Tone

The BBC decided that they didn't "own the tone" of the Jubilee Celebrations.

Tone will be the first thing on the minds of commentators and pundits during the Olympic Coverage.

Tone is often overlooked in journalism, as it is in most forms of communications work.

So what is tone? How can you define it's use in comms? Tone is more than syntax and paradigm; it's the collection of emotional signifiers that connect with an audiences own reading of the import, gravity, & significance of an action or event. It's all the bits in a message that aren't the words...

But, it includes the words...

Those who have completely misread tone include The Sun Newspaper's reaction to the Hilsborough Disaster in 1989 which centres around the collective shock of the event and the subsequent blame-storming.

The coalition Governments Omnishambles budget got the tone wrong. The Chancellor approached it from a "we have to do something about the economy" point of view, the electorate approached it from "I don't want my pasty to be taxed" point of view. The subsequent volte-face and insistence that The Government was listening to the electorate, once again got the tone wrong. At that point they just wanted them to admit to getting it wrong.

The BBC's attempted giddy, carnival coverage of what turned out to be a rousing, formal, slightly sombre celebration along the Thames actually turned out to be flippant and silly and a little bit disrespectful.

When looking at corporate comms (internal and external) the tone needs to be within a consistent framework. What does the brand stand for? What are the core values? How is that presented alongside the information that needs to be disseminated? If we have to comment on a pseudo-political matter what is the tone of the message? The tone becomes the driver of that message, the right words with the wrong tone is more damaging than the wrong words with the right tone...

Do we have to mention Fern Cotton here?

Join the latest seminar here - just £35 including VAT
JOURNALIST WHISPERING - WHAT THEY WANT & HOW TO GIVE IT TO THEM.

So, you're in a studio...

These are 10 simple steps to make sure that you control a broadcast interview, not them.

1. You can say no.
If they have misinterpreted your story, want to move it into a different context, or they are just a bit pushy and unpleasant; you can say no. They'd prefer an honest no rather than a scrappy interview that doesn't help either of you. In crisis terms if you do say no understand that the refusal will be interpreted badly... so go to step 2.

2. 'Not yet' is a viable option.
The average journalist is eager for content NOW. You may need some time to marshal the people that need to be in place. Be honest enough to tell them that. They are more likely to trust you as a contact and trust builds a splendid working relationship. In crisis terms a written statement saying 'not yet because...' buys time... but not a lot of time.

3. What is the story and what will the angle be?
You need to know what's in the journalists head before you say yes. The angle may be that everyone in your organisation is evil... it forewarns you about difficult questions.

4. Is it for a programme or a news clip?
Programme means longer on-air, news clip is 30 second for a bulletin. This indicates how much work you need to put in setting someone up. The CEO won't be bothered by 30 seconds so an underling may be better. For the full programme experience you need someone who's articulate and briefed.

5. What's the programme remit?
News programmes will be shorter but harder, magazine programmes will be longer and softer (stop giggling). It's all to do with the tone of the interviewer. With so many listen again services, and stations on the internet then there's no excuse to listen to the interviewer before the interview to get a feel.

6. Live, recorded, packaged?
Live or recorded change the tone of what's happening but also changes the opportunity for editing out commercial bits of a recording. Packaged will mean that you interview will only be one element of the audio used. If the story is contentious or difficult for your organisation then expect your detractors to be featured as well as you (see below).

7. Is there anyone else appearing?
The BBC have to tell you this under the fair dealing producer guidelines. The reason? (see above)


8. You will call back.
Unless you are absolutely sure that you can get everything in place and that all concerned are available call back before committing. The journo would prefer to wait for an answer than the answer change. I would advise within half an hour for the call back; even if it's to say that you need more time. If they don't think it's coming together they may dump it and move on.

9. Is there anything that you DON'T want to talk about?
Under fair dealing policy if there is something that you can't won't or wouldn't want to talk about, tell them now. It may mean that they have to change what they're doing, or they may dump it all together, but you want to make sure that if you're invited to discuss 'A' you're not bumped onto the problems with 'B'.

10. You can say 'NO'.
If you're still not happy with the angle, with the story, or if you don't think that you can add something to a speculative punt, say no. It's better to be honest than crap. It all goes back to trust as a contact. However, as already said, if you're in a crisis situation saying 'no' is as bad as being found poisoning the water, with blood on your hands, standing over the body...

Are you a 'not for profit' organisation? Book any media training in August and get a 35% reduction; a 3 hour training session for up to 5 people starts from £299 all in.

Silly Season Vlog.

To celebrate the start of The Silly Season, here's another vlog from the face of JDoubleR, and in case you were wondering the Season officially starts on the 17th of July this year.

Another vlog from the face of JDoubleR

It's All About The Back Story...

And here is all that but in reading words...

I was invited to take part in an "Ask The Expert" event recently, where business people could ask me about their options when contacting the media. What does a press release look like, how do I spin a story to a journalist, that sort of thing.

I love these events because the questions asked are never the questions that need asking. The question that often needs asking of small businesses attempting PR is "Why are you being so middle class?"

