After a week’s hiatus, Scott Douglas and Peter Laing return to the podcast chair to discuss the latest news and views from the world of journalism, social media and public relations.
This week, the hosts discuss the issue of editorial payments at the UK edition of the Huffington Post - following the call from top Scottish political writer Guido Fawkes urging bloggers not to submit their work to the site for free.
Scott and Peter also ask whether the world of journalism has become saturated with middle class reporters and whether this has negatively affected the recent coverage of the UK riots, in addition to looking at the latest developments in the Murdoch phone hacking scandal.
As always links to the stories discussed are included in the show notes below.
GUIDO SAYS DON’T GIVE YOUR STUFF TO THE HUFFINGTON POST
http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=47735&c=1
http://www.messagespace.co.uk/category/blog/
TOO MIDDLE CLASS TO COVER THE RIOTS?
http://jonslattery.blogspot.com/2011/08/are-journalists-too-middle-class-to.html
MAJOR WANTED CROSS-PARTY ALLIANCE TO BREAK TIES WITH MURDOCH AND BLACK
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2011/aug/18/john-major-alliance-take-on-rupert-murdoch
Hi both, interesting show as usual. Your chat about QR codes reminded me of something I saw on a trip to Bordeaux last October. There were QR codes everywhere, in some very prominent locations. Don’t have any pics of my own, but you can see some examples here: http://bit.ly/oCE5v1
So, either some very forward-thinking marketing bods in that city, or we are dragging our heels in the UK.
Maybe we should be drinking more wine….
Cheers Kate – appreciate the comment.
Absolutely no doubt we should be drinking more wine!
I was a bit sceptical about QR codes myself – but now can really see them taking off over the next year – 18 months.
Suspect you’ll be seeing plenty of creative use of them in the golf world.
Catch you soon, I hope.
Scott
Good to catch up with a couple of editions of QND.
Your discussion about social class in journalism was interesting, and I just had to say all us who were brought up in Council houses should unite. Remember, the workers united will never be defeated !
But I was also surprised that Scott didn’t take it on to talk about class within public relations.
There are occasional discussions about diversity in PR, and they tend to orbit around race. Every so often there will be a debate about whether some areas of PR are closed to women, and there are some interesting stereotypes around consumer PR and public affairs. But class is not really discussed.
The more you move away from media relations, or the more you move towards corporate communications, the number of nice middle-class people increases substantially. Certain areas such as public affairs, regulatory relations, investor relations have a more obvious class bias. But that in part can be about where these PR people come from, often from other business disciplines and sliding sideways into a communications role. And of course the target audiences for those communicators will tend to be from the middle class, so being comfortable in that world helps.
I think there is a 10,000 word essay, for a middle class undergraduate, on a whole host of issues – the move to professionalise PR and journalism, the general demise of working class identity, the flight of middle classes from traditional professions.
But just to pick up on a couple of hurdles.
You talked about academic hurdles, and I think there is a question to be asked around whether you need a university degree to enter the industry. I am certainly not anti-education, as I studied for the CIPR Diploma but I am not sure whether my arts degree helped me in those early years.
But there are also other barriers that are emerging, for example the growing importance of internships as a stepping stone into public relations. When so many internships continue to be unpaid, and are often provided as a favour to clients or friends, then that is going to be an additional barrier.
In a competitive job market, internships on the CV are very important.
I wonder whether media relations has been an access point for working-class journalists to move into the PR profession? That has allowed them to move into in-house roles and develop a career path from there, or create their own businesses.
So returning to your debate, the decline in the number of working-class journalists will ultimately impact on PR.
Cheers Jason,
You’re absolutely right that I body-swerved the issue of ‘class’ in PR – one thorny topic was enough for me!
In simple terms I suspect PR is even more skewed towards nice middle class people to an even greater degree than journalism.
The sectors also have different gender biases – more men in news, more women in PR.
While the gender balance in both sectors has showed signs of levelling out in the past 10 years, I’m not so sure about the class thing.
Thanks for making some fantastic points in this.
I’d be fascinated to hear other views about:
* The academic issue (I’d like t see less academic study in PR and loads more practical and vocational learning). Peter has some forthright views on this in the journalistic sphere.
