Society of Editors debate the crisis in our courts

Society of Editors debates the crisis in our courts and how to solve it

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An expert panel discussed how to safeguard British court reporting in the age of digital media at this week’s Society of Editors seminar, Cision’s Josh Gray reports.

This week’s seminar at the Telegraph offices, sponsored by Cision, brought a panel of experts together to discuss the challenges facing court reporting and propose solutions.

The five-man panel consisted of former lord chief justice Igor Judge, former culture secretary John Whittingdale MP, Society of Editors executive director Ian Murray, HM Courts & Tribunals Service comms director Edward Owen and Tristan Kirk, a court reporter at the London Evening Standard.

They who stand in judgement are themselves on trial

Lord Judge began proceedings with an impassioned defence of journalism’s role in the proper administration of justice.

He reminisced about the time when every Crown Court case had at least one court reporter on the benches to judge whether due process was being followed, from the competency of police services to whether or not the judge might have fallen asleep during proceedings.

For Judge, the decline of local journalism and the subsequent disappearance of court reporters from over half the UK’s criminal trials is a threat. Justice needs to be seen to be done, ideally by those who can accurately and impartially inform the public about the legality of rulings.

He also noted that without dedicated court reporters it becomes harder to spot criminal trends as they emerge.

Making crime (reporting) pay

Understanding the causes of this problem is easy: both regional and national news services have been struggling for resources in the current media and economic climate. According to Whittingdale, there’s not enough money available to cover the slow burning affairs of the Crown and Magistrates’ Courts.

Whittingdale outlined a number of potential solutions to safeguard the future of court reporting since leaving the government.

First, he has suggested expanding the BBC’s new Local News initiative vehicle to include more specialised journalists such as court reporters. (The public service spends £8 million a year funding 150 reporters to help struggling regional publications.)

Another option is to encourage Google and Facebook to invest in a local news fund by persuading them of the future benefits of healthy grassroots journalism. Whittingdale has already broached the subject with representatives from the companies.

In addition, the government is currently considering a social media levy to fix the problems caused by web monopolies.

Greentarget appoints Jamie Brownlee as director

Greentarget hires Jamie Brownlee as director

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Financial services comms specialist Greentarget has appointed Jamie Brownlee as director. Brownlee will work alongside the consultancy’s existing directors to help support the growth of the agency.

He joins from Citigate Dewe Rogerson, where he spent eight and a half years in its corporate team working with some of the world’s leading financial services companies.

He has experience covering asset management, wealth management, private equity, venture capital, real estate, business lending, corporate finance and fintech.

Richard Thoburn, CEO of Greentarget, said: “Jamie brings with him a wealth of experience in financial services, particularly in wealth management, private equity and real estate as well as strong leadership skills. He will be a valuable asset to our growing team.”

Brownlee added: “I’m delighted to have joined Greentarget. I was really impressed with the team’s passion, hunger for success and ambitions to grow. There is a clear and significant opportunity to build on the success the agency has achieved to date and I’m really excited to be part of that.”

Jo Cresswell Milk & Honey PR

Milk & Honey PR promotes Jo Cresswell to associate partner

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Milk & Honey PR has promoted Jo Cresswell to associate partner.

Cresswell (pictured above) joined Milk & Honey PR last March as client director and was formerly head of corporate at Rostrum.

The agency has also promoted Harriet King to senior client executive and appointed Lindsay Stanley as its “client director on the ground” in New Zealand.

“Now is an exciting time to further my career at Milk & Honey PR,” said Cresswell. “It’s a business that is wholly people focused and is going from strength to strength. We are working with some incredibly ambitious technology, wellness and retail clients, which is enormously fun.”

Kirsty Leighton, Milk & Honey’s managing partner, added: “Jo has tirelessly promoted the Milk & Honey brand and added client revenue. She embodies passion, bravery, energy and collaboration – which are some of our core values.”

Meet the Journalist: Investigative journalist Emma Youle

Meet the Journalist: Investigative journalist Emma Youle

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Archant’s Emma Youle talks to Cision’s Simon Stiel about her work, why investigative journalism is a vital public service and how PRs can partner with investigative reporters.

For your award-winning “hidden homeless” investigation, you looked at homelessness and temporary accommodation in Hackney. Why?

The “hidden homeless” investigation was prompted by an earlier story I covered about a man who was found dead in a homeless hostel in Hackney in 2016.

