THOROGOOD PROFESSIONAL INSIGHTS
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LOBBYING AND THE MEDIA: WORKING WITH POLITICIANS AND JOURNALISTS
Michael Burrell
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LOBBYING AND THE MEDIA: WORKING WITH POLITICIANS AND JOURNALISTS
Michael Burrell
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Acknowledgements I could not have written this Report without the support and wisdom of many of my colleagues and competitors.To the extent that it contains useful advice, they should take much of the credit.To the extent that there are errors of fact or judgement, they are mine alone. I should particularly like to thank:Leighton Andrews (Westminster Strategy),Maurits Bruggink (Grayling Political Strategy, Brussels), Howard Dawber (Bell Pottinger), Jim Eadie (Strategy in Scotland),Richard Gordon (Stormont Strategy), Joy Johnson (GPC),Heidi Lambert (Heidi Lambert Communications,Brussels),Matteo Maggiore (Grayling Political Strategy,Brussels),Glyn Matthias (Strategy Wales),Huw Roberts (Strategy Wales) and Laura Sandys. Of the texts that I have consulted, I should particularly mention: Philip Norton, The British Polity, Longman, 2001, Andrew Rawnsley, Servants of the People, Hamish Hamilton, 2000 and articles by Stephen Coleman, Research Director of the Hansard Society.
The author Michael Burrell was educated at St Peter’s College, Oxford, where he read Philosophy,Politics and Economics,specialising in international relations.He began his journalistic career on newspapers in Durham and Brighton,before joining the Parliamentary lobby. Based in the House of Commons press gallery, he reported on both Westminster and Whitehall and the European Union, covering summit meetings around Europe and plenary sessions of the European Parliament in Strasbourg. He began his career in lobbying in 1983,founding Westminster Strategy,of which he is now Chairman,in 1986.Since 1999 he has been Chairman of the UK lobbying industry’s self-regulatory body,the Association of Professional Political Consultants (APPC).
CONTENTS
Contents
INTRODUCTION
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AN INTRODUCTION TO LOBBYING
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What is lobbying? .........................................................................................4 Where does the word ‘lobbying’ come from? ...............................................5 Lobbying in Washington ...............................................................................5 Lobbying in Britain and Brussels ..................................................................6 The ‘cash-for-questions affair’ ........................................................................7 The Association of Professional Political Consultants ..................................9
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HOW TO LOBBY
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The rules of lobbying .................................................................................12
INVOLVING THE MEDIA – THE CASE FOR AND THE CASE AGAINST
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Media exposure ..........................................................................................19 Circumstances to consider before promoting media interest ....................20 Circumstances where you would be well advised to promote media interest ..........................................................................22
CONTENTS
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WHITEHALL AND WESTMINSTER
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The senior civil service ..............................................................................25 The power of the Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers ...........................27 Where does power lie within the executive? .............................................28 Parliament ...................................................................................................28 The initiation and formulation of public policy in Britain .........................30
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THE DOWNING STREET PRESS OFFICE, THE LOBBY AND THE NATIONAL MEDIA
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The Downing Street Press Office ...............................................................33 The lobby ...................................................................................................35 The national media .....................................................................................36
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SCOTLAND, WALES AND NORTHERN IRELAND
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Scotland ......................................................................................................39 Wales ..........................................................................................................41 Northern Ireland ........................................................................................42
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THE EUROPEAN UNION AND THE BRUSSELS PRESS CORPS
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The European Union ..................................................................................45 The Brussels press corps ............................................................................47 Media targets ..............................................................................................49
CONTENTS
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MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
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Lobbying and media relations campaigns ..................................................53
THE INTERNET
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The impact of the Internet on lobbying .....................................................56 The main political uses of the Internet ......................................................58 The role of online media in lobbying .........................................................59 Text messaging ...........................................................................................60
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HOW TO WORK WITH JOURNALISTS
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The basic tools of media relations ..............................................................62 What to avoid when dealing with journalists .............................................65
CONCLUSION
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INTRODUCTION
Introduction This is a how-to guide:how to lobby,how to handle the media and when and how to use media relations in support of direct lobbying. The practical advice is primarily aimed at those who are both lobbying and dealing with journalists, though it should equally be of some interest to those who are doing one or the other. Although many of the principles explained are applicable anywhere, it is primarily designed to help consultants and in-house lobbyists based in the United Kingdom and Brussels. The first chapter provides an introduction to lobbying, explaining its origins, describing the growth of professional lobbying in Britain and Brussels and looking at recent controversies surrounding lobbying in Britain, notably ‘cash for questions’ and ‘Drapergate’. This is followed by a ‘how-to’guide to ethical and effective lobbying,with a series of concrete and practical tips on how best to make your case to officials and politicians. A central theme of the Report is the issue of whether and how to adopt a media relations strategy in support of a lobbying campaign. Often, where a campaign is well on the road to success or alternatively where the issues involved are very technical,it makes no sense at all to involve the media and can even be damaging. However,there will be many occasions when a media campaign can provide vital support to lobbying – and this Report offers clear guidance on when this is likely to be so. Although the general principles of dealing with politicians,officials and journalists are the same the world over, the professional campaigner needs to be aware of the specific political and media landscapes in the key locations where he (or she; please accept ‘he’ in this Report as a simple abbreviation) may need to operate. So,after a whistle-stop tour of Whitehall and Westminster,the Report looks in detail at the London media, including the Parliamentary lobby, as well as the media in Scotland,Wales and Northern Ireland. A review of the European Union institutions is followed by a detailed overview of the Brussels press corps,perhaps the largest single concentration of journalists in the world, and how to engage with it. One of the situations where it will often be vital to run a co-ordinated lobbying and media strategy will be in the case of a contested takeover bid.The Report examines how lobbyists work with financial public relations consultants,lawyers and investment bankers to maximise the chances of success.
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It is only very recently that the Internet has come to play an important role in both the economy and politics. The Report seeks to draw some tentative conclusions about the role of the Internet in political lobbying. Finally it concludes with a practical how-to guide to dealing with journalists, reviewing the basic tools of any media strategy and listing some pitfalls to avoid.
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An introduction to lobbying W H AT I S L O B B Y I N G ? WHERE DOES THE WORD ‘LOBBYING’ COME FROM? LOBBYING IN WASHINGTON L O B B Y I N G I N B R I TA I N A N D B R U S S E L S T H E ‘ C A S H - F O R - Q U E S T I O N S A F FA I R ’ T H E A S S O C I A T I O N O F P R O F E S S I O N A L P O L I T I C A L C O N S U LT A N T S
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Chapter 1: An introduction to lobbying
What is lobbying? The classic dictionary definition of lobbying would be something along the lines of ‘to attempt to influence legislators in the formulation of policy’. In practice, as we shall see,legislators are in reality only one of the groups that lobbyists seek to target. Although lobbying of various kinds is conducted around the world, its development as a trade or profession is primarily an Anglo-Saxon concept and has historically been treated with suspicion elsewhere – for example, in France and Germany – though this is starting to change. In Britain we can trace the origins of the right to lobby back to Magna Carta, the charter granted by King John at Runnymede in 1215, recognising the rights and privileges of the barons, church and freemen and, in particular, their right to petition for redress of grievance.A lot of water has flowed under Westminster Bridge since then and power structures have changed dramatically,but the basic concept is recognisable. One of history’s most famously aggrieved groups were the American colonies, who resented their treatment at the hands of George III,fought a war to gain their independence and have been deeply suspicious of authority ever since. Hence the Bill of Rights,the first ten amendments to the United States constitution,added in 1791, guaranteeing the liberty of the individual. More specifically, the Bill of Rights enshrines the American respect for freedom of speech and forbids Congress from enacting any law that would place obstacles in the way of the citizen’s right to petition for redress of grievance. So we can see that the right to lobby,as we would say today,is deeply entrenched in Anglo-Saxon culture.Indeed,many would argue that it is that right for one’s voice to be heard that distinguishes democracies from totalitarian societies,a voice that can be heard every few years in elections but that, in the Anglo-Saxon tradition at least, requires channels for every-day use.
