Charities must do their bit too

Events such as Cardiff's Race for Life show there are innovative ways for charities to fundraise and publicise themselves

HOW to break a cycle? Here’s how it usually runs. Charity executives get together and agree that the media won’t support their latest initiative. They thrash the matter around for a couple of hours before deciding to put out a press release. The release is ignored. The executives regroup, and confirm to themselves that the media doesn’t support their initiatives. So what have they learned?

For anti-poverty campaigners, the issue is a little more complicated. As well as dealing with a subject that is “worthy, not newsworthy”, as one journalist described it to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, they also have to appeal to a public made largely hostile by a media that feeds them a diet of chavs, Asbo-laden wild childs and dole scroungers.

In Cardiff yesterday to launch its latest report, Poverty in the Media at a Bevan Foundation organised event, there were examples of the JRF conclusions. The Shannon Matthews case is one such case. After her mother Karen was jailed for her part in her daughter’s fraudulent kidnapping, there was considerable examination of her social circumstances – particularly the mothering of her children and the way in which they were raised, leading to finger pointing that occasionally tipped into Victorian freak show.

An excellent Panorama programme aired after Matthews’ convictions showed up another media problem for third sector organisations involved in poverty awareness. Through the posing of far-searching questions and careful research, Panorama was able to take a case study and paint a far wider canvas that examined the spread and effect of benefits culture on this country. The difficulty for the third sector is that the skills required in producing reporting of this kind exists hardly at all at regional level (with the exception of the BBC). In the entertainment-focused news, many editors no longer value the need to school their reporters this way.

This will unsettle further those charities who already harbour doubts about exposing sometimes vulnerable individuals to the media as case studies. The spread of what is seen as media stitch-ups (although they are more likely to be sensitive handling failures caused by deadline rushes) and risk aversion means that many organisations, predominantly in the public sector but now also in the third, employ press officers less as gatekeepers and more as drawbridge operators, whose instructions are that the keep remains firmly shut.

But now the media is being transformed by two factors: the recession, and the march of online content. They are often indistinguishable, because it is the collapse of traditional advertising platforms that is at the heart of the issue, and both are causing it. This is mostly affecting printed titles (newspapers are closing at the rate of one a week at present) but, as we have recently seen with ITV Wales’s travails, ad-funded broadcasters are having it tough, too.

Many media organisations which embarked on asset stripping during the good times in order to maximise profits, rather than following the BBC’s lead in investing heavily in the development online strategies, now find themselves in a Catch 22 situation, unable to afford new staff to fight for their market share. Instead, more redundancies are made, leaving those remaining to manage continued decline.

This will make those reporters ever more reliant upon news generated outside their organisations, presenting opportunities for the third sector. However, as coverage becomes a buyers’ market, campaigners find themselves faced with another problem: where to place their publicity to maximise its effectiveness? Because, as the old media falters, new media – the young pretender – is nowhere near ready to on take the baton.

The peer-to-peer freedom that social media has brought has not compelled its contributors to become disciplined in their writing. Consumers believe that much online content is inaccurate, biased and, sometimes, in contravention of law. All the while, there is talk of citizen journalists. This sounds more like something cooked up by a newspaper exec looking to reduce staff numbers, but it remains an impossible dream while online writers are not policed effectively. Of course, some writers are naturally gifted, but good writing requires training and years of experience, the mastery of editing skills. No doubt it will be a topic for discussion this evening at the inaugural Welshbloggers in the Pub event.

It seems pretty safe to assume that some kind of Darwinian principle will come into play as online content matures, but perhaps not for a few years, because readers’ habits must be allowed to form. And the argument over monetizing will need to be settled before the sector moves forward.

This uncertainty does few favours for third sector organisations that base a percentage of their publicity strategy on media awareness, particularly if they are working in the highly volatile, here today, gone tomorrow blogging market. However, while they wait for the changes to blow through, many of them have their own argument to settle. In short, they are failing to communicate.

There is King Canute thinking on the part of much of the third sector that runs along the lines of – if the media isn’t interested in what we’re doing, what can we do to change the media? This takes a problem and makes it harder. It also allows the complacency, a cowardly complacency, to prevail in the public sector. This, it has to be said, suits many executives, who would rather spend their days not having to worry about the following morning’s headlines.

But you either communicate, or you do not. Local authorities and many other public bodies have a duty to do so. But when the will is absent, under-resourcing naturally occurs and the consequence is those bad headlines. Often, university leavers will take posts as press officers as their first jobs. Here in Wales, they may find themselves up against journalists with over 30 years’ experience, particularly skilled at to slicing and dicing public bodies in print. There can only be one result and, given the accountability the public expects, no comment will no longer do.

Instead, public and third sector organisations need to be beefing up their outfacing communications. They need to begin with a fresh commitment to recruitment. Here, they are advantaged by the media’s problems and a glut of jobless journalists. It isn’t just a case of poacher-turned gamekeeper. For example, many third sector organisations find themselves hamstrung by their inability to criticise bodies like the National Assembly because it has provided them with funding. A time-served reporter or editor will find the words to nibble the hand that feeds.

Once an organisation has a skilled hand on board, it should use them effectively. This requires devolving far more power to the press office, primarily in the approval of quotes, which often spend far too long with directors that are the only people that can sign them off. This will not endear the organisation to journalists, while news of a good contact (for which, read quick response) will go around a newspaper office faster than the story itself. They need to be able to make snap decisions and, as the expert, should also be dictating communications policy. Additionally, they should be versed – or prepare to be trained – in associated media and marketing disciplines in order to advance a campaign on all fronts.

A good press officer is not only invaluable to the media. They are worth their weight in gold to the organisation they represent. They become bridges and not gatekeepers. Here in Wales, Dave Galligan at Unison is a shining example of the kind of press officer outlined above – sharp, well briefed and knowledgeable and effective. Think about it – when was the last time you saw a bad headline about Unison?