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In issue 13 of esPResso...

It was revealed last month that Haringey Council spent £19,000 on media training for its top staff at the height of the Baby P trial, to help them deal with the probing media enquiries that came amid the backlash against those at the local authority who arguably failed to protect the abused child from his mother and her boyfriend.

A Freedom Of Information Act request quickly followed to try and find out more about the PR expenditure, presumably from people outraged at such an expense, or perhaps keen to know who coached council executives widely perceived to have handled the media interest in their story very badly. 

The council have revealed that journalist and comms trainer Scarlett MccGwire was one of two consultants brought in to help, but have said they don't feel it appropriate to name the other expert or their company because the negativity that surrounds this story could impact on them commercially.

A spokesman for the council told reporters: "We have taken account of the fact that the Baby P case has attracted considerable media interest, and adverse publicity. The climate is such that at present any party associated with Haringey or the handling of the Baby P case is themselves likely to attract media interest and adverse publicity. This is considered likely to damage the commercial reputation of the provider involved and their current and future relationships".

As previously reported, there has been widespread criticism for the way Haringey communicated its side of the story regarding the handling of the Baby P case, and in particular the unwillingness of officials to publicly apologise for their failings. That was a statement that, while possibly tricky for legal reasons, many PR professionals feel was the necessary starting point to begin repairing the authority's damaged reputation.

Although really a story about the apparent (alleged) corruptibility of some members of the unelected upper house of parliament, it led to a wider discussion about those with privileged access to MPs, and comments from Justice Secretary Jack Straw that lobbyists play too large a part in British politics, and that "we need more explicit control... first of all, total transparency". That, presumably, means Straw is in favour of the previously mooted lobbyist register – certainly an increasing number of his colleagues in Parliament are, 46 MPs have put their name to an early day motion calling for the register.

The lobbying industry at large remains generally opposed to the register proposals. PR Week quote Bell Pottinger's Public Affairs boss Peter Bingle thus: "For the first time in many years, I am worried regulation of lobbyists is going to become a reality. [The early day motion] in itself is not a worry. What concerns me much more is the mood at Westminster. Jack Straw's comments are scary. Our politicians seem to have forgotten our system of government is still the best in the world".

However, some of Bingle's counterparts at other consultancies seem less concerned, with some actually supporting albeit minimal regulation. Weber Shandwick's Jon McLeod  told the trade magazine: "Light-touch regulation that is properly framed should hold no fear for the lobbying industry. You just need to know who is a lobbyist and for whom they are acting".

It remains to be seen whether the increased talk of the need for a lobbying register actually speeds up the introduction of any such regulation system, or whether many of the proposed new rules get forgotten as the political world starts to move towards General Election.

Meanwhile, surely if the lobbying industry fail to successfully lobby politicians to not introduce a lobbying register to overcome the excessive influence of lobbyists in British politics, it proves no such excessive influence exists and therefore the lobbying register is not required, no? If so, the lobbying industry would be best advised making a mess of their lobbying efforts on this one. 

CIPR Director General Colin Farrington explained: "As the professional body for the PR industry the CIPR has a responsibility to provide best practice advice on all areas of communications. It was always our intention to revisit, and if necessary update, the guidelines to remain up to speed with emerging issues and trends in this fast moving area".

He continued: "New social media measurement techniques are just one of the emerging topics incorporated in the newly updated version of our guidelines. The relevance of including this at a time when PR professionals are having to demonstrate their value and justify their budgets goes without saying".

You can check the updated guidelines at www.cipr.co.uk/socialmedia.

Bosses at the tourist attraction, which provides steam train rides through the Somerset countryside, have admitted they were wrong to try and keep secret the fact that a technical problem meant its steam trains were out of service and that less romantic diesel engines were being used in their place.

Problems began last Spring when a borrowed rail-grinding machine affected the rails which in turn damaged the wheels of the tourist attraction's steam trains. According to the Somerset County Gazette, bosses decided to not announce the lack of steam trains to "protect the reputation of the railway and to protect revenue during a difficult year". However, the reputation of the set up was quickly damaged when "angry and disappointed" visitors arrived for their day of steam to find they'd be pulled along by diesel engines.

An independent report into the affair said that "disastrous" public relations led to numerous angry customers, while badly informed staff were left to "confront angry and disappointed visitors without the benefit of proper briefing". Local media then started to report on the angry visitors, but with no official statement on what was happening more misleading information began to circulate.