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Where does the word ‘lobbying’ come from? Prosaically, some say, from the word for a hall in a legislative building used for meetings between legislators and members of the public. Personally, I prefer to believe the more colourful American version,which has it deriving from the lobby of the Willard Inter-Continental Hotel, in downtown Washington DC, just two blocks from the White House. It was the bar at the Willard that was the favourite watering hole of Ulysses S.Grant, commander in chief of the Union forces in the American Civil War and then US President from 1869 to 1877. Grant, like many British politicians, was fond of drowning his sorrows in whisky and, the story goes, those who wanted his help when he was President quickly realised that the Willard was their best bet for an encounter. Hence they took to loitering in the hotel lobby to greet him as he entered. I think that sounds plausible. Every President since 1853 has slept or wined and dined there and it was where Martin Luther King wrote his ‘I have a dream’speech. If you visit the Willard today it still has an air of closeness to power and is often full of lobbyists and the lobbied.
Lobbying in Washington Perhaps because Washington has always been a one-industry town, with most businesses based elsewhere, and partly because it is the most powerful capital in the world,it was there that professional lobbying grew into a sizeable business of its own in the last century.Today the Washington lobbying scene is the most developed in the world and some, though by no means all, of its characteristics have been or will be emulated elsewhere. One feature of Washington that sets it apart from London and Brussels is that the consultancy landscape is more fragmented. In Europe consultancies tend to be generalists, while in Washington consultancies tend to be more specialist, both by industry sector and tools deployed. In Europe consultancies may call themselves lobbyists or public affairs or government relations consultants, but whatever the name, they all do much the same thing. By contrast, in Washington there are some clear delineations by technique. So,for example,a public affairs consultancy will be one that has a strong reliance on media relations. A government relations firm will tend to focus on long-term political positioning. A lobbying company will traditionally be a firm of lawyers, whose key skills are drafting legislation (for a legislature where any Senator or Congressman can initiate legislation) and lobbying on Capitol Hill.
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One striking feature of lobbying in the US is the effort put into seeking favourable media coverage.Here the single most important target,since the nation’s capital is pretty much a one-newspaper town,is the ‘op-ed’(opposite the editorial comment) page of the Washington Post.With the single exception of the midmarket newspaper, USA Today (and the weekly news magazines, Time and Newsweek),no newspaper covers the country,though both the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times are influential in the two key states of New York and California. Of the business press, the Wall Street Journal, with an American circulation of 1,800,000,is the most important.Beyond those titles,the lobbyists will target the home newspapers of every Senator and Congressman.
Lobbying in Britain and Brussels The British lobbying industry and that of Brussels is a surprisingly recent phenomenon, dating back, for the most part, not much more than a quarter of a century. Today there are over 50 lobbying consultancies in Westminster (of whom half, including the largest, are grouped in the Association of Professional Political Consultants (APPC)).The generally acknowledged pioneer in Westminster was Commander Christopher Powell,whose consultancy flourished in the years after the Second World War. By most accounts he was a brilliant, if somewhat arrogant man,whose knowledge of how Parliament works was unrivalled.However,it was not until the 1970’s and 1980’s that lobbying consultancies grew to any size,with Ian Greer – later to be famous – and GJW (founded in 1980 and now part of BSMG) among the earliest. In Brussels a handful of enterprising Britons started the first consultancies around the same time.Today, it is said (but who could possibly have counted?), there are 10,000 lobbyists in Brussels from around the globe. In addition, it is far more common today than even ten years ago to find major companies employing their own in-house lobbyists or Directors of Public Affairs, as they are more likely to be known.
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The ‘cash-for-questions affair’ In Britain today many people’s perceptions of lobbying are based on what they know or think they know of the ‘cash-for-questions’affair.Whole books have been written on the subject, though even now some of the facts are still in dispute. The key points of the drama can be relatively briefly encapsulated.Ian Greer began his career as a lobbyist in 1970,setting up his own consultancy,Ian Greer Associates (IGA) in 1982. It became an extraordinary success, with an unrivalled client list of blue chip companies, but the seeds of its destruction were planted just three years after its foundation,when Ian Greer met the Egyptian-born owner of Harrods, Mohamed Al Fayed. Fayed was engaged in a bitter feud with Tiny Rowland,chief executive of Lonhro, the man he had beaten in the takeover battle for Harrods. Ian Greer was enlisted to help Fayed promote his side of the argument in the House of Commons and in turn sought the support of a number of Conservative backbenchers,including Tim Smith and Neil Hamilton.They agreed to help and Hamilton, in particular, was soon tabling Parliamentary questions designed to discredit Rowland.Despite that,events moved decisively against Fayed in April 1987,with the announcement of a Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) inquiry into his takeover of Harrods. A month later a General Election was called and Ian Greer solicited money (£12,000) from Fayed, which he used to support the constituency campaigns of 26 Conservative MPs.Margaret Thatcher won the election and Fayed resumed his Commons campaign,notably with the continuing support of Tim Smith and Neil Hamilton. By 1988, Fayed says, he was handing over money in cash to Hamilton (the ‘cash-for-questions’) and in September that year Hamilton and his wife, Christine, stayed at Fayed’s Ritz Hotel in Paris at Fayed’s expense. By now Smith was on a paid retainer from Fayed. In 1989 the Lonhro-owned Observer newspaper published findings by the DTI inquiry that Fayed had both dishonestly misrepresented his origins and wealth and given evidence to the inquiry which he knew to be false. A year later Ian Greer gave evidence to the Commons Select Committee on Members’Interests,admitting that he had made commission payments to MPs in return for business introductions. He spoke of three payments to the (now deceased, former) Conservative MP, Michael Grylls.
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In 1992 IGA celebrated its tenth anniversary with a party at the National Portrait Gallery, attended by the then Prime Minister, John Major. Business was booming. The Conservatives were re-elected in that year’s election and Neil Hamilton became Corporate Affairs Minister at the DTI. Fayed wrote to him congratulating him on his appointment,but,on the advice of his officials,Hamilton did not reply.Shortly afterwards the Home Office rejected Fayed’s application for British citizenship. Fayed was furious, both about what he saw as his betrayal by Neil Hamilton and by the Government’s rejection of his application for British citizenship. He approached the editor of the Guardian, Peter Preston, and so triggered the Guardian investigation that culminated in the downfall of Tim Smith, Neil Hamilton and Ian Greer. In October 1994 the Guardian published its story, with the headlines ‘Tory MPs were paid to plant questions says Harrods chief’ and ‘Mr Greer said to me you need to rent an MP like you rent a London taxi’.Tim Smith immediately resigned as Minister for Northern Ireland, admitting that he had taken cash for questions from Fayed. A day later the Guardian published a copy of Neil Hamilton’s £3,600 bill for his stay at the Ritz. Rejecting the Guardian allegations that he had obtained money from Fayed to pay MPs to place Parliamentary questions, Ian Greer issued a writ.Within days Hamilton had resigned from the Government and the Prime Minister had announced the establishment of the Nolan Committee on Standards in Public Life. It was another two years before the libel case was about to start in the courts, but just days before that Ian Greer was told by his lawyers that the Guardian had evidence of six payments by him to Michael Grylls, not the three he had mentioned to a Commons committee in 1990.Though it was nothing to do with the central allegation, the lawyers’ advice was that to be shown to have misled the committee would be fatal in court.They advised him to drop the case and he accepted their advice. Released from the constraints of the case, the Guardian published further damaging material. IGA’s clients and staff deserted in droves. Just before the end of 1996 the company went into voluntary liquidation. To this day Neil Hamilton continues to assert his innocence and to dispute the finding of then Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Sir Gordon Downey, that there was compelling evidence that he had received cash payments from Fayed. The ‘cash-for-questions’affair put a harsh spotlight on the nascent lobbying industry in the UK and, in particular, on the issue of financial relationships between consultancies and MPs.Ian Greer was an enterprising pioneer in the industry,who made mistakes and paid a heavy price.
