Meet the Journalist: New Scientist managing editor Rowan Hooper

Meet the Journalist: New Scientist managing editor Rowan Hooper

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Rowan Hooper, New Scientist’s managing editor, talks about modernising the title for a digital age, its close relationship with PRs and the state of UK science reporting today.

Rowan Hooper New Scientist

Rowan Hooper

New Scientist has been covering the latest scientific and tech breakthroughs since 1956. But what’s your scientific background? And how did you get into journalism?

After reading ecology at university I became totally gripped by the wonders of evolutionary biology, and I did a PhD in that subject (at Sheffield). I was also desperate to live abroad, so I moved to a lab in Japan, which I absolutely loved.

After a few years as a biologist, however, I found myself wanting to write more than I wanted to do science, and I started writing for an English-language newspaper, The Japan Times.

I then got a job at the paper in Tokyo and it was there that I learned the ropes. Many people these days learn about journalism on Masters degrees. But I learned it at the newspaper, and later at the magazine.

You joined New Scientist in 2005. How has the title changed over the past 12 years? And what do you think about the state of science reporting in the UK today?

When I joined New Scientist the website was quite separate from the print product, with a separate team of editors and reporters who produced online copy. One of my jobs was to integrate the two separate teams and start the process of making us more digital savvy.

I am not a hand-wringer about the state of science journalism in the UK – I think on the whole we produce very high quality stuff. Just look at the science output of The Guardian, Buzzfeed UK, The Economist and the BBC, for example. There’s some great work being done.

Of course, the tabloids can let us down. But that’s more their political agenda than a particular failure of science reporting.

You also became the creative director for New Scientist Live at the start of this year. Would you please tell us a bit about what this involves?

This was awesome. New Scientist Live is our annual festival of ideas and discovery, held in London. In 2017, it was our second year and I was responsible for coming up with ideas for talks and booking people for the stages and the show floor.

It’s a massive, four-day event and there is a huge amount going on. I interviewed three astronauts on stage, we had a live link-up with the International Space Station, we had [Canadian author] Margaret Atwood talk about science, Demis Hassabis of Google DeepMind spoke about Artificial Intelligence. And we had a colony of the world’s most amazing mammal – naked mole rats!

It was an absolute blast and we had more than 30,000 visitors over the four days.

How would you describe the typical New Scientist reader? And is there anything about the readership that’s surprised you over the years?

Our original editorial in 1956 said we were aimed at all men and women who were interested in science, and that’s still our aim.

The typical reader is someone curious about the world and someone who wants to understand what’s going on in the world of science, technology and medicine and be equipped for the future. But it’s very diverse. We’ve got people who’ve been reading us for 50 years, and also children who are super keen on science.

Climate change and the potential applications of CRISPR gene editing technology have been hot science topics in 2017. But which stories have resonated most with your readers this year?

A massive story for us was one we broke in August – the detection of gravitational waves caused by the collision of neutron stars. It’s very deep physics, but people love that stuff.

What’s your relationship like with PRs at New Scientist? And what stories are you most interested in hearing about?

We work closely with press officers putting out press releases. But the stories we like best are ones that we are offered exclusively.

A press officer might have an unusual story and know that New Scientist will be able to do it justice, and offer it to us exclusively. Those are the ones we like the best. But we’re also happy to hear about other cool stuff that’s happening.

As an evolutionary biologist, you must share the national passion for David Attenborough. How are you enjoying the new season of Blue Planet?

I’ve interviewed him a couple of times – he’s a legend. The new Blue Planet is making me itch to go diving.

A new media reformation?

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He has an orange complexion and an odd hairstyle. He is an outsider who has taken on the establishment of the most powerful nation in the world.

He has embraced new media platforms to directly communicate to the population using language that cuts against political correctness and resonates with ordinary people. His rhetoric has led to deep divisions, political polarisation and racial and religious intolerance. He is….

…Martin Luther. 500 years ago this winter, a little known monk from a small German town of Wittenberg was in the process of producing thousands of copies of his ‘Ninety-five theses’, a criticism of the established Catholic orthodoxy.

This vast scale of dissemination was made possible by revolutionary new technology in the form of the printing press. Unusually these documents were written in German rather than Latin and so were easily accessible to people who hadn’t had an elite classical education. Further copies were printed in other languages and within two months they had spread throughout Europe reaching huge audiences. This is the first example of a media campaign going viral. This was the reformation and what followed was one of the most bloody and divisive periods of European History.

