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Wrapping up Season Two + a shameless plug for Medianet X IPRD crisis comms webinar
Wrapping up Season Two and a shameless plug for our upcoming webinar in partnership with Medianet
đŚ During this wrap-up of Season Two Co-hosts Jo Stone and Greer Quinn have heard from journalists and industry leaders about the way the pandemic is changing work lives, media content, newsworthiness and even shaping how our news is delivered.
đŚ Itâs becoming clear that Covid-19 isnât going away within the foreseeable future and businesses need crisis management plans that can adapt as quickly as mutant strains. So during this mini-episode, Greer and Jo also talk about an upcoming collaboration with Medianet to present a webinar with live Q+A on the topic âCrisis Communications for a Covid Worldâ. Event link here: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/crisis-communications-for-a-covid-world-tickets-168883459975
COVID is the gift that keeps on giving.
Greer: Weâve found that even 18 months on, weâre still helping clients with crisis strategies and internal and external communications issues almost every month,â Greer says. The pandemic isnât going away and if you think that because youâve managed to dodge a COVID catastrophe so far that youâre in the clear, think again.
Jo: Itâs awful because we sometimes get calls in the evenings or on the weekend from organisations desperately seeking PR help because a crisis never seems to happen during office hours during the week does it! And more often than not, theyâve never even thought ahead about how to handle adverse media coverage or a COVID-10-caused crisis.
Greer: In recent weeks weâve seen influencers breaching COVID-19 restrictions for parties and brands then subsequently publicly dropping them. Weâve even seen well documented super-spreader events that have led to humiliation and reputation damage for attendees and organisers.
Jo: Yes, weâve also seen organisations facing staff backlash over mandatory vaccinations.
Greer: So in this short podcast, weâre wrapping up Season Two with some of the top takeaways from our guests and weâll end with our top three tips for PR crisis planning in the pandemic.
Jo: Letâs start with Andrew Drummond from AAP â that was a great insight into this vital Australian news wire service, which is a bit of a secret weapon to have in your PR tool kit.
Greer: The news deserts he was talking about across Australia are only broadening after all the COVID closures, so Andrewâs pitching brief will be a huge help if you want some AAP traction. NewsCorpâs AT Home magazine flipbook is a direct response to the pandemic and Editor Kelly Baker told us that PR people need to know that while itâs lifestyle-focussed, itâs still anchored in news values.
Jo: And it was magic talking to Mel Carrero from Spell â talk about a brand at the cutting edge. What theyâve been doing with content creation has been so innovative â there are a lot of ideas in that chat PRâs can learn from. It was also great to hear from Starts At 60 founder Bec Wilson. Her platform is the largest in the country for the over 60âs and there is a lot of pent up demand in the travel sector particularly so thatâs a consumer group that shouldnât be overlooked for lifestyle and travel products.
Greer: And of course, there was the interview with Daniel Doody from Studio 10. He was all about the media release and the pitch â and there are amazing national opportunities for the right story.
Jo: In each episode, we demystify a little bit of jargon from the media world â things like noddies, embargo and backgrounding and in this episode we are turning the tables a bit, but I guess the jargon term for this segment could be COVIDIOT â someone who ignores or breaks public health orders. And if you are in a comms role for any business or organisation, you know that it only takes one COVIDIOT to cause a crisis. So with this in mind, we thought we would give you the PR Darlings top three top tips for crisis communications plans in the era of COVID.
Greer: These are just a couple of the things weâll be discussing in an upcoming webinar in collaboration with Australian media database company MediaNet on October 6, 2021, which is all about crisis communications, albeit with a COVID twist. Now, Medianet is a must-have service for PR firms â their database keeps you up-to-date with all the platforms, papers and programs in the Australian media, but also all the contacts you need. This brings us to our first crisis communications tip â making sure you have updated contacts. You need to know the journalists who are likely to be working in your patch. You donât want to be scrambling for a mobile number at the last minute.
Jo: Updating contacts is also important for your internal team. Has someone left the organisation or changed jobs? And who else do you need to contact? With pandemic-related issues, you also need contacts for the relevant authorities like the Department of Health or the Chief Health Officer (CHO) and the State Government for example.