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The Association of Professional Political Consultants The affair forced the industry to confront issues that it had previously avoided and to take action to safeguard its own future.The most visible effect was the creation of a self-regulatory body, the Association of Professional Political Consultants (APPC), in 1994 by five of the largest lobbying consultancies.The Association,whose membership had grown by 2001 to 25 companies,has a code of conduct, which bans any financial relationship with politicians; it also publishes a twice-yearly register of consultancy clients. The ‘Drapergate’ affair The Association faced its first real test in the summer of 1998,when the Observer carried out an investigative sting, with journalists posing as representatives of a US energy company,seeking influence.It accused three consultancies (two of them Association members) of unethical behaviour. This ‘Drapergate’ affair was less serious than ‘cash-for-questions’, in the sense that this time there were no allegations of inappropriate financial links, but rather of inappropriate bragging about the closeness of links with politicians and what could therefore be achieved. Derek Draper,a former aide to Peter Mandelson,who had boasted that there were only 17 people who counted in the Government and he had access to all of them, immediately resigned from his position.The Prime Minister asked Sir Robin Butler, the Cabinet Secretary, to draw up rules for government dealings with lobbyists and the Association met to decide what, if anything, to do about its member consultancies. It was not an easy meeting and a wide variety of opinions were expressed. In the end, however, the decision was to set up an inquiry to be conducted by a former head of the Home Civil Service,Lord Armstrong of Ilminster, and a leading barrister, Nicholas Purnell QC. In their report to the Association two weeks’later,the two said that:‘There is nothing intrinsically improper about the role of political consultants.On the contrary,they have a valuable role to perform in assisting their clients to make proposals and cases to the agencies of government in the most effective way’.However,they added that it was ‘critically important’ that political consultants should ‘conduct themselves so as not to impair the integrity of their clients and the integrity of government and those in government positions with whom they have dealings’. They therefore went on to make a number of recommendations, subsequently endorsed by the APPC, all designed to create a ‘culture of compliance’ with the APPC rules within member consultancies.
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Taken together,‘cash-for-questions’and ‘Drapergate’had a profound effect on the UK lobbying industry.Though most in the industry would certainly assert that the alleged improper behaviour was untypical,the two crises forced the industry to acknowledge that it would have to behave with complete propriety and be seen to do so,if it were to survive and prosper.Partly as a result,many would claim that lobbying in the UK today has one of the best ethical track records of any in the world.Indeed,the secret of success is in how to be both ethical and effective. The next chapter considers what makes a good lobbyist.
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How to lobby THE RULES OF LOBBYING
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Chapter 2: How to lobby Some may feel that Chapter 1 was a chapter on how not to lobby and since this is essentially a practical guide, this chapter is designed to redress the balance by providing some basic advice on how to lobby well – that is to say both ethically and effectively.
The rules of lobbying Lobbying is an art form, rather than a science, so there is inevitably an element of judgement in what follows and, of course, the precise nature of activity will vary,depending on the issue and the political forum where the lobbying is taking place. Nevertheless, there are some simple rules that apply universally. So here are some of them: Research the facts The best lobbying is always based on accurate, up-to-date information and on a well-argued case,founded on credible evidence,and delivered to the right audiences in the right tone of voice at the right time.The research needs to cover not only the case to be made,but also the facts about the decision-makers and the influences on them. To which politician or political institution should the grievance be addressed? Who has the power to put things right? What consideration have they given the issue to date? Try to anticipate the arguments that your opponents will make and deal with them at the outset.Although impatient clients sometimes find this information-gathering stage of the lobbying process frustrating, it is essential to maximise the chances of success. Agree on the objective This may sound like a statement of the obvious, but it is a step surprisingly often omitted, with inevitably bad results down the track. Effective lobbying depends on the message being simple, consistent and realistic. So all the options need to be considered right at the beginning of the process. Of course, tactics may have to change in the light of events, but the strategy should be set at the outset. In lobbying,as in other areas,unity is strength and opponents will be quick to seize on its absence and seek to divide and rule.
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Put the case in writing Although a lobbying campaign will almost always involve face-to-face meetings, there is no chance of success unless politicians and officials can review the case in writing. It needs to be expressed with clarity, avoiding jargon, and, in the case of politicians, with brevity (ideally, not more than one side of A4). Officials, by contrast, will need technical detail to help them to consider the exact nature of possible solutions to a problem.Get one individual to write your submission (by all means following a round table discussion); that maximises the chances of achieving clarity. Identify allies Some campaigns may succeed through the sheer weight of the argument,but the reality of life is that decision-makers will usually also weigh the balance of forces aligned on different sides of an argument. So you are more likely to succeed if you can work in partnership with others, who share similar goals. If you can persuade an important think tank to advance your argument and to air it in the media, you will have made a significant advance. Adopt an appropriate tone of voice This means avoiding the twin extremes of bullying and Uriah Heep-style deference.Be respectful and courteous,but also straightforward and clear.You need to remember that, while you have the right to make your case, politicians and officials have a duty to decide in the public interest.Equally,they need to remember that they are the servants of the public,not the masters,and that they have a duty to consider carefully representations from those affected by their decisions. Make your friends before you need them It is human nature that we are more responsive to requests for help from people that we already know and politicians and officials are only human. So try to get to know individuals whom you judge may be in crucial positions before they get there. One of the most valuable functions that a consultancy can perform is to advise you on just who these ‘rising stars’ are.
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Choose your moment (‘There is a tide in the affairs of men,which,taken at the flood,leads on to fortune’.) Sometimes this is impossible because action is forced upon you by the politicians. In most cases, however, the timing of your lobbying will, to some extent, be in your hands.Again, it is a question of avoiding extremes. On the one hand, as a general rule of thumb,the earlier that you seek to intervene in a process,the more likely your efforts are to be crowned with success.On the other hand,politicians are busy people with notoriously short attention spans (‘a week is a long time in politics’); they are unlikely to pay much attention unless the issue, or something related to it, is on their current agenda. In any event, your lobbying needs to be in time to influence events; there is no point in taking action when the die is already cast. Remember what motivates politicians (Often) idealism,(usually) ambition to achieve Ministerial status and (invariably) a desire to hold their seats. Remember too that lobbying is a deal, not, generally, ‘cash-for-questions’,but information for access.The politician will normally agree to meet because he anticipates that you will provide him with information that will enable him to do his job better and perhaps to shine as a result. Find a peg On occasion your issue will be right at the top of the political agenda and you will have no trouble commanding attention, but much more frequently you will need to think carefully about how best to link your concerns with a political debate that is already taking place. Tell the truth As Shakespeare put it in Hamlet,‘This above all: to thine own self be true,And it must follow, as the night the day,Thou canst not then be false to any man’.When the outcome of a political decision is of crucial importance to you, it may be tempting to bend the truth at the edges to avoid uncomfortable facts and to put the best gloss on the weaker elements of your case. Don’t. Don’t because you shouldn’t and don’t because,more often than not,your uncomfortable relationship with the truth will be exposed and you will thereafter lose all credibility.
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Ask for help Another statement of the obvious,surprisingly often ignored.If a politician or an official has agreed to meet you, it will be because they believe you have a case to make.They will listen to your exposition of the facts, but, given the nature of their jobs,their primary interest will be in what you would like them to do about it. So don’t be shy: tell them. Listen carefully You can tell a great deal about how your case is being received by the comments that your interlocutors make and the questions that they ask.This will help you to conclude where your points are hitting home and where your case is perceived to be weak. Watch carefully Some politicians and officials are practised poker players and it is not easy to tell from meeting them what they think. A larger number are routinely polite and will express an interest in your case that will convey sympathy,but again conveys nothing of their opinion.So watch their body language for clues.Surprisingly often, you will find that a raised eyebrow or a tiny physical distancing from you betrays what they really think. Respond promptly to requests for more information Naturally, you should try to anticipate exactly what the person you are meeting will need to know,but,however efficient you are and however good your research, there will frequently be times when you will be asked to forward further particulars. Do so speedily and your reputation will be enhanced. Fail to do so and you will certainly lose significant ground. Be selective You will need to identify those who have a reason to be interested in your case and focus your efforts on them.This is much more likely to mean 50 individuals, than 500.You need to identify the officials who have responsibility for your issue and, in a Westminster context, you will focus on members of relevant Select Committees, party committees and all-party groups.