It is perhaps not surprising that 500 years later, this has parallels with what is going on today. Technological disruption has always had the potential to affect the societal status quo, but it can be particularly acute when applied to the media.

If the media is the lens through which we see the world, then changing the lens clearly has potential to affect that world view at huge scale. I am nervous about hyperbole, but when highly credible figures like Professor Emily Bell from the Ivy League Columbia School of Journalism and former Digital Editor of the Guardian say the ‘media has changed more in last five years than the previous five hundred’ then you start to believe that we are living through another revolutionary period.

I wrote in my last blog post about how important social media platforms, especially Facebook, have been in recent political upsets from Brexit to Trump. Robert Peston writing in the Spectator under the headline ‘Politics is now a digital arms race’ has provided more detail on this by explaining how the ‘Vote Leave’ EU referendum campaign collected huge amounts of data about people from a huge variety of sources – social media, online advertising, websites, apps, canvassing, direct mail, polls and online fundraising.

The team then crunched that data to work out what would resonate most with specific types of audience profiles, especially those profiles that the data analytics had shown to be the most persuadable. As Peston describes ‘they set up the campaign as if it were a hedge fund staffed by rocket scientists who would be rewarded for finding systems that made the most effective use of the budget’.

In the UK General Election earlier this year, Labour performed much better than expectations would suggest. Rather than relying on traditional media relations with a small number of Westminster journalists and in traditional paid media campaigns, Labour used digital and social media more efficiently and more effectively. They used earned media principles of listening properly to your audiences, developing messaging that resonates, and engaging with them to share that message with others. Conservatives spent significant money on Facebook, but Labour’s campaign was more effective because they used the platform for ‘earned’ social engagement not ‘pushed’ advertising.

The Conservatives have many challenges at the moment, so it is eye raising that Peston, who let us remember is one of the UK’s most influential political journalists, puts his finger on media strategy as the biggest one. As he bluntly puts it: “the Conservative’s greatest structural weakness is that it is clueless in cyberspace”

This is Tintern Abbey, near where I live in South Wales. Once a wealthy, thriving and influential monastery – following the reformation and Henry VIII’s dissolution, it is now a ruin.

 

 

It is a stark 500 year old warning – when technology disrupts something as important as the media, the organisations that adapt are likely to flourish, the rest can quickly become consigned to history.

Suzy Spirit Award opens nominations

Nominations open for 2018 Suzy Spirit Award

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The annual Suzy Spirit Award has opened submissions to celebrate the unsung heroes of the comms industry.

Part of this year’s PRmoment Awards, the honour recognises inspirational PRs of exceptional character, integrity and determination. It’s free to enter and anyone can nominate those deserving of recognition for setting a shining example through mentoring and championing others.

LEWIS created the award to honour the memory of Suzy Ferguson, an inspirational employee who passed away from bowel cancer in 2012, aged 31. The agency also makes a donation to Bowel Cancer UK, the award’s official charity, to help fund its vital work.

Previous winners of the award include Emma Tweedie, director, Teacake Tuesday, Euan Steedman, press officer, BBC, Henry Playfoot, director, Claremont, Nicola Green, director of corporate affairs, Telefonica and Rosie Warin, CEO, Kin&Co.

Sally O’Neill, VP at LEWIS and member of the judging panel, said: “As we embark on the fifth year of the award, it is amazing to see how it has grown. More than ever in today’s society, it is essential that we honour people that set a positive example to others and encourage this trait.”

Ben Smith, founder of PRmoment.com, added: “We’ve admired this award since it started, so we’re proud to now include it in our awards line-up for 2018.

“As well as supporting a great cause, Bowel Cancer UK, the Suzy Spirit Award is different in that it recognises the softer qualities that generate success, and not just commercial skills.”

The early deadline for entries is Friday 15 December 2017, with nominations closing on Friday 12 January 2018. The winner will be announced at the PRmoment Awards 2018 in London on Thursday 22 March.

  • Pictured: Last year’s nominees and judging panel

Your chance to meet CNBC International

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CNBC International will round off a great year of Cision media briefings with an exclusive event at London’s Milton Court next week.

Noelle Murbach-Lami, CNBC’s head of news and programming, and Cristy Garratt, its head of social media and digital video, will be revealing the best ways for PRs to partner with the brand.

