Tag Archives: communications director

PRCA launches petition against NLA’s backlink charging plans

The Public Relations Consultants Association (PRCA) has launched a petition on Twitter calling on the Newspaper Licensing Agency to abandon recent proposals to charge organisations that forward and receive URLs of newspaper articles.

There’s been some strong criticism from the industry about the plans already and the PRCA has been consulting stakeholders and members on their views.

“The PRCA has proactively communicated the NLA’s proposals to agencies and the disbelief and anger they have generated extends far beyond our membership. While the NLA has accepted our offer to help them consult with the industry, they need to show this is a genuine consultation by changing their proposals and being transparent about their future pricing plans,” said Richard Ellis, communications director at the PRCA, which represents PR agencies and the wider industry, in a statement on the organisation’s website.

Follow the petition’s progress on the PRCA’s twitter account.

Who will the PCC question at NOTW if it re-opens investigation into phone hacking?

Will the PCC question News of the World’s Stuart Kuttner, who yesterday stepped down as the paper’s managing director, if it re-opens the investigation into phone hacking?

[Update 10.07.09: News International said the ‘departure of managing editor Stuart Kuttner has no connection whatsoever’ with events referred to in a statement]

In evidence given to the House of Commons culture select committee in April, Nick Davies criticised the PCC for failing to hold the News of the World to account on charges of phone hacking:

Mr Davies: If you say to [Andy] Coulson, “Come and give evidence even though you are no longer an editor” and if he says, “No” then that is an interesting tactical failure on his part. It is not just the editor of the paper; what about the managing editor? Why not call Stuart Kuttner, the managing editor of the News of the World, who has been there for years and who has a special responsibility for contracts and money? Why not call him to give evidence? There was a real will on the part of the PCC to avoid uncovering the truth about phone hacking.”

The PCC is now looking at the case again in light of Nick Davies’ exclusive report for the Guardian and could re-open the investigation. So who will they question?

Stuart Kuttner, as Davies suggested? “Kuttner will remain at the News of the World part time to work on special projects for the tabloid, including its Sarah’s Law campaign,” the Guardian reported yesterday.

The PCC decided not to question former News of the World editor Andy Coulson (as we write, he is still the Conservative Party’s communications director) for its 2007 inquiry, citing that he was not longer ‘answerable to the PCC’.  But would they question Kuttner, in his new part-time role?

In 2007 the PCC stated in its report on subterfuge and newsgathering:

“Despite Mr Myler’s [new News of the World editor] appointment, the question arose whether the PCC should ask Mr Coulson to give an account of what had gone wrong. The PCC decided not to do so. Given that the PCC does not – and should not – have statutory powers of investigation and prosecution, there could be no question of trying to duplicate the lengthy police investigation. Furthermore, Mr Coulson was, following his resignation, no longer answerable to the PCC, whose jurisdiction covers journalists working for publications that subscribe to the self-regulatory system through the Press Standards Board of Finance.

“As a result, that part of the investigation involving the News of the World was conducted by the Director of the PCC with Mr Myler.  The Chairman of the Commission also discussed the matter on a number of occasions with the Chief Executive of News International, Mr Les Hinton.”

The PCC stated today:

“Any suggestion that further transgressions have occurred since its report was published in 2007 will be investigated without delay. In the meantime, the PCC is contacting the Guardian newspaper and the Information Commissioner for any further specific information in relation to the claims, published today about the older cases, which suggest the Commission has been misled at any stage of its inquiries into these matters.”

Increase in UK online display advertising activity, says Nielsen

Online display advertising activity in the UK has increased year-on-year despite the current economic climates, figures from Nielsen Online for the first quarter of 2009 are suggesting.

The number of display advertisers, the number of individual campaigns and the number of ad creatives used all rose by 21 per cent compared with stats for the same period last year.

Over 5,900 advertisers ran online display ad campaigns in Q1 2009 with a monthly average of 11,000 campaigns.

