Cool yule

My year-long contract with ITN is coming to an end at Christmas, and what a great and varied year it’s been.

I’ve been working for Channel 4 News one day a week since June, helping them get out news lines including Jacob Rees-Mogg saying Rishi Sunak was “not a successful chancellor”, that Sir Gavin Williamson behaved in an “immoral” manner minutes before Williamson resigned and from former Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu who had so many news lines we had to limit them to the “disgusting and very real” threats to Meghan Markle and to Basu’s comments on immigration, racism and reclaiming the word “woke”.

I’ve also supported ITN with business-to-business PR and plenty of internal comms from one-off messages to the weekly internal newsletter.

I’m continuing to work with The Halo Trust, the landmine clearance charity, but, from January, I have capacity for clients and new work. So do get in touch if you think I can help with your communications, social media and PR.

From my freelance point of view, dipping in and out of various organisations a few days a week, I observe that people are so busy at any and every organisation I’m in touch with. Email is in overload. At the time of writing, I’ve got 4,742 read emails in my ITN inbox and, until about June this year, I was filing them in different folders. I gave that up as I was too busy. And I delete a lot of emails.

Everyone is just dealing with the most pressing issue at any particular moment and the day starts as soon as you open your email or pick up your phone (for some people, I try to keep work off my phone).

I’ve also been reflecting on the state of Twitter, since Elon Musk took control of the network, laying off and alienating huge numbers of staff. Users have apparently been quitting the platform in droves, although no one I work for has spent much time in my company debating whether to continue using Twitter, or for how long. Twitter is taken as a given in many organisations’ social media portfolios.

I did see one newsletter last month suggesting it’s worth discussing what line needs to be crossed in order for your organisation to leave Twitter (or any social media platform, for that matter). Would it be dropping below a particular level of engagement or followers? Would it be Elon stepping over an ethical line? Would it be if the network becomes too toxic for your social media manager to handle?

Which made me think, will social media managers be needed in five years’ time in the same way they are now? It’s difficult to think of something we now completely take for granted – being able to communicate with thousands of people more or less for free – disappearing altogether. Maybe we’ll all be on Mastodon, which I’ve only just heard of.

In other news

This was quite amusing, about Waitrose pulling a segment of an in which farmers compared tans, although I know I should take sun care and skin cancer seriously.

Then, the Advertising Standards Association banned a Brewdog ad for suggesting its fruit flavoured beers counted as “one of your five a day”. The story made it onto the Today programme, thus garnering some (much needed) positive PR for the company which recently lost its B Corp status and has been dogged by stories of bullying and negative publicity.

This is curious, about the BBC making ‘lighter’ content for people from poorer backgrounds. The BBC may have a problem with attracting too many ABC1s and should be serving everybody with its content. But still, this story feels a bit… patronising?

ITV is doing some grandstanding about potentially refusing to uphold its public service broadcasting remit, including a commitment to news, if it isn’t guaranteed a prominent position along with the BBC and Channel 4 on smart TVs. In reality, ITV is very unlikely to drop its regular news bulletins but it obviously feels the threat to do so is worthwhile in the urge to progress the stalled media bill.

That’s your lot for 2022. I hope you have a very Merry Christmas and I’ll be back in January to wish you a Happy New Year.