Web threat to justice

We all by now know that the wonderful and productive power of the internet can at least be matched by its power to harm and hurt.

Cyber-bullying is something that has been on our radar for some time. We’ve moved on from a bloodied nose behind the bike sheds but the pain that well-chosen words can inflict on their victim is often even more damaging.

The added attraction for cyber bullies is obvious - they don’t have to run the risk of a return blow heading their way and can remain undercover of anonymity - the perfect place for a professional coward.

We have also seen hate campaigns waged on-line where reputations can be seriously battered. The only qualifications required for a successful on-line campaign appear to be a knowledge of the best place to post your messages and a screaming hatred of your target. An ability to tell the truth is not necessary.

This is all a serious worry for anyone still interested in the truth, respecting individuals’ privacy and mental assault, but last week my concerns over the deadly power of the internet rose to new levels when I read about the outcome of the Baby P court case.

Those responsible for the horrendous suffering, and eventual death, of Baby P were jailed, but, the BBC told us, those prison terms were put at risk by internet hate campaigns. Vigilante-style websites determined to name and shame the mother of Baby P and her boyfriend almost wrecked the trial. Their efforts to "out" the identities of the couple - who still cannot be named for legal reasons - could even have led to some of those responsible for Baby Peter's death receiving far lesser sentences than the ones they did.

The media still manages to just about stay on the right side of the sub judice laws. These are in place to protect an individual’s right to a fair trial, ensuring those sitting in judgement will not have had their views on the case coloured by what they may have seen and read about the defendant.

But what about the new self-styled anonymous crime commentators of the internet - who controls them? The danger they pose to one of the most fundamental elements of our society - our justice system - is real and has to be addressed... and quickly.

Jez

18 years of SHOUT!PR - we’ll drink to that!

This week SHOUT!PR celebrates 18 years in business - no mean feat when you consider we were born into the gloom of the last major recession, and have now earned our place at the bar just as another economic plague blights the business landscape.

But let’s not focus on downturns at such an auspicious time, but instead raise a glass to the many friends we have made along the way, especially those that have given us financial reward! We have been fortunate in forming some fantastic relationships with both clients and suppliers over the past 18 years with at least one or two of the companies we first worked with in 1991 still using us to deliver their marketing communications!

If the economic conditions haven’t changed that much in our 18 years, the job we do, and the way we do it have certainly moved on a pace.

Our main offering in those early days was concentrated around media relations and when we weren’t putting the words together for a press release we could be found standing over a hot printer as it churned out endless A4s. Next stop was the ‘production desk’ where we inserted each still-warm press release into a hard-back envelope, along with accompanying photograph. Then we printed address labels to be stuck on each envelope, along with a stamp, oh yes, and then we had to take them all down to the Post Office - no wonder we didn’t do much else - there wasn’t time!

But once we had made the connection to the Information Superhighway (sounds almost antique doesn’t it) there was no holding us, and today the number of projects we are asked to deliver - from design of a simple bookmark to creation of bespoke websites, trade media campaigns and award-winning annual reports - is only matched by the tools we employ to deliver them - e-shots, pdfs, digital print, web links, twitters and blogs - to name but a few - none of these words (OK, I’ll give you digital and print, but not together) even existed in our world in 1991.

But enough nostalgia for now, here’s to all our friends and loyal supporters, and let’s hope our next milestone at SHOUT!PR isn’t accompanied by another economic calamity!

Jez and Sarah

Partners notch a PRfect 10!

Long-term, working and relationship are words that don’t go together very often these days, but I think I am justified in using them next to each other to help describe our latest milestone here at SHOUT!PR.

Sarah and I have now been working together at SHOUT!PR for 10 whole years - and we have declared that officially a ‘long-term working relationship’. Pleasant though it is to have that phrase written in a gold-leaf flourish on the office wall, it can’t begin to describe the fantastic, exciting and rewarding journey we have taken together. We’re still firmly focused on enjoying the journey rather than the destination, so here’s to the next 10... hang on, that will make me...

