my experience teaches me that it isnt
so, that best practice is quite straightforward and relatively easily learned.
If, for example, you take and examine the four Cs mentioned at the outset of the
last chapter,you will already have encapsulated much of what you need to know
when communicating your messages to governments or to the media:
Care
A recurring theme of this Report has been that time invested in research and
preparation prior to communication will be time well spent. It may be the least
glamorous part of the job,but it is also the most essential,for,if you have the facts
at your fingertips,you are far less likely to be disconcerted by questions that may
be posed to you.Equally,careful reflection before responding to questions is both
allowed and advisable.Fortunately,few of us are likely to be on the receiving end
of a Countess of Wessexstyle sting operation, but it is a useful reminder of the
value of pausing for thought.I often find myself saying to clients that if they would
not be happy to see their comments picked up and quoted by a hostile politician
or journalist they should not be making them.
Clarity
When I think about the contribution that a consultant can make to the effective
communication of a clients case, it often seems to relate to helping clients to
express their point of view and their objectives with maximum clarity. People
deeply involved in their own world will quite naturally use the semi-secret language
of that world,without even realising that they are doing so. An outsider can help
to ensure that they express themselves in plain English,using concrete examples,
rather than abstractions for this is the way to communicate effectively with busy
politicians, officials and journalists. So use short words, not long words; as far as
verbs are concerned, prefer the active to the passive; make sure that your words
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CONCLUSION
have real meaning by deploying the opposites test (i.e. could I conceivably say
the opposite? only if the answer is yes is my statement meaningful); focus on
a maximum of three key messages and have the courage to ditch the rest.
Common sense
The corridors of power,newspaper offices and broadcasting studios are not places
in another world, where the normal rules of life dont apply.They are a part of
the world that we all inhabit and the ordinary, practical judgements that serve
us well in everyday life work there as well.
Courtesy
The most successful people with whom I have worked have all shared one
common characteristic:courtesy.My observation is that it is the characteristic that
unites effective communicators everywhere even or,perhaps especially,the most
powerful.That it should be so is not surprising, since effective communication
is all about having an appreciation of the concerns and interests of the person
with whom one is talking.Take the trouble to look at it from their point of view
and you will greatly enhance the chances of getting your message across.
In writing about demystification, it is particularly the parts of this Report that
deal with lobbying that I had in mind.The lobbying industry has suffered in the
past from a lack of understanding of what it does and, if it has been secretive, it
can hardly complain if misconceptions have arisen.I have argued and passionately
believe that the right to lobby is a key element of an open society;I equally believe
that those who lobby have an obligation to be open about what they do and how
they do it.
Good lobbying does involve a deal,but not one involving cash in brown envelopes.
The deal is about an exchange of access and information politicians and officials
agree to listen and,in return,they expect and have the right to expect useful and
accurate information about the world they seek to govern.There is, in my view,
no conflict between ethical and effective lobbying. Rather, the two go hand in
hand,for a key to success in lobbying is to be believed and you are far more likely
to succeed if politicians and officials conclude that you can be trusted.
Finally,having read this Report,I hope that you may have come to share my view
that working with politicians and journalists can be both enjoyable and
worthwhile.I hope too that some of its practical advice may be of use in helping
you to communicate effectively with government and with the media and so to
make a real difference to the success of your organisation.
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