There was a very strong case to be made in support of extending the area of Dublin City Centre to which a 30kph speed restriction would apply. However, the failure of Dublin City Council and the supporters of the initiative to clearly communicate the benefits of the move almost led to its speedy demise.
The Council’s proposals doubled the size of the area of the city centre, where a 30kph zone already applied, creating a 1.5km by 2km square in the special speed zone in the heart of the city centre. The intention was to make the heart of the city centre more pedestrian and bike friendly.
You’ve all heard of Stockholm Syndrome, the very strange phenomenon of hostages becoming entirely dependent on their captors, and developing a deep emotional attachment to them.
Well, in light of recent developments concerning RTE broadcasting bigwigs, Charlie Bird and George Lee - although both will probably be relieved that Willie O’Dea has since decided to hog the news agenda in their stead - I think we are now witnessing the emergence of a parallel phenomenon, which I will call Montrose Syndrome.
We had scarcely gotten over Charlie’s high-profile, televised plea to be unshackled from the tedium and loneliness of a to-die-for Washington assignment to return to the bosom of Montrose, when his erstwhile buddy, George Lee decided to abandon his ambitions to save Ireland from economic ruin and – yes, you’ve guessed it – return too to the Montrose pastures.
One of the best things on television, on any channel, these past few weeks has been the RTE documentary series, The School. Set in St. Peter’s College, in Dunboyne, Meath, the three part documentary - the final episode of which is to be screened this evening on RTE1 - offers a terrific insight into school life in contemporary Ireland and proves the old story telling adage that there are no tales as interesting as those to be found in real life.
However, from a public relations standpoint, questions have emerged about whether the series has portrayed the school and those within it in a wholly a positive light. The school principal has expressed concern over negative aspects of the school being highlighted in the first episode. There has been some heated discussion on Internet forums on whether it is really fair for the programme makers to show footage of pupils being criticised by teachers in private.
Icebergs off the coast of Donegal? Could it really be true? Certainly, even 24 hours ago, it looked like this was the real deal.
Highland Radio yesterday reported as follows: “The iceberg is clearly visible and poses no danger for ships. The island has been capitalising on this latest development, with many visitors over the weekend, and special sightseeing tours being organised. Meanwhile, it’s reported the pubs on the island are offering a special iceberg cocktail containing ice cubes taken from it”.
How deeply ironic that it was the trade union leadership that lifted the lid on the outmoded work practices in the public service as they struggled – and failed – to do a deal with the Government just before the Budget.
The reality is that we are mired in a deep economic crisis. We may have grown wealthy for a few years by building houses and selling them to one another. But we’ve had to wean ourselves off the mind-altering, performance enhancing property bubble. The touchstone of our survival now is production of goods and services that are competitive abroad.
We need social solidarity like never before. We need critical analysis, not hackneyed class rhetoric. We also need real, inspirational leadership, from our politicians and, yes, from trade union leaders too. Leadership based on facts, not fantasy.
Recently, Maclaren, the leading British consumer lifestyle company famed for its ‘premium’ baby pushchairs, announced the recall of approximately one million buggies in the U.S. after it emerged that 12 children had their fingers amputated by the seemingly innocuous hinges on the buggies.
All Maclaren single and double umbrella pushchairs sold in the U.S. in the past decade, including the popular Volo and Techno models, were voluntarily recalled by the company, who announced they were proactively providing customers and retailers with a kit to cover the offending joint on the hinge mechanism.
Now, product recalls are a fact of manufacturing life and can occur in organisations that have the most stringent and rigid quality control standards. But, for a company that prides itself on manufacturing the Rolls Royce of strollers, this is just about as bad as it gets.
Only one story can claim credit for generating 1,558 news articles, along with countless rants over the past week – French striker Thierry Henry’s skillful double handball during extra time in the match against Ireland on Wednesday night last week.
While the event filled the traditional newsprint and broadcast media’s pages and airwaves almost exclusively for the next few days, some of the more interesting parts of the unfolding drama took place on social media channels.
Last week, I joined forty PRII members on a tour of the Newstalk studios. George Hook waved out at us from the studio, we squeezed into the bunker-like room from where the news bulletins are read and we mingled with presenters and producers. How Claire Byrne managed to look so fresh and speak so coherently fourteen hours after her day began is beyond me.
I digress. The most interesting part of the evening was the Q&A session and particularly the advice which came from Eamon Keane, presenter of the Lunchtime programme.
Apart from sharing what happens when a PR person foolishly calls the programme in the minutes before it goes on air, Eamon told the PR professionals present that it is always better to have your client in the studio for an interview rather than doing it over the phone. If your client is on the phone and their opponent is in the studio the battle is lost before it begins.
That this is true is something that most radio listeners would agree with. Pity then that someone didn’t say it to Ruth O’Dowd who was fired by Bill Cullen on Monday night’s Apprentice on TV3.
So is it time to write the obituary for the once vaunted concept of corporate social responsibility? Do the acronyms ‘CSR’ and ‘RIP’ now fit snugly together?
Well, perhaps not. But there’s no question that the economic downturn has had a bad impact on good intentions. When times are hard, you think of yourself, not the rainforest, the polar bears, the planet, or anything else.
The query comes to mind following commentary last week from the U.S. public relations newsletter, The Holmes Report, on the phenomenon of ‘greenwashing’, where companies let on that they’re a lot more committed to environmental issues than they actually are, through expensively produced advertising and public relations campaigns.
Roy Keane’s star appears to have waned pretty dramatically in recent years. From his status as captain of Manchester United and perhaps the least droppable player in the English Premier League, through the nation-dividing confrontation in Saipan in 2002, he is currently to be found as the coach of struggling English Championship side, Ipswich Town.
However, one adage that he has been noted for quoting, ‘Fail to prepare, prepare to fail’, does resonate in a business context nowadays. The public relations industry, along with every other business sector, has been hurting badly, with tighter budgets and declining margins, meaning that PR firms have to be a hell of a lot smarter in targeting new business opportunities. And preparation matters now more than ever.
