Crisis in PR

Hi everyone

Working in Department of Culture and the Arts has been particularly interesting this week! I always like it there but as the weeks go on and I become more accepted, I am more included in some of the possible day-to-day crises. I am going to tread carefully because of confidentiality but this has all been in the public sphere this week anyway so let me tell it to you from the public relations perspective.

This week Shadow Minister John Hyde made some comments on ABC Radio and to other journalists regarding the new State Theatre Centre. This has been a contentious issue since it first came into fruition. It was originally going to be the Heath Ledger Theatre Centre and then that had to be altered because of public reaction regarding Ledger being a screen actor and not theatre. So, okay the department and Arts Minister John Day decided instead, the main theatre would be called the Heath Ledger Theatre and the centre, Perth State Theatre Centre.

Anyway despite this change, the theatre has remained a contentious issue among the theatre community in Perth. Shadow Minister John Hyde made some comments this week and those comments along with some other noises from theatre production companies has created other problems. Therefore I got to be involved in the process of DCA responding to certain claims about cost and the space being used for corporate events rather than theatre productions etc.

I must admit it was really interesting because studying journalism and working on the Western Independent at Curtin means I have often called departments and businesses looking for comments on stories. At DCA I get to see the other side of the coin, the public relations side and I love it. As we know the media often blow things out of proportion. This is one of those cases. As a result of the comments made by Shadow Minister Hyde, the communications team at DCA had to spend basically an entire day finding figures and facts to disprove the comments that were made. The fact is, the information printed in The West and spoke by Shadow Minister Hyde were untrue. The DCA team (myself included somewhat) had to spend the whole day making sure the correct information and statistics made it into the public arena. We were given the chance considering all day one media enquiry (about this issue) after another made its way to DCA asking all sorts of questions based on what they had read in The West or heard on the radio.

What is my point? Someone of some stature (or none) can make comments that may be completely false and yet, if it is picked up by the media, can be printed, believed and it just takes on a life of its own! It's like schoolyard games, one person says something and it gets passed around quicker than the social network we all live by these days!! Before you know it, as a PR practitioner, this becomes your day. Making sure the accurate information is distributed sufficiently so that all who read the original articles will actually get to hear the truth. Of course we know that is not always possible and this is where the problem lies. You may not get to reach everyone who heard the original story so you might not ever get to completely correct information despite what you do.

Main points: If you work in journalism (which I love) we know there are deadlines etc. but try to make sure you check your facts before you send it out into the public forum. Remember you are shaping people's views.

If you work in public relations (which I also love) be prepared for your day to take a whole different turn. Be ready to push back planned work in order to collect accurate data and respond to a million media enquiries! You never know where the day is going to lead you...I guess that is the fun of public relations.

Happy long weekend
Jem