He had been dead for a few days before his body was discovered and the death really shocked other people living in the hostel. I visited and reported on conditions and people living in tiny rooms that cost the council hundreds of pounds a week. We realised very quickly that this was probably not an isolated situation and began to investigate how widespread the use of hostel accommodation was in Hackney and across London.

I went away and used Freedom of Information requests and government data to research how many people were living in temporary accommodation in boroughs across London, and how much this cost councils. This data formed the backbone of the “hidden homeless” investigation. But the reporting also focused on the stories of the many people living in hostels and their struggles to find a stable, secure, affordable home.

The investigation shone a light on the acute housing crisis in Hackney and resulting homelessness at a time when figures were at a five-year high.

How did the different approaches you used – including Freedom of Information requests and undercover reporting – help you in the investigation?

Freedom of Information requests were a vital tool in this investigation to uncover data showing how much local authorities in London are spending on housing people in temporary accommodation.

Our research showed Hackney Council spent £35 million in 2015-16, up from £9.4 million in 2011-12. That’s a very significant increase and the data clearly pointed to a huge social shift in the number of people living in temporary accommodation and hostels.

At that stage, you have to ask why. So I started exploring that question, asking the Mayor of Hackney, MPs, housing campaigners and homeless charities what was going on. It was also important to meet people living in hostels, to find out why and how they had ended up there. Not all private hostels allow residents to have visitors, so sometimes the only way in was undercover. We felt there was a strong public interest in gaining access to report.

What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome?

Persuading people living in hostels to be named and tell their stories was the biggest challenge. Many of the people I interviewed were in desperate situations – not of their own making – and it took real bravery to allow us to report on intimate details of their lives.

I spoke to survivors of domestic abuse, people who had slept rough on the streets and lost all their belongings, people who had suffered mental health problems and young mums who simply could not afford to privately rent in the borough and were forced to sleep in one room with their kids. Some were also worried that going public would result in them being evicted or losing their place on the housing list.

What makes investigative journalism an essential part of local news?

From my experience, the regional press carries out investigations in exactly the same way as the nationals do. We start from the basic question: is this a story or an issue that we need to dig deeper on? Does it warrant further investigation? And if so, how do we do that?

I believe investigative journalism is vital to all sections of the media – regional and national papers, online and broadcasters. It’s encouraging to see investigative journalism having something of a renaissance in the last couple of years. Archant is not the only company to have set up an investigations unit.

Is there a role for PRs in investigations? How can PRs be helpful in your work?

PRs can often be a useful source of information or data. If you see a press release on a topic that might make an interesting investigation, it’s always worth checking whether there may be an original data-set you could gain access to.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to go into investigative journalism?

Get a solid grounding in news reporting and know media law inside out. Be tenacious, talk to people, and always be on the lookout for story ideas. Don’t give up at the first hurdle if you have a cracking scoop that at first doesn’t stand up.

PR Case Study: Clarion Communications – The Grand Cork Experiment

PR Case Study: Clarion Communications – The Grand Cork Experiment

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Clarion Communications concocted this elaborate social experiment to increase preference for natural cork stoppers among wine drinking consumers.

Campaign:  The Grand Cork Experiment
Client: APCOR (The Portuguese Cork Association)
PR Team:  Clarion Communications
Timing: July-November 2017
Budget: £150,000

Summary

The ‘cork vs screw cap’ debate runs deep in the wine world.  Clarion entered the debate on behalf of The Portuguese Cork Association, creating a story which focused on the positives of cork specific to areas which screw caps could never own.

With the resulting headlines including ‘Why wine tastes better from a bottle with a cork than a screw cap’, we think we put up a pretty good argument.

Objectives

The Portuguese Cork Association enlisted Clarion Communications to increase preference for natural cork stoppers among wine drinking consumers and the UK wine trade by generating positive headlines and “word of mouth” about cork.

Strategy

Our research showed that while consumers care about the environment, this is not a common consideration when it comes to choosing wine.  It also highlighted that what type of stopper a bottle has doesn’t currently factor in people’s minds when shopping.

However, shoppers do associate cork stoppers with better quality wine, romance and celebration. Despite this, many are complacent about cork, preferring the convenience of screw caps.