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But not too selective A very common mistake is to assume that your problem can be solved by one MP, one Government department, one political party, one part of the European Commission,one committee of the European Parliament and so on.However,this will very rarely be the case. Most issues are inter-departmental; most decisions are collegiate – and your lobbying needs to reflect this. Remember, in particular, that the Treasury and Finance Ministries everywhere have an interest in most issues. Be persistent Politicians the world over will often tell supplicants that their case would best be served by not rocking the boat, for example, because of the upcoming election; there is always an election upcoming somewhere. Ignore them.They are trying to arrange the world for their convenience,but you have a right to be heard.Equally, you should not embark on a campaign that you don’t intend to follow through to the end.Once you have put an issue on to the agenda,officials will certainly follow through and if you fail to do so as well, the results could be disastrous. Civil servants rule, OK? A sensitive area this,but never under-estimate the importance of officials,as opposed to politicians.The most valuable education tool that I know is the television comedy series,‘Yes Minister’, with its basic theme that it is officials who really run the country. Of course, determined politicians (a relatively small group) can change the world, but on many issues where lobbying takes place, the real power rests with officials.They draft the reports.They make the recommendations.They set the agenda. Get them on your side and you will usually be home and dry. Fail to convince them and you are very unlikely to succeed. The devil is in the detail Infrequently,you will be lobbying on a big picture point,where the decision will be black or white,success or failure.Far more often,you will be looking at shades of grey and then attention to detail will be vital. It may all turn on whether the clause says ‘and’ or ‘or’. So pay attention. Be discreet in victory The important thing is to win,not to be seen to have won.If the system takes what you consider to be the right decision, let it take the credit. It is rarely possible, anyway, to measure how much your efforts, as opposed to other factors, contributed to success.
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Consider a media strategy Often, particularly where the lobbying is on an obscure point of detail – vital to you,but of no interest to Aunt Agatha – nothing will be gained by seeking to expose your case in the media. However, there will be occasions when this can be very helpful. Here we come to a central theme of this Report.When and how should you involve the media in a lobbying campaign? The next chapter considers the case for and the case against talking to journalists.
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Involving the media – the case for and the case against MEDIA EXPOSURE C I R C U M S TA N C E S T O C O N S I D E R B E F O R E PROMOTING MEDIA INTEREST C I R C U M S TA N C E S W H E R E Y O U W O U L D B E W E L L ADVISED TO PROMOTE MEDIA INTEREST
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Chapter 3: Involving the media – the case for and the case against
Media exposure There used to be, perhaps still are in some quarters, two extreme points of view on this issue. One held that lobbying was just public relations, with a particular target audience,and so it was obvious that media relations would be at the centre of what lobbyists did.The other was that lobbying was an elevated profession, far removed from the gutter world of journalists, and that a lobbyist would no more dream of seeking exposure for a client’s case in the media than would a lawyer. Today, I would argue, there is a broad consensus that the answer lies between these two extremes and that it is a case of ‘horses for courses’, of making judgements about when media exposure is likely to be helpful and when unhelpful. Few would dispute that in Britain politicians are acutely sensitive to how the media report their activities.This can affect both policies and personalities.To give just a couple of obvious examples:It is certainly the case that Tony Blair’s pro-European instincts have been tempered by concerns over the stance taken by the Eurosceptic media and in particular the newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch and Conrad Black.Equally,his Government’s emphasis on crime is certainly influenced by the Daily Mail’s agenda and that newspaper’s belief that it has an instinctive appreciation of the worries of crucial swing voters in Middle England. Similarly, at a time when the size of Labour’s majority in the House of Commons made effective opposition there almost impossible,many newspapers seemed to take the view that it was part of their job to hold the Government to account. At its most extreme this has certainly included creating an environment in which Ministers have been forced to resign.This, of course, was a feature of the Major years, but it has continued more recently, most notably with first the Guardian and then the Observer twice forcing the resignation of Peter Mandelson from the Cabinet.
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Circumstances to consider before promoting media interest However,it does not follow from this that exposing a case to media scrutiny will always be helpful. Sometimes it may prove the opposite. Here are some circumstances where you would need to think very carefully before promoting media interest: Where it is too early or too late In all lobbying, timing is of crucial importance. If you seek to expose your arguments before they are on the political agenda you may find that you have zero impact. Politicians are busy people, generally with a short attention span, and media coverage is unlikely to impact on them if it relates to an issue that they are not already considering.Equally,if you allow your opponents to make the media running, before you attempt to do so, you may find that politicians have already made up their minds. Where you have almost won If you are at the point where all the indications are that the relevant officials and politicians are convinced of the merits of your case and are about to take the action that you have argued for, it is hard to see how media exposure will be helpful. On the contrary, it is a risk not worth taking, since it might either expose aspects of the issue that raise last-minute doubts or simply generate a sense of resentment on the part of those that you have been talking to that you appear not to trust them. Where the issue is very technical Journalists are interested in stories that they judge will sell newspapers or attract viewers or listeners.That usually means stories that have a direct impact on large numbers of people.The state of the health service and of the railways and the fuel protests of autumn 2000 would be some recent obvious examples.It will be hard to interest them if your issue is very complicated and has little public resonance. The danger is that journalists will fail to understand and report inaccurately.This may not apply to the specialist press in your sector, but such media have noticeably less influence on Government than mainstream media.
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Where you would be alerting well-organised opponents It is important always to remember that you cannot control how the media will report on the subject that interests you. Even if initial coverage is favourable, it may be that the principal effect will be to alert those who take a different point of view to the fact of your lobbying.They may then themselves both lobby directly and seek media coverage for counter-arguments. Where you would be alerting other stakeholders Media coverage of your issue may stimulate the involvement of others with an interest.They may not necessarily be hostile, but their lobbying will force the decision-makers to reconsider the issues. At best this may lead to delay,but it could result in the decision moving against you. Where you would alienate key supporters This can be in two different senses. Firstly, you may have key supporters in government who,in their eyes,are taking risks to help your case;faced with media exposure of the issue, they may become more cautious. Secondly, there can be occasions on sensitive issues where you are able to secure discreet behind-thescenes third party support for your point of view, which can be very helpful. Sometimes, such help may evaporate in the wake of media discussion, as less empathetic elements among these supporters force their colleagues to abandon their supportive stance. Where you risk generating adverse editorial comment Even if the factual reporting of your case is accurate,you may do more harm than good if it is accompanied by comment pieces that cast doubt on the validity of your case. Officials and politicians are sensitive to editorial comment and if you are not confident that it will be favourable, it may make sense not to expose the issue to the media in the first place. Where you are ill-prepared to handle media inquiries Journalists are inquisitive, curious people; that, after all, is their job. So it is very unlikely that what you say will simply be reported verbatim and far more likely that you will be on the receiving end of some probing questions that seek to expose the weaknesses in your arguments. If you are not confident of handling such questions, it might be better to avoid the media altogether.
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Circumstances where you would be well advised to promote media interest But if all that has frightened you into the closet, you need also to consider the opposite very carefully. The fact is that media monitoring is an element in government decision-making the world over. So, with that in mind, what are the circumstances where you would be well advised to supplement your direct lobbying with a media campaign? They might well include the following: Where the media focus is already on you You cannot always choose whether to seek media exposure. Often you will find that journalists are covering the story anyway.If that is the case,it would very rarely be sensible to decline to give your side of the story.In this situation you will need to balance the need to consider your response carefully with an understanding of media deadlines. Where your opponents are using the media One of the lessons that British Labour politicians say they have learned from American politics is the vital importance of ‘rapid rebuttal’,of quickly responding to media reporting that you consider to be inaccurate. Lobbyists need to learn the same lesson, for the longer that an opponent’s arguments go unchallenged in the media,the more likely it is that politicians and officials will accept that they are true. Where you need to demonstrate that you have decisive political support The classic example of this in Britain under the last Conservative Government was the Post Office anti-privatisation campaign.This was fought at a time when the Government had only a tiny majority in the House of Commons.The media reports that 15 backbench Conservative MPs were prepared to vote against the Government were crucial in persuading Ministers to back down. Where you need to demonstrate a breadth of public or third-party support Often your argument will carry the day,not simply because of its innate strength, but because you can show that your point of view is widely supported.It means, from a political perspective, that the benefits of taking action in your favour are clear and the risks minimal.The easiest way to, as it were, parade your support is to secure media exposure for it.This will certainly be picked up by official media monitoring and help your case.
