Last week prweek.com reported that House of Commons chiefs are considering extending the parliamentary lobby system to include bloggers. This would give bloggers the same access as lobby journalists, a way of obtaining government information in an off camera setting. For the UK, it seems to be a forward move into the social media sphere, […]
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
PR disaster for unions as shoppers shatter credibility
Wednesday, November 25th, 2009
The public sector union leaders must be cringing at today’s media reports. The Irish Independent describes how many workers and families took advantage of the one day work stoppage to catch up on cheap Christmas shopping. The sub editors captured the mood with the headline, “Strike for the Border as Shoppers flee North.”
With over 400,000 people […]
Has the time for an Irish ‘Bank Holiday’ come?
Thursday, January 29th, 2009
Any questions about the impact of the global financial crisis of 2008 on the real economy should by now have been answered. Corporate announcements have had one theme in common this January, retrenchment. No sector of the economy, global or domestic, seems unscathed. From Microsoft to Smurfit Stone, Corus to Barratts Shoes, Intel to Independent […]
Yes we can
Wednesday, November 5th, 2008
The slogan “Yes we can” concluded the victory speech of US-President elect Barack Obama in Chicago last night.
The slogan defined a political campaign.
That campaign was spearheaded by one word - ‘change’.
The lesson of the Obama success is the effectiveness of simple, direct communication.
Yes we can.
Palin Goes Rogue and McCain Camp Goes Off the Record
Wednesday, October 29th, 2008
The latest installment in the Palin-McCain saga has several McCain advisers suggesting to CNN that they have become increasingly frustrated with what one aide described as Palin “going rogue.” As anyone in the communications business knows, all is not well when “sources”, “close to” a particular public individual or company start to talk off-the-record, especially […]
“The derivatives genie is now well out of the bottle.” Warren Buffett, 2002
Friday, September 19th, 2008
As described by John Gapper in the Financial Times recently, the crisis in world financial markets was anticipated by Warren Buffet, who warned that derivatives were “financial weapons of mass destruction” in the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Report 2002 . With the benefit of hindsight many a central banker will be wondering why that annual report […]
US SEC TO APPROVE WEBSITES AND BLOGS FOR REGULATORY FD
Friday, August 1st, 2008
According to a report this week from IR Web Report, under new guidance unanimously approved by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, companies in the US may soon be able to rely on their websites and blogs to meet the public disclosure requirements under Regulation FD under certain circumstances.
The SEC study began in late 2006 […]
Uncharted or Unchartered? Do the politicians know?
Friday, June 20th, 2008
In the week since the rejection by the Irish voters of the Lisbon Treaty, we have been told that the EU is in both “uncharted” and “unchartered” waters, or is it either “uncharted” or “unchartered waters?
So which is it?
Is it that there is no chart to guide us on the choppy constitutional seas, or […]
Lisbon: How Better Communication Could Have Averted a Political Crisis
Wednesday, June 18th, 2008
When the dust started to settle on the result of the Lisbon Referendum at the weekend, one of the strongest reasons given for voting “no” was “I didn’t understand it, so I voted no” or “they didn’t tell me what it meant so I voted no”.
And there is no doubt that the strategy of the […]
The Importance of Being Credible or JUST SAY YES…please?
Monday, June 9th, 2008
With only a few days to go to the Lisbon referendum, recent opinion polls indicate very clearly that the campaign to get the proposition passed is under very serious threat of failure. Opinion polls this close to voting usually indicate the trend that will emerge on polling day. So at this stage the Lisbon Treaty looks […]