We used this research and channelled our inner “mad scientist” to create a story which would generate “talk-ability” and positive media headlines.  Our strategy was to inspire shoppers to think about cork as part of the wine buying decision by promoting the intangible benefits of cork in areas that screw caps could never “own”.

PR Case Study: Clarion Communications – The Grand Cork Experiment

Implementation

Imagine walking through Soho and stumbling across a shop window turned into a foam padded “experiment chamber” complete with a blindfolded person sitting in a dentist’s chair, being fed wine by a lab technician.  Intrigued?

The Grand Cork Experiment was a consumer study overseen by an Oxford University experimental psychologist. Participants’ brain patterns were monitored while trying two identical wines, one served alongside the sound of a popping cork, the other alongside the crack of a screw cap bottle. They were also asked to give the wines ratings after hearing each of these sounds.

The aim was to test how the sounds, aromas and sensations associated with opening a wine bottle trigger the brain and influence the taste buds.  Participants rated the same wine as 15% better quality when played the sound of a cork upon serving.

To maximise coverage opportunities and engagement with influencers and consumers, we created an experiential element to the study – hence the Soho shop window.

We made The Grand Cork Experiment an immersive two-day ticketed consumer event for 200 people, creating a spectacle for passing members of the public. Guests also experienced a “sensory cleansing antechamber” including ear and eye massages and malic acid mouth cleansing, and a “cork workshop” where they experienced the cork processing technique.

A media and influencer launch night – plus pre-event photo news story, social media ticket giveaways and listings coverage – ensured a first wave of “noise” around the event.  This was followed by a second phase when Clarion took the results of the study to national and trade media, TV and radio.

Results

The Grand Cork Experiment generated positive headlines and “word of mouth” about cork as a stopper for wine in both consumer and wine trade media titles.

The campaign resulted in 201 pieces of coverage and a potential reach of 66,610,013 people. It generated coverage every UK national newspaper bar one, 10 radio interviews  and a mention on Sky News.

Its coverage on Mail Online received more than 300 engagements and the Sky News online piece generated over 200 interactions from a single video Tweet.

Gorkana Jobs relaunches as Cision Gorkana Jobs

Gorkana Jobs relaunches with new features

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Gorkana Jobs, the go-to job site for PRs and journalists, has relaunched as Cision Gorkana Jobs with an enhanced offering and new features which allow media job seekers to find their new role.

The website has a new look to reflect Gorkana’s alignment with Cision – which acquired Gorkana in 2015 – as the jobs team aims to build on the impressive 80,000 plus applications received for vacancies on the site in 2017.

To celebrate the relaunch, Cision Gorkana Jobs is offering new customers a 10% discount on their first job posting at any point throughout January as an incentive to advertise on a site with 110,822 registered users.

To help provide recruiters with the tools to find the best talent, employers will now be able to buy “Job of the Week” status, which will see the vacancy featured at the top of the website’s home page and promoted across Cision’s Twitter channel, increasing visibility to applicants.

Cision Gorkana Jobs will also expand its editorial offering, providing interesting content around both PR and journalism careers, ranging from tips on applications, salary surveys and advice on how to climb the careers ladder.

Ashley Richardson, Cision Gorkana Jobs manager, said: “We’re delighted to unveil the revamped Cision Jobs site. While we know that our site was already an essential destination for both recruiters and applicants, with 91,884 unique users in 2017, we believe that this redesign, and the new features which come with it, will enable Cision Jobs to stand out as the premier media industry recruitment destination.

She added: “For those of you who do not post roles on Cision Gorkana Jobs, you now have a limited opportunity to secure a discount on your first post with us. We saw the number of positions advertised on our site increase 10% year-on-year in 2017, so take advantage of this limited-time offer to advertise with one of the industry’s biggest job hubs.”

Abe Smith, Cision president, EMIA, added: “I’m delighted with the new look of the site, which is even more user-friendly and proudly adopts the Cision brand. It will continue to resonate with both journalists and communications professionals, I’m sure, as they look to build their careers.”

“Cision provides the technology and insights that power the best earned media programmes and campaigns. But we also know that agencies and brands want the best communicators in their business and Cision Jobs will continue to be the place to find them.”

For more information visit www.gorkanajobs.co.uk or contact the Cision Gorkana Jobs team on +44 (0)20 7074 2557 and [email protected].

  • Pictured: The Cision Gorkana Jobs team