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Where you need to demonstrate that you are campaigning It is both a strength and weakness of lobbying that it is generally conducted behind closed doors.This invisibility can be a great disadvantage if supporters conclude that nothing is being done.If,to secure their continuing support,you need to prove that this is not the case, a media campaign can be an effective tool. Where your lobbying appears to be getting nowhere There can be any number of reasons for this. It may be simply that you have got a lousy case that doesn’t deserve to succeed. Or it may be that you are lobbying the wrong targets – in which case you need to broaden the net. But if neither of these appear to apply then it is likely that you will have nothing to lose by seeking to secure a fresh look at your arguments via a media campaign. Where you have or can win considerable public support There will be times when Governmental inertia can be disturbed with the help of the media.The volume of media coverage and support for a campaign will often affect what a government decides to do. Again, the fuel protests in 2000 provide a vivid illustration; for as long as the tabloids supported the protesters, the Government was under severe pressure; the moment media opinion began to swing against the protesters, the pressure eased. In the specific case of mergers and acquisitions When billions of pounds are at stake and when the outcome may be decided either by shareholders or by the competition authorities, financial public relations and lobbying go hand-in-hand and it would be a foolish investment bank that failed to recognise the importance of both.This will be considered in more detail in a later chapter. So,let us assume that,willingly or unwillingly,you have resolved to include a media element in your lobbying campaign, how best should you set about that? There are certainly some general lessons that apply and these are considered in a later chapter. However, you also need to be aware of how the political and media landscapes in a particular location will influence your approach. The next chapter looks at Westminster,Whitehall and the national UK media,while subsequent chapters examine Scotland,Wales, Northern Ireland and Brussels.
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Whitehall and Westminster THE SENIOR CIVIL SERVICE THE POWER OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET MINISTERS WHERE DOES POWER LIE WITHIN THE EXECUTIVE? PA R L I A M E N T T H E I N I T I AT I O N A N D F O R M U L AT I O N O F P U B L I C P O L I C Y I N B R I TA I N
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Chapter 4: Whitehall and Westminster How you lobby and how you may campaign in the media will depend crucially on who has the power to help or to hinder your case. So the theme of this chapter is where power lies in Whitehall and Westminster. Obviously,this will vary from issue to issue and also over time,but there are some general observations that can usefully be made. There are any number of admirable,if lengthy,academic texts on this subject.What this chapter seeks to focus on are those aspects of the unwritten British constitution that are most likely to be of interest to the lobbyist.
The senior civil service Perhaps the single most important is that, as Philip Norton, professor of government at the University of Hull, has put it:‘the senior civil service remains at the heart of British government’.Hence the unusual order of the chapter title, designed to focus attention on this particular point. For the lobbyist, it is these people – some 3,000 of them out of a total of around 500,000 – who often hold the key to the resolution of a problem, for it is they who both provide Ministers with advice on policy and then supervise its implementation. Because the media focus is on politicians and because officials shun the limelight, it is all too easy to underestimate the importance of senior officials – but the lobbyist does so at his peril. Of course on the really big issues of the day it will generally be the Prime Minister or the Chancellor of the Exchequer whose views are decisive, but the great majority of day-to-day issues with which lobbyists are generally concerned are not like that. Political support may be vital, but if officials are not persuaded that a particular approach is practical, affordable and in their department’s interests, it is unlikely to be adopted. Some of those who need to lobby mistakenly assume that because officials are generally discreet, they are unapproachable. It isn’t so. The overwhelming majority of senior officials take the view that it is part of their job to listen to those who may be affected by government action.They have no duty to agree,but they do generally feel a duty to consult.
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Each department is headed by a Permanent Secretary,generally a white,middle class, middle-aged male,earning between £100,000 and £150,000.He will,in most cases, have spent his entire twenty-five year career in Whitehall, though normally in more than one department,probably having joined straight from Oxford or Cambridge. From a lobbyist’s point of view,more often than not,the Permanent Secretary will be too senior to be engaged with the issue in question.The key will be lower down with an under secretary or a principal. Just how much power these officials have will often depend on the character of Ministers, who, after all, are the people with the formal power. A really strong Minister,whose party has a clear majority in the Commons,can generally get what he wants, even in the face of official doubts. The classic example in recent times would be Gordon Brown at the Treasury.His revolutionary plan to give the Bank of England the power to set interest rates was devised in opposition by his economics adviser, Ed Balls. Sprung on startled Treasury officials the weekend after the election, the civil servants’ reaction was that they would need a month to prepare – yet the announcement was made just five days after election day. Sir Terry Burns, Permanent Secretary at the Treasury, found it hard to disguise his irritation at the role played by Balls,but within a year Burns had been eased out. What of these special advisers? How important are they to the lobbyist? The slightly unhelpful,but correct answer is that it depends.It depends both on their closeness to the Minister and their perceived level of expertise – Balls, close to Brown and seen as an economics expert,would certainly be in the ‘important’category,with officials describing him as ‘the deputy Chancellor’ or even ‘the real Chancellor’. There are certainly more of them than ever before – over 50 in 2001,with a dozen at Number 10 alone in the Policy Unit,headed by David Miliband. A few are little more than bag carriers, while others wield real influence, particularly in those rare cases where they combine a strong rapport with their Minister with a good working relationship with officials.These are the ones that the lobbyist should focus on, since they can really make things happen.
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The power of the Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers What about the power of the Prime Minister and of Cabinet Ministers? This is a debate that will never be conclusively settled, partly because the reality varies from time to time and personality to personality. Most observers of the British political scene would probably agree that over the years the power of the Prime Minister has generally grown,yet they would also concede that at crucial moments there are decisive checks on that power. Two recent examples,both related to the neuralgic issue of Britain’s relationship to the European Union, illustrate those checks. Mrs Thatcher Mrs Thatcher is generally regarded as one of Britain’s strongest Prime Ministers. Yet she could not survive the devastatingly effective (all the more so for being so unexpected) resignation speech of Sir Geoffrey Howe. In the wake of her increasingly outspoken attacks on the EU (‘No, no, no’) he told the Commons: ‘The task has become futile… of trying to pretend there was a common policy when every step forward risked being subverted by some casual comment or impulsive answer’. It was enough to encourage Michael Heseltine to challenge her for the party leadership.He won sufficient votes in the first ballot to wound, though not to kill.Nevertheless,she resigned,after two out of three of her Cabinet colleagues advised her to do so, saying that she felt that she could not carry on without the united support of her senior colleagues. Tony Blair Tony Blair likes,in many ways,to model himself on Mrs Thatcher,yet he too proved relatively powerless in the wake of action by a senior colleague over Europe,albeit this time from the opposite direction. By the autumn of 1997, Chancellor Brown was keen to rule out early British membership of the Euro. He persuaded Blair to allow him to give an interview to the Times, without making it entirely clear what he would say. In the event, to Blair’s surprise, the story appeared under the headline:‘Brown rules out single currency for lifetime of this Parliament’.The Prime Minister,who was at Chequers when he was told what had happened,was reduced to ringing Charlie Whelan, Brown’s then press spokesman, to find out what was going on.Whelan, who left the Red Lion pub in Whitehall to take the call on his mobile, told the Prime Minister that it was ‘too late’ to change anything.Whelan did not long survive, but the policy did.
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Where does power lie within the executive? The question of where,within the executive,power lies defies easy generalisation. To my mind one of the most persuasive attempts has been Norton’s. He argues (with a few caveats) that:‘High policy (such as economic policy) is usually made at the level of prime minister and cabinet; medium-level policy (a new initiative on transport safety or school examinations, for example) at the ministerial level within departments; and low-level, or day-to-day incremental, policy at the civil service level, often in consultation with those representatives of outside groups who,together,form policy communities.This last category probably accounts for the bulk of public policy or, perhaps more accurately, policy adjustments’. Norton argues that this increasing involvement of outside groups, sometimes assisted by professional lobbyists,is leading,to some degree,to a dispersal of power. He says that:‘By Capitol Hill standards,the development of lobbying is an extremely modest one,but it is growing and likely to continue to do so.It offers the prospect of a more, rather than a less, pluralistic system of policy making’.
Parliament So much for the executive.What of Parliament, often thought to be the focus of lobbying? Again, Norton gets it right in my view, when he says that:‘Lobbying of MPs is an admission that attempts to influence ministers and their officials have failed. It is often an unprofitable exercise: Failure to influence ministers will frequently be replicated in a house dominated by those same ministers’. Of course we can find exceptions to this argument.Two of the most well-known would be the defeat of the Shops Bill and the thwarting of Government plans for Post Office privatisation.In the first case,a coalition of outside interests persuaded 72 Conservative MPs to vote with Labour to defeat the Bill. In the second, as we noted earlier, the threat of 15 Conservative MPs to rebel (at a time when the Government had only a small Commons majority) was enough to persuade the Government to think again. But these are rare exceptions to the rule that Parliament will rarely be decisive, though it certainly has influence on the executive, where the decision-making power generally lies.It is because of this influence,increasingly exercised through Select Committees or party committees, rather than on the floor of the House of Commons,that lobbyists pay attention to it.In some ways Parliament thus plays a similar role to that of the media: both have considerable influence on government and both are worth paying attention to for that reason.
