✅ Media Briefing #28: Murdoch family issues, Google search, PR measurement guide, agency start-ups, Post Corona, PR at the kitchen table, and more...
Media, practice, research and insights, social media and platforms and events
This newsletter is crowdsourced each week from my blog and Lockdown Facebook community.
Lockdown is a community of practice, created nine months ago, for people studying and working in marketing, media and PR. It’s a hive mind, newsroom and source of information, help and support.
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Media
👪 MURDOCH FAMILY ISSUES: James Murdoch has blasted the US media for the “toxic politics'' threatening US democracy. His brother Lachlan is chief executive of Fox Corporation. Fox News initially claimed COVID-19 was a Democratic and media-led plot against Donald Trump. Awkward. Spotted Ben Lowndes.
❌ GOOGLE SEARCH: Google has threatened to shut down search in Australia if regulation forces it to pay to include results from news publishers in its results. It is reportedly testing the impact would have on users. Facebook is threatening similar action. It’s unlikely to happen but it would be a fascinating experiment. Spotted Ben Lowndes.
Practice
📡 COVID-19 POSTCARD: Community spokespeople such as doctors are the most trusted source of information according to Ross Wigham. He says that the pandemic that has led to rapid innovation in communications including inter-agency cooperation. Source Ross Wigham.
📏 PR MEASUREMENT GUIDE: Thanks to BuzzSumo for the opportunity to write this best practice guide to PR measurement after a Twitter discussion.. The industry has traditionally been lousy at measuring its value but that's changing fast. Source Stephen Waddington.
💻 AGENCY START UPS: Now would be a great time to start building an agency or scale an existing agency, and benefit from low cost, talent and the boom to come. There were more than 30 agency start-ups in the UK in 2020. They’ll be more in 2021. Source Stephen Waddington.
🏚️ LOBBYING CONDUCT: The PRCA has urged Charlotte Street Partners to rethink its appointment of the Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords, Lord Duncan of Springbank, as a consulting partner. The PRCA Public Affairs Code states that you cannot be a legislator and a lobbyist. You have to pick one or the other. Spotted Rob Bruce.
Research and insights
🤒 AD COLLAPSE: British advertising budgets fell sharply in the last quarter of 2020 as result of Brexit and COVID-19. An IPA Bellwether report said two-fifths of firms cut their marketing budgets however it expects the vaccine to aid a recovery. Spotted Sarah Waddington.
😡 AMAZON REVIEWS: Yankee Candle have seen a rise in negative reviews as customers complained about the “lack of smell” from its scented candles as COVID-19 spiked. Kate Petrova suggests that Amazon reviews for scented products may track COVID-19 infections and called for further investigation. Spotted Susan Kinnear.
📖 POST CORONA: Scott Galloway’s news book Post Corona is an early version of the history of the past 12 months and a guidebook for the changes to come in business and society. His view is that the pandemic’s enduring impact will be an acceleration for technology and that no area of the economy will be left unchanged. Source Stephen Waddington.
Social media and platforms
📰 INSTANT ARTICLES: An experiment by regional news publisher Reach found that Facebook Instants are seen by almost a third more readers than stories not using the mobile-friendly format. The publisher of The Manchester Evening News, The Liverpool Echo and The Newcastle Chronicle has been using Instant Articles since its launch in 2016. Spotted Alan Morrison.
💬 FREE SPEECH: Poland's government has proposed a new law to stop social media platforms deleting content or banning users who do not break Polish laws. The proposed bill would see social networks fined up to £10 million for failing to restore deleted posts or accounts. Spotted Jenni Field.
👞 FACEBOOK OVERSIGHT: Facebook has referred its decision to suspend former US President Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts to the independent Oversight Board. The board is an independent group of experts established by Facebook to adjudicate difficult questions about speech and moderation on the platform. Spotted Michelle Goodall.
Events
📆 LOCKDOWN LIFE: I’m speaking at a CIPR Scotland event on Tuesday at midday about lockdown life called Managing PR from the Kitchen Table. My contribution will cover lockdown, the economy, kitchen table workflow, boundaries and booze, and the future of the PR profession. Source Stephen Waddington.