Greer: Our second crisis comms tip in the pandemic is to make sure your business, organisation or client is actually practising COVIDSafe protocols. This is where a lot of the bad publicity stems from â for example a venue that hosts an event that becomes a super spreader event will face even more media backlash if journalists find out there was no sanitiser available, check-in code, too many people were there and they werenât wearing masks. Â
Jo: And the third most important tip of all is to actually have a crisis communications plan. So often this is something that nobody puts any thought into â and that is when a PR disaster really unfolds. Putting a plan together should be a service that you offer as part of your role in PR. And brainstorming with your client some of the potential COVID-19 crises is a great way to start. Regular reviews of the plan is also a must-do.
Greer: Thanks so much for tuning in to Itâs PR Darlings Season Two. If youâre listening to this before October 6, 2021, then head to Eventbrite or Medianet to find our Crisis Communications in a Covid World webinar â links are also in the show notes and we would love to have you along.
This has been Season Two of Itâs PR Darlings. If youâve enjoyed this episode of Itâs PR Darlings, please share, subscribe and review. Â
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Itâs PR Darlings is produced by Jo Stone from Sticks and Stones PR and Greer Quinn from Forward Communications.Â
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Medianet X Itâs PR Darlings Webinar: Crisis Communications for a Covid World
https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/crisis-communications-for-a-covid-world-tickets-168883459975
If you think your business or your clients have escaped a COVID-19 crisis, think again! This pandemic is ever-evolving. While we might be well practiced during lockdowns and closures for the impacts on businesses, there are still risks â think super-spreader events, staff vaccination fallouts, supply chain interruptions, new mutant strains, or a staff memberâs anti-mask rant that goes viral. This is the virus that keeps on giving.
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2. Exploring the evolving formula of brekky TV with Channel Nineâs Joshua Del Pozo
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34:42||Season 3, Ep. 3âOne of the really key sentiments that came out [of Medianetâs 2022 Media Landscape Report] was the most important aspect of a pitchâŚis that the storyâs original, newsworthy and relevant to that journalistâs specific field of reporting and audience.â -Amrita Sidhu, Director of Media Intelligence, Medianet and Mediaverse From pet peeves to journalistsâ preferred days and ways to receive media releases, the impacts of Covid-19 on reporting to media trolling and gender pay gaps, this episode offers a deep dive into 2022âs complex media landscape. Taking us through the insights, based on a survey of almost 1,000 Australian journalists, is Medianet and Mediaverse Director of Media Intelligence Amrita Sidhu. While public relations and communications professionals wonât be surprised Medianetâs report revealed audience relevance was the most widely valued feature of a pitch, there were some surprising and somewhat disappointing findings too, including that 30 per cent of male journalists earn more than $100,000 per annum, compared to just 16 per cent of females and 12 per cent of non-binary journalists. Also, honouring an embargo is no longer a given within todayâs competitive and social media-influenced media world, signalling a continued trend of disruption of media conventions. Itâs PR Darlings Co-hosts Greer Quinn and Jo Stone also ask Amrita to discuss some of the newer or lesser-known features Medianet offers including media call-outs, an editorial service and Mediaverseâs qualitative analysis feature â something that is offering incisive room-reads in the lead up to Australiaâs Federal Election. Following on from the last episode featuring ABC News Breakfast host Lisa Millar, Itâs PR Darlings hosts continue the theme of news values during their end-of-segment education session when the duo unlock the news value of âproximityâ. Download Medianetâs 2022 media landscape report here. Undertake Itâs PR Darlings/Medianetâs collaborative crisis communications micro-course here. Itâs PR Darlings is produced by Jo Stone from www.sticksandstonespr.com.au and Greer Quinn from Forward Communications.  Itâs PR Darlings www.itsprdarlings.com Socials: https://www.instagram.com/itsprdarlings/ https://www.facebook.com/ItsPRDarlings https://www.linkedin.com/company/it-s-pr-darlings/ We acknowledge the traditional landowners and pay our respect to elders past and present, and all Indigenous Australian and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.Â2. Lisa Millar unpacks what ABC News Breakfast looks for in a story