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In the overwhelming majority of cases a government with an overall majority in the Commons will succeed in imposing its will through party discipline. So the Commons will only generally be important as a place to change things when the government of the day lacks such a majority. However, it retains an importance as a forum for debate, where issues can be raised and drawn to the attention of government. Select Committees Particularly important in this respect are the departmental Select Committees established in 1979.They have,to a modest degree,developed a reputation for both innovative thinking and a preference for proceeding by consensus.Their inquiries are based on the taking of written and oral evidence from Ministers and outside interests. For the lobbyist therefore they can represent both an opportunity and a threat. Certainly any witness called to give evidence would do well to prepare in much the same way as he would for an interview with a sceptical journalist. The House of Lords The House of Lords has been and remains a curious place,but not without interest for the lobbyist. Originally dominated by hereditary peers, who owed their membership of it to the accident of birth, since 1999 it has been dominated by appointed life peers,though 92 hereditary peers have retained their membership (out of a current total of just over 700). Although it has less power than the Commons, it is also a chamber where party discipline is weaker and where the life experience of many (predominantly middle-aged or elderly) members can lead to debates which are more informed and less dogmatic than is usual in the Commons. So if your objective is to influence the detail of a bill, where the Government is either hostile or uninterested,it may be a more fruitful forum than the Commons. By the time a piece of legislation reaches the House of Lords,the process of public policy formation and development is well on the road to completion.Yet it is, of course,a truism of good lobbying that the ideal point to seek to intervene in this process is not at the end, but at the beginning. So it may be useful to conclude this chapter with a brief consideration of how public policy is initiated and formulated in Britain.
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The initiation and formulation of public policy in Britain It has to be said that there is little academic consensus on this subject and that there is a gulf between much of the theory and what appears to be the reality. In addition,the reality seems to change considerably from government to government. The senior civil service One area where there is little agreement is the role of the senior civil service. Some,usually committed party politicians,argue with passion that the civil service has never had an original idea in its life.Others respond that this shows how clever the mandarins are and that it is rather the case that they have simply been careful never to leave their fingerprints – my own instincts incline to this latter view.Where there is agreement is that the closer that you get to policy detail, the more important Whitehall becomes. International experience As the world becomes a smaller place,‘abroad’ is often the source of new policy ideas and initiatives.Labour and Conservatives alike frequently turn to the United States for fresh ideas.Less frequently,they and others look to the old Commonwealth or to other countries in the European Union – Australia,New Zealand,Sweden and the Netherlands are particular favourites. Political parties Political parties would have you believe that they are the main source of ideas: they think up the ideas,they are adopted as party policy,they feature in the election manifesto and after polling day they are implemented.This has the attraction of simplicity, but can, at best, be only part of the truth. Think tanks Take privatisation,for example.It hardly figured in the Conservative party manifesto of 1979 or in public debate.The civil service was initially extremely sceptical. Rather the driving force was a combination of a vigorous think tank – the Adam Smith Institute – and the enthusiasm of a determined Prime Minister,Mrs Thatcher, and (at the time) key Ministerial lieutenants, notably Nigel Lawson and Geoffrey Howe.The results were dramatic:by the end of the 1980s they had sold into private hands 40% of what had been publicly owned a decade earlier. Think tanks remain a good place to launch a new idea, though their influence waxes and wanes. In 2001 the Institute for Public Policy Research would reasonably claim to be the most influential, though others (Demos and the Social Market Foundation, for
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example) certainly compete for attention. Ask where think tanks themselves get their best ideas from and often the answer is from abroad, which usually means the United States. Interest and pressure groups Much public policy starts life as the brainchild of an interest group or pressure group.Some of these groups (the campaign for lead-free petrol,for example) are successful single issue groups;others (for example,Keep Sunday Special and the Countryside Alliance) are more responses to unwelcome Government initiatives. Many interest groups have a quasi-institutionalised consultative role vis a vis particular Government departments. The centre of Government More than was the case in the past,policy is being initiated and developed at the centre – in the No 10 policy unit, but also in the Cabinet Office: notably in the performance and innovation unit, headed in 2001 by Geoff Mulgan (formerly at Demos) and in divisions like the social exclusion unit and the office of the e-envoy. The pressure from No 10 and 70 Whitehall for policy innovation may be relentless, but turning big ideas into concrete policy normally requires input from Ministers, special advisers and senior officials in the key departments:the Treasury,of course, but also the Department for Education and Employment,the Department of Health, the Department for the Environment,Transport and the Regions and the Home Office. The only safe advice for the lobbyist about policy formation and development is to treat each case as different and to research the corridors of power carefully before deciding where to focus the lobbying effort.
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The Downing Street Press Office, the lobby and the national media THE DOWNING STREET PRESS OFFICE THE LOBBY T H E N AT I O N A L M E D I A
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CHAPTER 5: THE DOWNING STREET PRESS OFFICE, THE LOBBY AND THE NATIONAL MEDIA
Chapter 5: The Downing Street Press Office, the lobby and the national media At the heart of British media coverage of politics is the lobby and their principal source of information,the press office at 10 Downing Street.So it is worth looking at these two institutions, before considering which of the national media are of particular importance to the lobbyist. That requires a declaration of interest.For while I am now a lobbyist,I was a lobby correspondent. Hopefully that means that I know what I am talking about, but it almost certainly also means that my perceptions are influenced by my own experiences.You have been warned.
The Downing Street Press Office If we start by considering the press operation at Downing Street, it is a truism that most occupants of 10 Downing Street have been fascinated by/obsessed with media coverage.Ramsay MacDonald created the job of Press Secretary to the Prime Minister in 1931. Over the years the quality of Downing Street press spokesman has varied greatly. One of the most well-known, because so close to his Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, was Bernard Ingham, who, like his boss, on occasion treated Cabinet Ministers as if they were enemies, rather than allies. Bernard was famously wellliked by the lobby, in spite of his fierce temper, because he could be relied on to know what the Prime Minister was thinking,even when he hadn’t spoken to her. He also used the weekly meeting of information officers to control and co-ordinate all the news flowing from the government to the media. Equally short-tempered and close to the Prime Minister is Tony Blair’s official spokesman, former Daily Mirror journalist,Alastair Campbell, a brilliant tabloid phrase-maker who, on the night of Princess Diana’s death, supplied his master with the memorable words,‘the People’s Princess’. His office is the setting for the daily 9am news planning meeting,which endeavours to set the political news agenda for the day and,in particular,decides on lines to be taken at the daily lobby briefing, two hours later.
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While Tony Blair himself claims to spend little time reading newspapers (he once told an interviewer:‘I can’t think I spend more than five minutes a day reading it – I read the Financial Times and I flick through the rest’), Campbell’s media monitoring operation is impressively thorough and encompasses columnists, as well as lobby correspondents. A leaked autumn 2000 document from the media monitoring unit provided the Government with a journalist-by-journalist rundown – some examples were: Andrew Grice (Independent) ‘One of Westminster’s most influential political reporters’,Peter Riddell (Times) ‘Is widely read in Whitehall’, Hugo Young (Guardian) ‘Considered very influential among Labour-voting chattering classes’and Polly Toynbee (Guardian) ‘Very well respected writer on the centre left’. Alastair Campbell’s media operation builds on Labour’s media relation’s machine, developed in opposition when Peter Mandelson was director of communications (1985-1990) and, in my judgement, shares that machine’s strengths and weaknesses. On the plus side,where Labour’s media operation had been famously shambolic, the new approach was based on the virtues of a proactive, structured approach to delivering the party’s key messages.This was visibly successful in the 1997 General Election when, for the first time ever, a majority of the national dailies supported Labour,with only the Daily Telegraph,the Daily Mail and the Express unequivocal in their support for the Conservatives. On the negative side, Labour has often found it hard to disguise its contempt for journalists – a serious mistake, since the most effective media relations are built on a foundation of mutual trust and respect.Those providing stories and those writing them know that their jobs are different, but that each has much to gain from the professionalism of the other. Ian Hargreaves, Financial Times columnist and director of the Centre for Journalism Studies at Cardiff University, has been assiduous in collecting the quotations that display that contempt. Labour pollster, Philip Gould, for example, has talked about:‘Taking power away from the media and grabbing back control of the agenda… it is basically about outwitting them and setting out our stall on our terms’. As Hargreaves has put it, ‘Journalists are viewed as an enemy force standing between New Labour and the electorate’.He quotes an associate of Philip Gould explaining the essence of running a government media relations operation as ‘forcing journalists to eat their greens’.As Hargreaves concludes,‘If you think journalists are fools and treat them that way, it will not be easy to build trust’. Campbell and the lobby have a love-hate relationship.There is certainly an element of mutual mistrust and contempt but,at bottom,each knows that they could not do their job without the other.
