A potentially life threatening lesson in news sense

My unique perspective as a poacher (journalist) turned gamekeeper (police press officer) turned highly sought after poaching consultant (Director of Morgan PR) does give me an interesting take on the news - and the newspaperman blood still courses through my veins, which is why we insist on any PR aimed at the media as being newsworthy.

"Is it a story?" is the question that I urge clients to ask themselves whenever they encounter a potential opportunity. An easy test is if you find yourself telling other people about it - that could well be a story!

The quest to determine if something is newsworthy should be completed before approaching the media; better you decide it isn't a story than a news editor who might just be proficient in junk mail rules on Outlook!

That said, the media sometimes get it wrong too - whether it is through the trickery of gimmick driven PR or through plain missing the strongest news angle in a story.

Take this story from the Newbury Today website - a man has had his rifle, which is fitted with a telescopic scope, stolen from his car and understandably wants it back. The police fear the rifle could be used in crime. Where is the story there? Anyone?

I will tell you what it isn't:



Some criminal, most likely to be feeding a drug habit so not renown for good decision making skills, now has a rifle, which by the owner's admission in the story 'could kill someone from half a mile away'. You bet he wants it back!

However, this is a gun - not a kitten! And surely the story is the police condemnation of the stupidity that sees such a weapon left insecure in a car.

Here's the police comment buried in paragraph nine of the story:

Romy Freiburghaus, Crime Reduction Advisor for West Berkshire said: “This careless behaviour does not only make you a victim of crime, but you also potentially endanger other people’s life through your negligence.

“Never leave anything on display in your car. Even an item covered up on the back seat is a temptation for someone to ‘smash and grab’, which this week’s incident proves.

“By following this simple rule you can minimise the risk of becoming a victim of car crime.”

Full marks for working some crime prevention advice in there, but she says the owner has potentially endangered lives through their negligence - there is the story. A headline that runs something like (with sensationalist slant!):

SNIPER FEAR AFTER HUNTING RIFLE STOLEN FROM CAR IN NEWBURY
- police slam owner's negligence

You just hope the gun is safely recovered before anyone is hurt. And while the suggested headline is sensational, it would warn people about the missing gun.

Incidentally, the police press release can be found here - and that plays it straight, but the police press officer would have anticipated the story getting out there in a much more aggressive fashion. After all, the more people talk about the gun, the more likely it is the police will discover who has it and safely recover the firearm.

However, fear of gun crime aside, there is a point here. You need to know all the news angles of your story, and not just the most obvious one. Journalists can interpret stories in very different ways to that expected. Just think how the gun owner's quotes about the rifle killing would have played under the headline we suggest?

Hungerford day nursery Little Jogs now online with launch of new website

Little Jogs Day Nursery has unveiled a new website designed to keep parents up to date with activities at the nursery and to inform prospective parents about what it has to offer.

Morgan PR designed the website: www.littlejogsnursery.co.uk which has just gone live and already is catching the attention of people searching for nursery care in the Hungerford area through effective search engine optimisation.

The nursery’s owner, Sandra Fell, explained: “We enjoy a good reputation among our parents and many of them refer their friends to us. However we would never take for granted the people who move to this area who might not realise we are here.

“Also, with the slowdown in the economy we have been getting more enquiries from mothers and fathers who are finding they have to go back to work; hopefully the website will help parents facing that difficult decision. Indeed, one of the pages is specifically aimed at helping parents ask the right questions of any childcare provider.

“There are pages on each of our three rooms: baby, toddler and pre-school together with explanations of the provision and approach in each of those.

“We also aim to publish news on the site regularly to keep everyone up to date with all the exciting things we do here at Little Jogs.”

The new website was designed by Diane Morgan of Morgan PR, whose own daughter Beth used to go to Little Jogs. She comments: “We’ve always know what a terrific nursery Little Jogs is, so it was lovely to have the opportunity to reflect that on the world wide web. The team at Little Jogs are a really warm and friendly bunch and all the children are so cheerful - hopefully this website reflects that.”

Incidentally, news of the new website is spreading and it has already been published online at Newbury Today.

Budget PR pays dividend for country pub

One Morgan PR client whose business might suffer in the wake of the budget will certainly benefit from widespread publicity they achieved after following the advice given in the Budget PR blog entry early this week.

The Ibex in Chaddleworth fired off press releases within minutes of the Chancellor of the Exchequer announcing the inevitably inflation busting increases in duty on alcohol and virtually minutes later it was on the Newbury Today website and landlord Andy Jones was invited to comment on BBC Radio Berkshire's popular Drive Time programme yesterday evening.

In the press release Andy Jones made the point: “We try very hard to be all things within our community in Chaddleworth and many of the neighbouring villages; we are the Post Office, the village shop; their local newsagent and offer meeting rooms for businesses and much, much more, but we are foremost a pub and we are constantly being squeezed, these tax increases make that more of a challenge.

“The chancellor also announced inflation busting increases on alcohol for the coming years too. It might be fine for trying to keep drunken yobs off the streets, but it doesn’t help us tempt responsible drinkers into The Ibex either.

“We’re also experiencing additional price increases from the brewery too which has further squeezed our margin. Of course, the supermarkets will still sell cheap booze while we continue to suffer.

“It costs £2.90 a pint now compared with £2.20 when we first took over The Ibex four years ago and that makes a difference. If it were not for the other services we offer, like the food and events, we could not survive simply as a pub."

I am waiting to hear how many people who heard the radio broadcast or read the story online make the effort to visit the pub, but I'd wager a few pints that they'll be there - even with the price increase!

newbury today now available on facebook

Ah the secret of great comedy! A couple of days ago Morgan PR wrote about Netteam Consultants, a local company helping businesses stop their employees wasting their time on such social notworking sites as facebook.