01:04:18||Season 3, Ep. 2âMichael and I get in about 3:30am. We have a staff meeting at about 5:00am where we run through the show â what's planned, what our top story is, what we're going to tease, what our best vision is for the day...â -Lisa Millar, ABC News Breakfast Australiaâs breakfast TV wars have been dominated by Channel Nineâs Today Show and Sevenâs Sunrise. Other stations have tried but these two early morning juggernauts have had decades of loyal followers always battling for the top spot â until now. The ratings have become a closer race during the past two years after one of ABCâs most experienced foreign correspondents, Walkley award-winning journalist and author of a new memoir called Daring to Fly Lisa Millar took the helm alongside reporter Michael Rowland. For the first time during its 14 years on air, ABCâs early morning flagship News Breakfast program has toppled the traditional big guns. And for those in public relations and communications, this means looking at the program with fresh eyes and assessing when and how to pitch what stories.âThe biggest one is that the audience is way more used to seeing people on Zoom and Skype and they don't mind that it looks a bit rough and ready,â Lisa says.Inclusion and diversity are key to ABCâs charter, so PRs should consider gender, ethnicity, location and socio-economic diversity in their pitches. âThe first question that the producers will ask someone who might've pitched something is, âDo you have a woman?ââŚbecause we are committed to a 50/50 gender target that we have to reach on a daily basis.â Lisa also shares moments from her memoir Daring to Fly which tracks the journey of a kid from a tiny Queensland town who goes on to cover some of the worldâs most impactful events, including September 11, all while battling a fear that almost grounded her career.Itâs PR Darlings is produced by Jo Stone from Sticks and Stones PR and Greer Quinn from Forward Communications.  Contacts: jo@sticksandstonespr.com.au greer@forwardcomm.com.au We acknowledge the traditional landowners and pay our respect to elders past and present, and all Indigenous Australian and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. Â1. News.com.au's Oliver Murray explains why quirky's out and SEO is in
36:28||Season 3, Ep. 1Quirky is out and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) trends are in according to NewsCorpâs news.com.au's Editor Oliver Murray, or "Oli", as he prefers. Oli spent several years working in regional news and local Sydney papers before joining news.com.au and moving up through the ranks to step into the top job. Kicking off Season Three of itâs PR Darlings, Ollie lets co-hosts Jo Stone and Greer Quinn pick his brains about the best ways PRs can assist the digital behemoth cover the stories that make its audience tick (and click). âIf itâs a question weâre asking, itâs usually something Australia is asking,â Oli explains. "The big mistake PRs make when they pitch to us is they say, âI think this is going to be a great story from news.com because it's quirkyâ, but as a site, we've sort of moved past that.â He recommends PRs watch what people are searching for on Google because thatâs what news.com.au will be following up on for its audience. Oli also reveals news.com.auâs current demographics and why the platform has onboarded a youth editor to drive the outletâs youth strategy. âWe have about 12 million Australian readers every month, which is one in two Aussies,â he says. âThe average reader for us is someone who wants to come to our site and just get the news in a very easy to understand way. They want to leave our website informed about the big news of the day, but they also want a little bit of distraction. And I think that's what we do a little bit better than other sites. It's not to just go to a site and get all the COVID newsâŚbut it's also, 'what are the big talking points from reality TV last night', or 'what's happening in crypto'?â  In this episode, Itâs PR Darlings hands the âdemystifyingâ mic to Ollie who unpacks the newsroom term âsellâ. Itâs PR Darlings is produced by Jo Stone from Sticks and Stones PR and Greer Quinn from Forward Communications.  Itâs PR Darlings www.itsprdarlings.com www.sticksandstonespr.com.au www.forwardcomm.com.au Socials: https://www.instagram.com/itsprdarlings/ https://www.facebook.com/ItsPRDarlings https://www.linkedin.com/company/it-s-pr-darlings/ Contacts: jo@sticksandstonespr.com.au greer@forwardcomm.com.au  We acknowledge the traditional landowners and pay our respect to elders past and present, and all Indigenous Australian and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.Â