"Public relations is essentially about developing and maintaining structured communications with stakeholders important to a business or organisation's operational and financial performance so they continue to support the business in their own ways."
Paul Hemsley
It is hard not to feel that that the 2011 General Election has descended into farce. We're now ten days out from the Election, and for nigh on three days our politicians aided and abetted by the national media have given us a diet of irrelevancy about a tape of a private conversation.
The PM raised a matter of principle about being secretly recorded in conversation over a cup of tea with the aspiring MP for Epsom, but before long our media are excusing the blatancy of this illegality and claiming the PM has something to hide if he's not prepared to reveal what's on the tape. In climbing into this matter, two of the other main parties, while tut-tutting at the secret recording, have been lavishly proffering public relations advice about what the PM should do because it "doesn't look good” to have a private conversation and keep it that way.
It is a sign that politicians are now more interested in doing what "looks good” than explaining the social and economic measures that will advance our wellbeing over the next years. Is this because they judge us to be totally facile? Are they right, and is this what we want? Is it also a sign of the media is more interested in feeding us a diet of gossip and innuendo because they understand people are so disinterested in policy unless it is to directly affect them?
Surely it's time to drop this nonsense of the tape and get back to debating the issues that matter so that we can have some substance on which to cast our votes. This goes for the lot of them.
Previous Posts
Futile ground for creating spokespeople (12 June 2013)Is it time to retire the EQC? (21 May 2013)
Too big to communicate (1 May 2013)
CEOs less trusted- why might that be? (4 March 2013)
Talking is not communicating (21 February 2013)
Cats and postal deliveries (31 January 2013)
The creeping disease of our language – hyperbole (6 December 2012)
Some lessons in media relations (29 November 2012)
Get with it, Mr Cunliffe, porkies are fine (21 November 2012)
Our own enquiry time as Sandy creates havoc (1 November 2012)
Communicating the poverty message (12 October 2012)
Politics, a game for the superhuman – or the Nixon solution (5 October 2012)
The potent weapon of bullying claims (29 August 2012)
All for one and one for all (31 July 2012)
Greenpeace a global business with the eye for the bottom line (26 July 2012)
The script for higher prices is written in the weather (20 July 2012)
A crass publicity stunt (12 July 2012)
Communication support for families in need (5 July 2012)
Descending to the depths of meanness (21 June 2012)
No thanks Minister (18 June 2012)
We’ve got a problem – let the shouting begin! Or is there a better way? (8 June 2012)
Speaking in headlines, merely for headlines (30 May 2012)
Exposés and rebuttals – are we any the wiser? (30 May 2012)
“The government should do something about that…” (7 May 2012)
Another Kiwi world champion (2 May 2012)
An abuse of power (27 April 2012)
Watch that, or I’ll get YouTube on to you (17 April 2012)
A perverse form of logic (16 April 2012)
Celebrity endorsements play to our laziness (29 February 2012)
Keeping their own counsel may be best course of action (22 February 2012)
The tatty remnants of Occupy (26 January 2012)
Media relationships - it’s important to make them work (20 January 2012)
The spirit of communicating (21 December 2011)
Lessons from a “private conversation” (22 November 2011)
Good on you, Vector (2 November 2011)
A cardinal rule of crisis management lies in the dirt (9 June 2011)
Some French madness – surely? (7 June 2011)
Something to tweet about (2 May 2011)
Litany of apologies, but no humility (13 April 2011)
The tendency to editiorialise – knock it off (7 April 2011)
A campaign to help the country... (29 March 2011)
A storm in an outhouse (9 March 2011)
Cyclone Yasi – the new reality TV show (25 February 2011)
New chums in a unique cause (23 November 2010)
Shredding your reputation for a headline (29 October 2010)
Communications shouldn't mean altercation (14 October 2010)
Finding fairness for all victims is what will define us (24 September 2010)
Entire towns are falling off their ladders (30 August 2010)
The age of intolerance (17 August 2010)
There’s news and views. Is responding to an issue with an ad the way to go? (5 August 2010)
How you respond is a measure of your mettle (30 July 2010)
The perplexing topic of food pricing (15 July 2010)
Lying as part of your strategy (9 July 2010)
Never mind the lost productivity. It’s a rich educational experience (23 June 2010)
The revenge of the people with red hair (27 May 2010)
No cure, but other miracles (19 May 2010)
Another tragedy and chorus call for the Government (12 May 2010)
The fashion of rebranding (28 April 2010)
The tale of two media interviews (24 March 2010)
Clear messages from the golden age of advertising (4 March 2010)
Plenty for the Commerce Commission in the holiday homes market (18 February 2010)
Food Inc only a point of view (23 June 2009)
A budget for feeding the chooks (4 June 2009)