Today I notice that newbury today has established a group on said notworking site. It should be pointed out that newbury today is the online sister of the Newbury Weekly News, publishers of the Newbury Business News - which on Thursday this week will feature the story about companies trying to discourage employees from surfing their day away!

What better justification could there be for visiting newbury today's group on facebook than to keep on to of all interesting news in Newbury?

Presumably this means you get to 'poke' a journalist if you have a story?

Newbury Comedy Festival - mini reviews on newburytoday

If you cannot wait until Thursday to enjoy the Newbury Comedy Festival reviews in The Newbury Weekly News website, then pay a visit to the sister website newburytoday
as it is carrying especially written potted reviews on the host of gigs taking place.

Interesting to see that with a weekend of gigs already having taken place, two of the four reviews have been posted by yours truly - where are the rest?!

The Bad Film Club at the Newbury Comedy Festival

Another night another comedy review! It was back to New Greenham Arts on the former Greenham Common Airbase to see The Bad Film Club, a name which says it all and indeed rarely would be sufficient for a would be punter to anticipate the show.

I was joined by the unfailingly affable Robin Winnett of Win IT and deserving winner of this year's West Berkshire Business Club, Business of the Year competition, who readily accepted an invitation to comedy without knowing what it was about. Such bravery was rewarded!

Without further wittering, here is the review that will appear in this week's Newbury Weekly News. A potted version has also been written for newbury today:

The Bad Film Club
New Greenham Arts

The idea is as terrific as it is original; pick a truly awful movie (for our evening of cinematic ridicule it was Patrick Swayze’s 1989 ‘classic’ Roadhouse) add three razor sharp comics on a sofa, armed with laser pointers, and rip the hell out of the film.

And so another audience was introduced into the firmly established and thoroughly infantile practices of The Bad Film Club. Created by our hosts ‘Nicko & Joe’ a veteran BFC guest Brendan Burns.

Self-confessed movie geeks they are clearly passionate, near evangelical about their work; spreading the withering word about some of the truly appalling films that have somehow been made.

Audience participation was encouraged, indeed if Swayze was ever caught gazing slightly off camera it was essential to utter, starting low and raising to a crescendo: “Sway-zeeeee!” Jazz hands were optional. Equally, if we found ourselves actually enjoying its true awfulness then a slow hand clap – ideally not co-ordinated – was required.

Their attention to bad detail was awesome and you have to wonder how many times they have subjected themselves to such awful cinema to be able to criticise distant hair crimes almost off camera or a pout from an actress who truly sucked. Presumably to get the fleeting part.

So it was good fun and they kept everyone laughing. However, sadly, and fittingly like a bad movie, the show went on – actually just a bit longer than the movie – an on; it was essentially the same jokes or variations of the same humour hammered home again and again.

The theory would be you could enjoy this show again and again by just substituting another bad movie, but unless it was a film that had some unlikely resonance with me, I suspect I’d rather go and see a good movie.

Shazia Mirza at the Newbury Comedy Festival

One of the fruitful pies I have a finger in is comedy reviewing; which essentially putting into words the post performance assessment that most people save for the post performance pub visit.

I used to review a fair bit of stand up, but stood down after I found myself too easily anticipating jokes or wearily recognising a comic formulaic approach to a topic.

Still such insight did lead to me being crowned the 2005 Jongleurs SMART Gagmeister and a trip to the 2006 Montreal Comedy Festival, so not all bad!

However, with staffers at the Newbury Weekly News and its website newburytoday not quite mopping up all the review tickets at this years Newbury Comedy Festival I am actually doing a few reviews over the next week.

My first was last night and readers of this blog get to see it here first!

Shazia Mirza
New Greenham Arts
Friday 7^th July 2007

Standing up in that niche market of well known Muslim female comics, Shazia Mirza has blazed a path as an edgy, boundary-trashing performer and indeed she did have a bounty of observations that prompted everything from nervous laughter to guffaws.

However, her performance lacked warmth and to begin with I thought it lacked polish, indeed some comics see summer festivals like ours as an opportunity to fine tune their new Edinburgh shows.

However, by her own admission this was her ‘old’ show; so actually it was just a bit tired and tour weary. No more was this evident than with the contrast when she ad-libbed, picking on audience members for light relief. Then she positively sparkled.

So she was almost lacking conviction as she romped through some clever material that mocked racism from a unique perspective; together was some gasp inducing quips about everything from honour killings to being raped by unlicensed minicab drivers – or being offended if they didn’t try!

Mirza’s problem, and one that a seasoned comic like herself should know, is that a small venue often produces small laughs. However she convinced herself wrongly that her material was too ‘edgy’ for Newbury and was prone to tell us when something was funny if we failed to reward a line with enough laughs

She spent some time reading out the death threats she has received from fellow Muslims that even prompted police protection at earlier gigs, and these perhaps best illustrate how groundbreaking she is; characteristically she dismissed it as ‘honour heckling’

Her show, spilling over the scheduled hour, sadly ended clumsily with a short video that merely illustrated some of her earlier observations; then she grabbed the mic to say goodbye, presumably to a wasted opportunity.

It Was the Sun Wot Won It - And Newbury Today!

It is not often that you hear the Newbury Weekly News mentioned in the same breath as The Sun but the two very different publications have seen their respective websites share the Newspaper Website of the Year Award at the 2007 Picture Editors Awards.

Now Newbury Today have generously mentioned The Sun in their report of the prestigious accolade, but The Sun - reading their take on the event you could be forgiven for thinking they had scooped the award outright!

Shame on them eh?