Jez

Trip to the Tramway - a pleasant surprise

Soon after we were awarded the contract for Crich Tramway Village’s marketing material make-over, back in 2007, I decided I’d better get myself down there and get a feel for the place. So one sunny Saturday Olivia, my wife, and James, my son - aged 2 at the time - got ourselves ready for an unknown adventure. Olivia and I were armed with the preconception of a fusty old transport museum and a picnic - both of which were completely demolished by the time we left!

We actually spent 5 hours at Crich riding on the trams - free rides as often as you like - playing in the park and on soft play, walking through the woodland, looking at the memorabilia, cafe stop and of course a couple of visits to the old time sweet shop (mmmmm, white chocolate rainbow drops…). James loved it – and so did we!

Confirmation that its existing promotional material was not portraying the facilities and experience accurately was made, and I came home armed with ideas on how we could better reflect a lively and fun collection of great artefacts, memorabilia and of course... trams!

In summary, we enjoyed a great family day out, and created a fun and lively vibe for its new promotional materials including; Guide Book, comments scheme, visitor leaflets (standard and family targeted), flyers, ads and site posters. Oh yes, and James has made sure we keep a slot in the diary for Crich Tramway Village every Spring for the foreseeable future.

Paul.

Let’s not wash our hands of inky fingers

In a way I’m a little surprised this story has not matured a little quicker, but it is now gathering momentum. Over recent days there has been a concerted blast of pessimism over the future of the newspaper, and some serious and sombre debate about a definite shift in our news consumption preferences - away from the traditional inky rag and towards the increasingly convenient on-line options.

I don’t suppose this is any great surprise - the amount of free news content now out there on the internet is vast. Designing your news sources to deliver exactly what you want, quickly, via RSS feeds or customisable portal pages, is in many ways easier than extracting the sports supplement from the wedge of paper that is The Sunday Times.

With mobile phones becoming increasingly powerful in their ability to deliver news on the move it is getting difficult to stay positive about the future of our humble newspaper.
However, for us traditionalists, who still like to spend at least a little piece of our hectic lives detached from an electronic device, and getting our hands dirty with a bit of old fashioned reading, there is hope.

Rupert Murdoch, who of course has feet in every media camp, is predicting the end of free news content on-line - it isn’t sustainable he says. If this really does turn out to be the case and we are heading for a fairer fight between paper and electronic, it will be interesting to see where we spend our cash.

I would like to think there remains room for both delivery methods, because, apart from anything else, I’m getting a little concerned about the increasing amount of time I am spending staring at a screen, and will continue to gladly stump up my two pounds on a Sunday to be able to scatter my supplements throughout the house and study the footie results flat out on the living room floor!

Online voting - lost in cyberspace?

A very boring postcard has just dropped through my letterbox - it’s black and white and very dull - possibly even a little bit intimidating in its blandness.

It is a very important piece of mail and should be working much much harder to persuade me... to vote! The drab polling card that communicates with me every few years is not the way to persuade me to set aside time in my busy day on 4th June, to visit the local polling station and and scratch my mark on a ballot paper.

For the record I will be exercising my constitutional right because I happen to feel strongly about this. However, if I had needed a little extra persuasion I certainly would not have found it on the everso dull postcard.

This led me to thinking - whatever happened to the idea of online voting? It was going to be the answer, the cure for low turnout and the solution to one of the most pressing issues of democracy.

Looking at the Google results for ‘online voting’ I think I’ve immediately found the answer. The first page is riddled with links to problems - ‘Online voting can’t be trusted’ ‘Online voting fraud warning’. So it looks like we have gone defensive on the grand idea, and cyberspace paranoia has taken a hold.

Surely if we are really serious about making the whole voting process a little more enticing, appealing and less arduous, online voting is the answer. The machinery is now out there, can we have a bit more effort please to make it work.

To coin a favourite truism - if you always do what you’ve always done you’ll get what you have always got - only with voting numbers you won’t - you’ll get less, and less, and less.

Jez