* Internships. Ouch. A really thorny issue, particularly after the TV documentary expose earlier this year.
Our view at Holyrood PR is to keep unpaid internships to under a month – and always try to find a job for any interns who really make an impact. Obviously not always possible. It’s about fairness, ultimately, isn’t it?
* Will PR see an influx of more ‘working class’ practitioners, as journalists move over. In a word, yes – though I suspect the numbers will still be very, very small.
Wonder if we might see a few more comments on this issue?
Thanks again for commenting.
Scott
Although i’m not a PR guru I keep an interest in media, especially as it copes with the IT revolution (can a revolution last 20+ years?). That’s why I listen to your QND mutterings weekly.
Your discussion on QR codes caught my ears. They are growing in use, but its still early days. eg. At the breakfast table my Sugar Puffs have competitions which print a URL. Why not a QR code ? Its begging to be scanned as I sit every morning surfing my smartphone, munching my puffs. Cereal = QR code.
However the weekly supermarket leaflets crammed inside the local freepaper now also sport QR codes which may not be as necessary given a leaflet is easily taken to a desktop computer. Point is that QR codes have not found their natural places yet, given time they might. Their name is a barrier for people, they should be called a snap-code or picture-link which is more intuitive to the uninitiated like Peter.
Perhaps in 2-3 years active Near Field Communication tags will breakthrough into retail and banking to become bar-code and QR’s smart cousin.
As for new blood, I studied Engineering in the 80′s on a ‘thin sandwich’ 5 year Hons course which included two 6 month placements in relevant companies. Those six months were a blast. Absorbing every function you could get to, suggesting improvements and getting paid. Back then the Media and Social Sciences courses aka “The McDonalds” were traditional three year courses. Open-up those courses to include long placements and you may end-up with focused new blood less defined by class and more by talent.
Tuppence.
~ John
A quite tremendous tuppence worth it is, an’ all!
Couldn’t agree more with you on QR codes – the information yielded by scanning has to be additional, useful and interesting (sounds easy, but that’s really a big ask).
Also agree they need a better name (then again, we’ve all jumped on Twitter, which has to get the award for most off-putting name ever).
Forgive the ignorance, but does the ‘thin sandwich’ refer to the two placements, the diet you were on to fund five years at uni, or something else?
But fully agree that placements are essential to really stoke the hunger for a real job.
However, employers have to play their part. We all know of students going to places to be given a seat in the corner and ignored until someone wants tea made.
Final view from me – anyone who chooses staff by ‘class’ rather than ‘talent’ is a mug.
Cheers for the comment
SD
I was fortunate to receive a grant by the Conservative Government as an investment that I payed back with interest through higher taxes. Can I say Thatcher was right about this ? Argument for another day, but it was a diet I was grateful for.
~ John
And this is an interesting use for QR codes. Now you can use your gravestone as the trail, using a QR code to link to more detailed information. A text book use. Great idea.
QRIP: You, Too, Can Have Immortal Life With QR Codes!
http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2011/08/30/QRIP-You-Too-Can-Have-Immortal-Life-With-QR-Codes!.aspx
I would agree we have seen a rise in QR code implementation over the past 8 months, not all have been good.
A “let’s throw a widget” attitude seems to have cropped up without thinking about the appropriateness of using the technology and taking the the awkwardness factor into a account.
For example, if your QR code just point to a desktop browser version of your homepage you are probably wasting everyone’s time.
There have been some excellent uses as well. The example you gave about the estate agents works for me as the QR codes short cuts a complex URL, acts as real world “for more info click here” button and as a opens up an electronic property info which is easy to pass onto a partner or bookmark for reading later..
As for being new, they taking a while to catch on over year but have been kicking around since 1994 in Japan, pre-dating the smartphone revolution which is itself quite interesting. My personal prediction is that visual recognition (think Google glasses) will make them obsolete before too long. Why scan a code when you can just snap a poster/sign?
Oh..(apologies in advance) the CIPR Scotland are starting a series of event, the first happens to be on QR codes…..
http://ciprssoccityqrcodes.eventbrite.com/
I will be trying to cram the how, when and why of QR codes into 40 minutes.
Cheers,
Joe