“Whilst other media have suffered in the amount of advertising they attract, online continues to thrive. Although advertisers are probably getting more bang for their buck through falling online advertising rates, the strong increase in the level of display advertising activity is reason enough for online publishers and media owners to be optimistic about the year ahead – particularly if the retail and finance sectors continue their heavy activity,” said Alex Burmaster, communications director, online, in the report.

In the news and information sector, OMNIsport was the most active advertiser in online display advertising.

Andrew Stroehlein: “Welcome to a world without foreign correspondents”

“We’ve all watched the cutting of foreign news budgets for so long that we’ve become almost numb to it,” comments Andrew Stroehlein, communications director for the International Crisis Group, on the Reuters AlertNet blog.

“Another bureau cut here, another three correspondent posts dropped there – drip, drip, drip – the dwindling capacity of overseas news gathering is constant background noise. Or ever-increasing silence, perhaps.

“But now we’ve come to two situations that show us what the world will be like when there are no foreign correspondents left,” Strohlein says – pointing to Somalia and Sri Lanka as examples.

Full post at this link…

(via @FrontlineBlog)

Newspaper Society Advertising and Digital Media Awards: the results on and offline

So Associated Northcliffe Digital/Northcliffe Media came out smiling, after digital awards aplenty at last night’s Newspaper Society’s Advertising and Digital Media Awards – the group won golds for Niche Website of the Year, Digital Innovation of the year and Digital Team of the Year. On top of that the winner for ad of the year, the Hull Daily Mail, is one of Northcliffe’s too.

Speaking in a release issued last night, the Newspaper Society (NS) communications director Lynne Anderson praised online entries: “The digital element of the awards was particularly impressive this year with clear evidence that local media publishers are becoming increasingly effective at communicating with their audiences online.”

Here’s a selection of the winners from yesterday’s Advertising and Digital Media Awards, online and off:

PRINT ADs:
Advertisement of the Year
Gold: Hull Daily Mail for Modus Interiors – Howz
Silver: Evening Express for Choices 08
Bronze: Evening Express for Ritchie Travel / The Lytham St Annes for Express Leonard Dews – Diamonds

Series of Advertisements for the Year
Gold: The Irish News for John Mulholland Motors Ltd
Silver: Hull Daily Mail for Modus
Bronze: Herald Express for Animal Crackerz Series

Classified Section of the Year
Gold: Express & Star for My Classifieds
Silver: Evening Express for Drive
Bronze: The Press and Journal for Your Ads

ONLINE:
Newspaper Website of the Year
Gold: Nottingham Evening Post – thisisnottingham.co.uk
Silver: Belfast Telegraph – belfasttelegraph.co.uk
Bronze: Cornwall and Devon Media – thisiscornwall.co.uk

Niche Website of the Year
Gold: Associated Northcliffe Digital Lasting Tribute
Silver: Hull Daily Mail – Your Mail
Bronze: Eastern Daily Press – Jobs24

Integrated Campaign of the Year
Gold: Manchester Evening News for NHS ‘I Love Me’ Campaign
Silver: Manchester Evening News for Natwest ‘MoneySense’
Bronze: Hull Daily Mail for ASDA

Digital Innovation of the Year
Gold: Associated Northcliffe Digital for Lasting Tribute
Silver: Lancashire Evening Post for LEPlive
Bronze: Herald Express Mod My Motor

Blog of the Year
Gold: Trinity Mirror Midlands – The Geek Files
Silver: scotsman.com – Luke Donald
Bronze: Hull Daily Mail – Lucy Clark for Hullvibe

Community Website of the Year
Gold: MK News – mkweb.co.uk
Silver: Lancashire Evening Post – lep.co.uk
Bronze: Hull Daily Mail – Your Mail

Digital Team of the Year
Gold: Associated Northcliffe Digital New Product Development Division
Silver: Hull Daily Mail Digital Advertising Team
Bronze: Clyde and Forth Press Digital Media Department

Cross-Platform or Portfolio Sell of the Year
Gold : MEN Media Sales for NHS ‘I Love Me’ Campaign
Silver: MEN Media Sales for Natwest ‘MoneySense’
Bronze: Mediaforce for Scottish Government