The report said that management at the railway did eventually gain control of the situation and that, with the steam trains working again by July, the West Somerset Railway had a very good 2008 overall. But not without first providing us all with an example of why it's not always best to try and bury bad news. Especially when a lack of steam in the air makes it obvious for all that something's not right.

The food company says the ongoing decline in its doorstep milk delivery business and the rising costs of milk could have had a negative impact on their financials, but a boost in sales of their 'spreadable' products, led by promotions like the Lydon tie in, have helped them achieve a 4% growth in sales overall.

Whether the even more bizarre tie-up between Iggy Pop and insurance firm Swiftcover will have the same positive impact on their sales I'm not sure. Though the sale of cushions is probably up, given the natural response to the slightly scary Pop ads is to want to hide away from the telly.

Commenting on Dylan's decision to let the Co-op use his song, the MD of the singer songwriter's UK record company, Columbia Records' Mike Smith, told reporters: "It is rare for Bob Dylan to license his recordings to TV ads, the decision to do so with the Co-operative and 'Blowin In The Wind' shows a willingness to embrace fresh ways of reaching a new audience through an ethical and fair trade organisation".

The Co-op's marketing boss Patrick Allen added: "When we put the ad together we were astounded that no-one had ever used 'Blowin In The Wind' in this context before. We felt the sentiments expressed in Dylan's masterpiece summed up the optimism we have for the Co-operative, so when Columbia Records told us Dylan had agreed we were delighted".

Greig has been touted as new editor for the Lebedev-owned Standard throughout the takeover, and some reckon it was him who persuaded Lebedev to buy the paper in the first place.

Confirming her departure, Wadley, said: "I am very proud to have edited this great London newspaper and, with the huge support of the staff, to have built it up into a prize-winning newspaper. The Evening Standard is an important London institution held in equal measures of respect and affection. I sincerely hope it will have a secure future".

"Last week someone sent me a link to a piece in the Telegraph which was a complaint letter from a customer to Sir Richard Branson about the food on a Virgin Airways flight to India [which included this photo of the offending foot]. You can read it here.

Apparently the letter is "doing the rounds" on the internet and is being described as the world's funniest complaint letter. Indeed, it is funny, though a little long.

But then a colleague said the letter was being circulated by Virgin as a "PR stunt" because Virgin comes across well in the final paragraph with Sir Richard speaking to the author to thank him for his constructive tongue-in-cheek email.

Now I don't know whether Virgin had anything to do with this letter being circulated, but it interests me that it is being discussed as a possibility.

It made me think of that old line about – "no such thing as bad publicity".

Reading the letter, however, there's no way I can accept that circulating this letter widely would be good public relations by Virgin. Therefore, I hope that it wasn't leaked by the airline as a positive move.

That's mainly because there is, for me, a big difference between public relations and publicity".

Find out what the difference is for Kevin, and why he thinks that makes it unlikely that Virgin would leak the letter, in the full blog here.

"Public Relations has often been portrayed as 'the power behind the throne'. The voice that whispers sage counsel to those in leadership positions.

In part this makes sense: 'power' in the raw sense depends on the willingness of underlings to obey their marching orders. Revolutions occur when the masses (including employees, Boards of Directors, etc) decide that their leaders are incompetent or untrustworthy. Thus, 'public relations' is a way to ensure that powerful forces bend to the will of the people ... or at least come across that way!

But as the era of socialized communications dawns, it's no longer acceptable for PR pros to shrug their way out of troubling situations with the lame excuse that, 'I'm just the PR person'.

We're out in the open. The advice of the 'grand vizier' is no longer a whisper but is essentially shouted with a bullhorn. Journalists and bloggers will publish our pitches, our names, our mistakes, without hesitation. Our case studies are critiqued in public. Our agency/client affiliations are increasingly hard to keep under wraps ... which means that every client communications flap now reflects on the PR counsel, fairly or not.

Embrace this, fellow PR professional. Do not despair! We're actually pretty darned smart. There may be some clueless flacks among us, but let's be honest: there are a fair number of clueless people in all corporate job functions. In the main, we know our stuff; it is okay if the world knows and appreciates this, so long as the majority of the benefits acccrue to our clients.

