Prepare For Christmas!

2 things would fill me with dread when working for the BBC. One of them was Children In Need (I've never been a fan of forced jollity and news readers dancing).

The other was Christmas.

OK I now realise that I sound like an anti-fun stereotype. I do like Christmas, I've even warmed to tinsel and I want you to know that my home will become a grotto of delight for my 2 children. However, Christmas as a journalist is hell.

NOTHING.... EVER.... HAPPENS...

So why am I telling you this?

In the daily news media there are journalists, managers and producers up and down the land who are starting to prepare for the fallow period between Christmas and the New Year; they may only have it in their mind as a job that needs doing at this stage... and it's a job they all hate.

As a canny PR organisation, or as a PR working within an organisation, this is the time to think of how you can help those poor journalists with content.

Good content.

If you're thinking of things to do try along these lines (they are always the ones that get a look in at Christmas); Volunteering, working across the festive period, food waste, alternative presents, children, the armed forces / emergency services, animals and the awful things that happen to them and money. All of these will be trotted out every year without fail.

If you can dip your toe into any of these, provide case studies, no too many commercial mentions and access for a reporter to get it all pre recorded before Christmas week, start dangling it in front of them now. There will be journalists all over the UK who'll be so proud they have something to mention at the Christmas planning meeting in a months time.

Imagine their bright little face on that (nowhere near) Christmas morning when they open that big press release to find it's what every journalist asks Santa for... an easy life.

It's the gift that keeps giving.

MEDIA ENGAGEMENT SEMINAR IS BOOKING NOW 3RD DECEMBER IN LEICESTER JUST OFF THE M1

Page 3 or Lib Dems?

There are 2 big media stories this week, they both involve tits and they don't need anyone else to blog about them.

Seriously... Stop it.

Yes, Nick Clegg made himself look stupid and the song will haunt him to his inevitable political grave.

Yes, "Page 3" is out-dated out-moded tacky and unpleasant, but it won't stop until men decide that they don't enjoy looking at naked breasts.

Fine.

Are we done now?

So, on to the joy that Audrey Ellis has brought me this week.

Audrey Ellis? You haven't heard of her? The woman is a genius when it comes to the correct use of your freezer... She wrote "Complete Book Of Home Freezing" (no mucking about with definite articles here, oh no, straight in to it.)

Audrey (the one with the hair) wrote her magnum opus in 1970, and I've been reading the reprint from 1978. Oh what a read it is. Not only does it tell you to keep a journal of what is in your freezer, a task sadly forgotten by the modern freezer user, but she advises on the correct freezing method for everything in your home.

Audrey has a no nonsense approach to her subject. Here's her views from the page entitled "Slimming Dishes Planned For Your Diet"

"Almost every woman who needs to lose weight consoles herself by blaming those surplus pounds on something other than self-indulgence. Whether you blame your over-active glands or your extra-heavy bones the only way to get rid of a spare tyre and a double chin is to eat less of the fattening foods."

Thanks for that stirring advice Audrey... She goes on

"A fat friend of mine who found it all but impossible to cook her favourite dishes for the family without sharing them, kept up her morale by setting aside a small portion for herself each time in a special basket [in the freezer] of goodies to eat after she had achieved her ideal weight. It might be a bit of a temptation though, to less strong minded ladies!"

 Thank goodness men don't need to lose weight, it's just our "wives".

So why have I blogged about this rather than the usual media training comment stuff? Well, like I said, it's all been done this week. It's as relevant as Audrey Ellis' book on home freezing...