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The lobby The lobby is the collective name for journalists based at the Palace of Westminster, whose day-to-day job is to report the ebb and flow of British politics. Founded in 1884, when a single ‘gentleman’ of the press was given official permission to stand in the MPs’lobby of the House of Commons,there are today some 250 lobby correspondents.They include 90 working for television and radio, 36 (so more than one in ten of the lobby) working for the BBC alone. On the print side, the most well resourced are the Press Association (20), most of whom are gallery reporters,the Daily Telegraph and the Times (eight each) and the Guardian and the Independent (six each). The lobby is a comfortable, if competitive, club and many of its members have spent most of their working life there.Most of them share certain characteristics: an abiding interest in politics, a competitive desire to come up with exclusive stories,a certain cynicism about the motives of politicians,a preference for stories that feature conflict, a relative lack of interest in or understanding of the civil service,a focus that is more often on 10 Downing Street than other Government departments and more on personalities than on issues and a short attention span. The central event of the day for the lobby is the 11am briefing by the Prime Minister’s official spokesman,normally held in the basement of 10 Downing Street. This time-honoured ritual begins with the spokesman reading out a list of the Prime Minister’s engagements for the day, but at its heart is the exchange of questions and answers – sometimes good-humoured,sometimes acerbic – that follows.On Fridays,there will generally also be a separate briefing for the Sunday newspapers. Most lobby correspondents love their job and are very good at it.They are at the heart of the British political machine and have privileged access to it,both in terms of Downing Street and other briefings and their right to loiter with MPs in the members’ lobby, immediately outside the chamber of the House of Commons. They will often be the first to know of a shift in Government policy and they will certainly have usually well-informed views on which politicians’ stock is rising and which is falling. Hence they are a good source of information for lobbyists – and, after all, information is the basis of all good lobbying. But there is a world of difference between monitoring carefully what the lobby is writing,which is essential,and seeking to interest them in a client’s case,which is a high-risk strategy that may, on occasion, be either sensible or unavoidable. If you find yourself seeking to make a case to members of the lobby then you need to bear a number of caveats in mind, most of them relating to the characteristics of the lobby outlined above.
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Firstly,it may be difficult to secure their attention at all,since their job is to focus on the hot issues of the day.Then you need to recall that it will be second nature to most lobby correspondents to express the story in terms of conflict, so it will be their natural instinct to balance your comments with an alternative viewpoint. Thirdly, if your story has economic or financial implications, these are unlikely to be given as much prominence as the political implications. Finally, even if you secure one-off interest, this is quite unlikely to be sustained, since the correspondents have a natural desire to move quickly on to the next story.
The national media For all of these reasons, it may make more sense to pitch your story to the army of specialist correspondents that newspapers and broadcast media employ: journalists whose remit is to cover business,health,education,the environment, transport and so on.They are more likely to have an in-depth understanding of your issue and more likely to have a continuing interest. As your objective is to influence Government,you need to bear in mind that some journalists are more important than others and,since resources are always limited, it makes sense to focus on your effort on those media most likely to have the greatest impact. Early in the day, the two to remember are the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 and London’s evening newspaper,the Evening Standard (easily Britain’s top-selling evening newspaper, with a circulation of well over 400,000). The Today programme, in particular sets the political agenda for the day and if you have the opportunity to make your case on it, you will be heard by many of the opinion formers and decision makers that you will want to reach.Similarly,most journalists working for the broadcast media or national morning newspapers will generally at least glance at the Evening Standard before filing their stories. The main evening television news bulletins have very large audiences and are important in that sense, but because of the peculiar hours of the House of Commons are actually not much watched by politicians. In the late evening BBC 2’s Newsnight has more of a political audience and the time to examine issues in more depth than many other television programmes.Remember,however,that the interviewing style, as with the Today programme, will tend to the assertively sceptical. Famously, politicians tend to think of television and radio more as something that they appear on than as something that they watch or listen to. Apart from the Today programme and Newsnight, their favourite programmes on which to appear are Breakfast with Frost (Sunday, BBC1), the Jonathan Dimbleby Programme (Sunday,London Weekend Television) and Question Time (Thursday, BBC1).
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In terms of national newspapers,Britain has a remarkably wide variety,including ten national dailies, of which five are quality broadsheets, all of which can be important means of exposing decision-makers to your point of view. Of the five, arguably the two most important are the Financial Times and the Guardian,for different reasons. The Financial Times (circulation 450,000) has an enviable reputation for reporting the facts straight and for appreciating the economic context within which politicians operate. It reaches a wide and relevant international audience, particularly in Brussels, as well as being required reading in the Treasury. Of the FT’s total circulation, substantially less than half is in the UK, with Continental Europe and the United States accounting for most of the remaining readers. The Guardian (circulation 400,000) is the newspaper most widely read by Labour politicians and is, in that sense, the perfect means of reaching a large number of them,with the Daily Telegraph (circulation over a million) performing the same function for Conservative MPs. If we include weekly and specialist magazines, the list is almost endless. In a few cases it may be that the New Statesman could be important because of its significant, if small, left-of-centre readership.There is also the Economist, which approaches issues from a liberal free market perspective and has a significant readership in the United States. Although their coverage will be less detailed, the tabloid newspapers are also important,not least because of the importance attached to them by 10 Downing Street (to quote Alastair Campbell:‘The papers that really matter are the tabloids. I think one of the reasons Tony wanted me to work for him, and why I wanted to work for Tony, was that we both acknowledge the significance to the political debate of the tabloids’).The Downing Street press office keeps a close watch on the Daily Mail (circulation 2.3 million), in particular.Then there are the Sunday newspapers,which have the time and resources to conduct major investigations and which can, as a result, have a significant impact on the Westminster agenda.
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Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland SCOTLAND WALES NORTHERN IRELAND
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Chapter 6: Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland Go back a quarter of a century and the story of political power in Britain was a remarkably simple one. Essentially, it resided at Westminster or in Whitehall and that was naturally where the first professional lobbyists were based.Today the picture is more complicated. A combination of Britain’s membership of the European Union (and,in particular, of its single market) and of the establishment of national parliaments or assemblies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland means that today political power is dispersed. As a result the lobbyist has to consider where or in which combination of locations the power now rests to deal with the issues that concern him. It follows that lobbyists who have concluded that their case would benefit from media exposure need to be aware of the different media landscapes in Brussels and the nations of Britain.This chapter looks at Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, while the following chapter describes the Brussels scene.
Scotland Westminster retains responsibility for defence,employment,foreign policy,social security benefits and immigration and nationality,but the vast majority of day-today domestic issues are now the responsibility of the Scottish Parliament.The Scottish executive or Cabinet is a coalition between Labour and the Liberal Democrats, with the principal opposition party being the Scottish Nationalists. Apart from the First Minister,there are eleven Ministers and ten deputy Ministers. The backbench members of the Parliament exert their influence through 16 committees (which, in Westminster terms, are a blend of select and standing committees), each chaired by a convenor. Scotland has already had its very own ‘Drapergate’ style scandal, similarly based on an investigative sting by the Observer. Posing as a potential client, journalists tempted employees of a public relations consultancy to brag about their access to Scottish executive member,Jack McConnell,and to the then Scottish Secretary, John Reid.The PR consultancy was forced to close its embryo lobbying operation and the Parliament’s Standards Committee set up an inquiry into lobbying.