As a journalist I'm going to shut down if someone pitches a product, but if someone pitches themselves as a story I'll listen.

Hundreds of small businesses are being run by brilliant fascinating people who have lived a life, they're merchant bankers who are now plumbers, they're welders who are now photographers, they're people who've taken redundancy and retrained to follow their dreams, they are young people who have been so driven that they want to make their first billion by the time they are 30, they are returning mothers who find they have a god given baking skill.

They are brilliant and articulate and interesting and exciting...

Their product launch bores me to tears... but their back story delights me.

Please small businesses of Britain stop being shy about who you are and what you've done; it's not gauche or self-serving to hang the story of the business on you.

It makes complete financial sense.

27 tips in 2 Vlogs

Here are lots of tips in exciting Vlog form. The first tells you what journalists love and the second discusses why your story may have been ignored.

All from the face of

The Perfect Press Release Part 2

When this blog post came through (via @tonywords) I got a bit cross. The original 'research' didn't address the major concern of a busy local multi-media newsroom.

Will it crash my computer?

The attachment / flash-object / animated .gif are enemies of the elderly desktops and servers local media has to deal with.

So what should a press release going to conventional media look like?

1. No attachments.
Don't send pictures to a radio station unless they're requested by the website and then tiny images please. Don't send video to a print outlet, but do tell them it's available.

2. NO ATTACHMENTS; ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?
That includes images in your signature. We know who you are, stop pressing the point.

3. A PDF IS AN ATTACHMENT, DEAR LORD WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?
Lovely as the flyer may be, it's just killed all my other programmes.

4. One screen please.
If you don't put the important bit at the top of the screen then you won't get featured. A newsroom may have 15% fewer staff than last week with a 15% increase in email traffic as everyone tries to get noticed. Journalists don't have time to scroll. If it doesn't engage in the size of a preview panel it gets deleted.

5. Minimal Linking.
As with attachments, if I have to go off to another site then I'm going to be a bit worried that wherever I go will kill everything else. If you need to link to something make it nice and text heavy and NOT a PDF link that will want to download and cause a Blue Screen Of Death.

For more pearls of wisdom join in with this FREE EVENT it's going to be splendid.

Fending off the wolves...

So, your press release has worked, they want to talk to you, they want to know all about the story. Brilliant, that's just what you wanted.

So your company has been caught up in a news story not of your making and they want an interview... what will you do?

So, the shit has hit the fan and you're in crisis mode. The media want to get hold of you. How do you control the situation?

These are 10 simple steps to make sure that you control the story, not them.

1. You can say no.
If they have misinterpreted your story, want to move it into a different context, or they are just a bit pushy and unpleasant; you can say no. They'd prefer an honest no rather than a scrappy interview that doesn't help either of you. In crisis terms if you do say no understand that the refusal will be interpreted badly... so go to step 2.

2. 'Not yet' is a viable option.
The average journalist is eager for content NOW. You may need some time to marshal the people that need to be in place. Be honest enough to tell them that. They are more likely to trust you as a contact and trust builds a splendid working relationship. In crisis terms a written statement saying 'not yet because...' buys time... but not a lot of time.

3. What is the story and what will the angle be?
You need to know what's in the journalists head before you say yes. The angle may be that everyone in your organisation is evil... it forewarns you about difficult questions.

4. Is it for a programme or a news clip?
Programme means longer on-air, news clip is 30 second for a bulletin. This indicates how much work you need to put in setting someone up. The CEO won't be bothered by 30 seconds so an underling may be better. For the full programme experience you need someone who's articulate and briefed.

5. What's the programme remit?
News programmes will be shorter but harder, magazine programmes will be longer and softer (stop giggling). It's all to do with the tone of the interviewer. With so many listen again services, and stations on the internet then there's no excuse to listen to the interviewer before the interview to get a feel.

6. Live, recorded, packaged?
Live or recorded change the tone of what's happening but also changes the opportunity for editing out commercial bits of a recording. Packaged will mean that you interview will only be one element of the audio used. If the story is contentious or difficult for your organisation then expect your detractors to be featured as well as you (see below).

7. Is there anyone else appearing?
The BBC have to tell you this under the fair dealing producer guidelines. The reason? (see above)

8. You will call back.
Unless you are absolutely sure that you can get everything in place and that all concerned are available call back before committing. The journo would prefer to wait for an answer than the answer change. I would advise within half an hour for the call back; even if it's to say that you need more time. If they don't think it's coming together they may dump it and move on.

9. Is there anything that you DON'T want to talk about?
Under fair dealing policy if there is something that you can't won't or wouldn't want to talk about, tell them now. It may mean that they have to change what they're doing, or they may dump it all together, but you want to make sure that if you're invited to discuss 'A' you're not bumped onto the problems with 'B'.

10. You can say 'NO'.
If you're still not happy with the angle, with the story, or if you don't think that you can add something to a speculative punt, say no. It's better to be honest than crap. It all goes back to trust as a contact. However, as already said, if you're in a crisis situation saying 'no' is as bad as being found poisoning the water, with blood on your hands, standing over the body...