As world’s largest financial news network, CNBC reaches 8.3 million European consumers each month – and 70 million in the US.

With an audience of highly successful businesspeople, CNBC is the perfect destination for a wide range of corporate and financial news stories. And this briefing will show you how to successfully pitch stories to the network.

As Hanover’s Chris Calland said at a previous Cision briefing, these events provide communicators with key insights you simply can’t get elsewhere.

“Yet again, Cision has delivered a really insightful event,” he said. “You don’t just get the inside track on a media outlet’s current thinking, but insight into what it might be doing next – and what all of that means for your PR strategies.”

Murbach-Lami has been heading CNBC’s news and programming since 2016. The network dedicates three of its four hours of live weekday TV to its flagship Squwark Box Europe show.

Garratt joined CNBC in 2015 and has since overseen strong growth in its social channels. She is responsible for the network’s original digital video content and social media channels.

Cision’s Philip Smith said: “These morning briefings are a great way to discover what journalists really think about the PR and comms community and how to effectively pitch them stories.

“The connections Cision’s media briefings have facilitated have no doubt helped secure countless pieces of coverage over the years. So, I can strongly recommend securing one of the last few places on this one today, if you haven’t already.”

Enter your details below to claim your place and meet CNBC at this year’s final Cision media briefing on Wednesday 6 December.

Incorrect information? Clear the form.

Please note, our events are exclusive to clients of Cision, Gorkana and PR Newswire. If you have any questions, email [email protected] and we’ll be happy to help.

Ketchum Barri Rafferty and Rob Flaherty

Ketchum’s Barri Rafferty named first woman to lead a top five PR agency

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Ketchum’s Barri Rafferty will take the helm as the agency’s CEO in 2018, making her the first woman to lead a top five global PR firm.

As president and CEO, she will work closely with Ketchum’s leadership team to guide agency strategy, attract the best talent and honour the “Ketchum culture”.

Rafferty joined Ketchum in 1994 and has been its global president since July 2016. She has also served as its CEO of North America, led its global brand marketing practice and worked as director of Ketchum’s New York office.

She launched Ketchum Digital under the agency’s first shareholder model and has counselled globally renowned client organisations including Gillette and Pernod Ricard.

As an advocate for women’s leadership, Rafferty is a founding member of Omnicom Group’s OmniWomen board. She has spoken about gender parity at TEDxEast and the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

Rob Flaherty, Ketchum’s current chairman and CEO, will continue as chairman and increase his involvement with the firm’s clients.

He will work in partnership with Karen van Bergen, CEO of Omnicom Public Relations Group, to promote the success of all the agencies within the group.

“Ketchum has a history of smooth leadership transitions and is known for growing leaders from within,” said van Bergen. “Barri brings strong business acumen, a passion for operational excellence and a deep belief in the importance of talent – especially the critical role of diversity, equality and inclusion. I know these skills will help her lead the agency forward.”

Flaherty added: “Barri has been an integral part of Ketchum’s leadership team and she has a bold vision to transform Ketchum to make it even more relevant for today’s client needs.”

Rafferty concluded: “The depth of talent, culture and amazing client roster at Ketchum are a point of pride for Rob and for me, and I am honoured to step into the role of CEO on the heels of one of our best creative years in the agency’s history.”

  • Pictured: Barri Rafferty and Rob Flaherty
Cognito hires Thea Parnell as director

Thea Parnell joins Cognito as director

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Financial PR consultancy Cognito has appointed Thea Parnell as a director in its London office.

Parnell’s knowledge of leading integrated campaigns across a variety of sectors will complement the experience of the agency’s senior team. She also brings expertise in media relations, social media, brand positioning and digital marketing.

She joins from onebite, where she was client services director, and will report to Vivienne Hsu, Cognito’s EMEA managing director. Parnell has delivered campaigns for international corporations including Vodafone and the Financial Times, and driven growth for a number of tech start-ups.

Hsu said: “Thea’s experience in delivering impactful integrated campaigns, alongside excellence in client service, will be important as we work to further enhance our offering.

“We’re delighted she is joining Cognito, as we continue to focus on supporting our clients in driving their business performance through smarter communications, marketing and brand strategies.”

Parnell added: “I’m delighted to have joined a global integrated agency that fully understands the financial industry and the challenges it faces. This, coupled with the creative talent to make an impact, is a formidable combination.

“I look forward to working closely with the team and our clients to drive the success of their business and ours.”