You're not 'just' the PR person, not anymore. More and more, you are the proud & public standard-bearer for the brands you serve, even while working agency-side. Knowing this, yes, you must train harder. Then you can jump fearlessly into the sunlight of Social Media".

Click here to read more PR-Squared blogs.

	An interview question lots of PR recruiters ask me is 'what do I read?' - what should I say?
	When recruiters ask you this question it's really an opportunity to show that you have a genuine interest in current affairs, the business world and the PR industry at large, all important interests to have if you want to work in corporate communications - so please don't just say "well, I read Heat magazine most weeks". That said, if the only publication you do read on a regular basis is Heat, don't just make up a list of impressive sounding newspapers and business journals just to look good in the interview. There is always a chance your interviewer will be an avid reader of one of the newspapers you mention and want to talk about it - and that's not a situation you want to get into. Therefore, in order to properly answer this question you not only need to name-check the right kinds of media in the interview, you need to actually read those media in your everyday life. So, Heat reader, you better start widening your weekly reading list. But what to read? Well, you really should make an effort to check out a daily newspaper a few times a week, because while newspapers may be in decline they still set the nation's news agenda on many issues. Remember, broadsheets will always impress more than tabloids, so decide which you like best - The Times, The Independent, The Telegraph or The Guardian - and try to scan through a copy every few days, or at least keep any eye out for interesting articles on their websites. Of course there are other ways to keep abreast of current affairs these days, and if you find broadsheet newspapers hard work - in print and online - then you might prefer to use other web news services like BBC News, Google News or Reuters. If you're going for a more corporate PR job then you should also make an effort to keep up with developments in the business world. That doesn't necessarily mean you need an indepth knowledge of the world of stocks and shares, but you should keep up to to date on who's hiring, who's firing, who's expanding, who's merging and which sectors are performing best. If you make your daily newspaper of choice the Financial Times then you will have this information aplenty, but most of the broadsheets and news websites also have good general business news sections which you should both read and mention in your interview. To keep up with the PR industry the most obvious regular read is PR Week, the primary trade magazine for the industry, which will definitely keep you up to date on which agencies are winning which accounts, who's moving jobs, and what big issues are impacting on the industry right now. A full subscription is pricey, but many of their stories are accessible on their website for free. There are other sources of PR industry news though. For a start, we round up some of the big stories here in esPResso. And we also feature two different PR blogs each week. There are a growing number of blogs written by PR practitioners, and they can be really good sources of information of what's going on in the industry. Follow the links to blogs from esPResso, then look for links to other blogs on those websites. In addition to that, some areas of PR also have their own trade magazines - like Public Affairs News for the lobbying sector. And you will find occasional PR stories on the Media Guardian and Brand Republic websites. Both of those sites bundle PR in with the other communication industries - marketing and advertising. But that's no bad thing, with business communications increasingly integrated both in-house and in agencies, it's good for a PR professional to have an understanding of what their colleagues in marketing and advertising are up to. Of course time is of the essense, we know that, and we don't want to eat into all your Heat reading time. But do explore the current affairs, business and PR publications that are out there - in print and online - decide what works best for you and then make an effort to regularly check them out. For a start, doing so will make you a better PR person, plus you'll never struggle when you're asked the "what do you read" question ever again.

If you have a work-related question, Ask The Unicorn at info@unicornjobs.com

You specialise in PRing non-UK music festivals, how did you get into that?
It came mainly from word of mouth and meeting people at music conferences. Not many people do publicity on an international level, so word gets around and people started approaching me and introducing me to people. It was all quite organic really, which was a surprise.

Are you PRing the festivals primarily to a UK audience, or to global audience?
I promote all my festival clients to a UK and international audience depending on their requirements. Some want me to concentrate on Europe at large, while others also want me to target close neighbouring territories.

How do you manage to build up press contacts globally?
It's very time consuming, but mainly through travel and buying lots of magazines and loading up my suitcase with them. I also get to meet lots of media at each event I work on, so the database is continually growing.

How does PRing a festival abroad different from PRing a domestic music event?
I always try and work with events that have something unique or interesting about them to make them stand out and be different from UK events. Most people have been to all the festivals in the UK before and want to discover something new, and the lure of a press trip to foreign country with the promise of hot weather is also a bonus.

Find out more about Nikki's career and get some tips on working in music PR by reading the full interview here.