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Before the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish executive were established, the Scottish media were prominent in the campaign for devolution.Since their creation they have been equally prominent in their criticisms.The important point to note, however, is that they have not ignored the new institutions. It follows that they can be an important way of reaching the 129 Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs), Ministers in the Scottish executive and Scottish civil servants. In the broadcast media,Good Morning Scotland,BBC Radio Scotland’s equivalent of the Today programme, has a substantial audience among the political classes and therefore plays a similar agenda-setting role.Many in Scotland had hoped that Scottish television might play a similarly influential role,through a Scotland-based early evening television news programme in place of the BBC’s Six o’Clock News. That battle was lost,however,and the Scots had to make to do with the concession of a 20-minute Scottish opt-out from BBC 2’s Newsnight at 11pm.There are also, of course,as elsewhere in the UK,early evening national/regional news bulletins: Reporting Scotland on BBC television and Scotland Today,its more down-market equivalent on ITV. If London is unusual in the world in having so many newspapers,the same is true in Scotland.For a small country,with a population of just five million,the breadth of choice is striking. Still the most important, in spite of a somewhat turbulent recent history, is the Scotsman.With a circulation hovering around 100,000, it outsells all the London broadsheets combined north of the border. Traditionally the left-of-centre newspaper for the Edinburgh chattering classes, it has moved to the right under the ownership of the Barclay brothers and has also attempted to reposition itself as a national (i.e. Scottish as opposed to east coast) newspaper. A similar repositioning exercise has been undertaken by its long-time rival, the Glasgow-based Herald (also with a circulation close to 100,000), formerly the Glasgow Herald,which has sought to reach out beyond its traditional west coast readership. The most intriguing new entrant is the Swedish-owned, Business AM, the first daily newspaper to launch in Scotland for a century, which calls itself ‘Scotland’s business, financial and political daily’; its readership is small, but influential and many Scottish-based lobbyists cite it as an important target for their messages. Of the tabloid press in Scotland, easily the most important is the Daily Record (circulation over 600,000),the Scottish equivalent of the Daily Mirror,left-of-centre on economic issues, but socially conservative. It played an important role in the hard-fought Scottish campaign against the repeal of Section 28; a campaign that certainly forced the Scottish executive to reflect, but that was ultimately unsuccessful in achieving its objective.
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Other Scottish newspapers worth a mention are the two principal evening newspapers, the Edinburgh-based Evening News (circulation 75,000) and Glasgow’s Evening Times (circulation over 100,000);both are well-read by MSPs, with the former in particular beginning to play a role analogous to London’s evening newspaper.Then there is the most significant regional newspaper with a 100,000 circulation in the north east of Scotland, the Aberdeen-based Press and Journal. Most,though not quite all,of the UK’s national newspapers have Scottish editions, though in some cases this amounts to not a great deal more than a reshuffling of the football match reporting. Still, their Scottish correspondents are generally on the look out for Scottish case studies and comments from Scottish interest groups, so they may on occasion be useful for Scottish lobbyists. Finally worth a mention is Holyrood magazine,the Scottish Parliament’s in-house journal, its fortnightly equivalent of Westminster’s House magazine. It carries a wide variety of features on Scottish political issues,providing outside groups with opportunities for both editorial coverage and advertising.
Wales The National Assembly for Wales, with 60 members, has fewer powers than the Scottish Parliament;Wales is a smaller country (with a population of just under three million) and the print media is correspondingly less diverse. As in Scotland, the Cabinet is a Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition,with Plaid Cymru the principal opposition.There are nine Ministers and five deputy Ministers, together with 12 subject and standing committees. Partly because most Welsh people read London newspapers, the perception of Welsh-based lobbyists is that it is the broadcast media that perhaps play the key role in Welsh politics. Certainly Good Morning Wales, the BBC Radio Wales equivalent of the Today programme,plays the familiar agenda-setting role and is widely listened to by many of the 60 Assembly members (AMs). Equally, where the objective is to reach the widest possible audience,the key programme is the early evening BBC television news programme,Wales Today,which has up to 400,000 viewers.HTV Wales,the most watched channel in Wales, has a similar early evening news programme, though many Welsh television viewers in mid-Wales and the north have their sets tuned to Central and Granada. BBC television also has a weekly Welsh political programme, currently Dragon’s Eye, transmitted on BBC2 Wales on Thursday evenings.
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The unique features of Welsh broadcasting are the Welsh language channels,BBC Radio Cymru and Sianel Pedwar Cymru (S4C)/Channel 4 Wales.One in five of the Welsh population, principally in the north and west, speak Welsh and the news on S4C (Newyddion) is the main way of reaching them. Of the Welsh print media,the most important is the Western Mail,with a circulation close to 60,000 across south and west Wales. Its north Wales counterpart, is the Daily Post, with a circulation of 70,000. Some of the national newspapers have Welsh editions, for example the Welsh Mirror,but these primarily relate to sport coverage and are relatively unimportant in political terms.
Northern Ireland Of all the new devolved institutions it is the Northern Ireland Assembly, created in April 1998 as part of the Good Friday peace agreement,which is both the most fragile and in which the greatest hopes reside. The Assembly and Executive have full legislative and executive authority over most domestic issues. The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, however, retains responsibility for security, policing and judicial matters, as well as international relations, taxation, national insurance and the regulation of broadcasting, telecommunications and financial services. Each of the principal parties represented in the 108-member Assembly shares executive responsibility across ten departments.A North-South Ministerial Council,including representatives of the Irish Government,seeks to develop and co-ordinate policies in areas of mutual interest, including food safety, waterways, trade and business development and the European Union. For 30 years the bomb and the bullet were the most common form of lobbying in Northern Ireland.The attempt to switch to a more normal way of conducting politics is recent and still distrusted by substantial sections of the community. Political lobbying is in its infancy in Belfast,but if the peace process can be made to stick, could have a bright future, since, with the exception of criminal justice, almost all day-to-day domestic issues are the responsibility of Stormont and the ten Government departments in Northern Ireland.
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In addition most of the 108 members of the legislative assembly (MLAs),whatever their party affiliation, relish the new opportunity to try to look after their constituents and accept the contribution that lobbyists can make. Away from the big issues surrounding the peace process politics is surprisingly non-adversarial. Real efforts are being made to develop an all-party consensus in the 16 committees of the Assembly that play a key role in monitoring the activities of the executive. There may be more journalists per square mile in Northern Ireland (population 1.7 million) than in any other part of the United Kingdom.Certainly,locally-based lobbyists say that the media can play an important role in lobbying campaigns, particularly by helping to give the politicians a sense of public and interest group opinion on issues. In terms of the broadcast media, BBC Northern Ireland coverage of local politics is thorough.Both the BBC and UTV (Ulster Television) compete in the border areas with RTE (the Irish national broadcasting organisation,Radio Telefis Eireann) and there are also five lively local radio stations. On the print media side, the most important newspaper is the cross-community evening newspaper,the Belfast Telegraph,which has a circulation close to 120,000. The daily press is split on community lines between the Newsletter (Unionist) and the Irish News (Nationalist),but their circulation is relatively modest (33,000 and 50,000 respectively) and certainly,for example,exceeded by sales of the British tabloids. The Dublin-based print media also take an interest in Northern Ireland affairs, particularly those with a cross-border angle. Of the two main Irish broadsheets, the Irish Times (circulation 114,000) and the Irish Independent (circulation 165,000), it is the Times that takes the more serious interest in Stormont. Finally, there are 48 weekly newspapers in the province, many of which include considerable coverage of local politics.
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The European Union and the Brussels press corps THE EUROPEAN UNION THE BRUSSELS PRESS CORPS M E D I A TA R G E T S
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Chapter 7: The European Union and the Brussels press corps
The European Union For those more familiar with the political structures in Westminster and Whitehall, it may be useful to summarise how the European Union works, before turning to the related media landscape. Essentially, the Union has three key institutions: the Commission, which sets the agenda and is responsible for implementation; the Parliament, which expresses its opinion on Commission proposals and,in some cases,shares decision-making power with the governments; and the Council (the governments), which is the main decision-maker. The 20-member Commission is a collegiate body, headed by a President, chosen by the member states, which meets weekly on Wednesdays to agree proposals. Each Commissioner is assisted at a political level by a Cabinet, a small group of trusted senior advisers.The main work of the Commission, however, is carried out by the mainstream civil servants,grouped by subject in 23 Directorates-General (DGs).The vast majority of Commission officials are based in Brussels, mainly in the area around Rond Point Schumann, though some have their offices in Luxembourg. The 626-member European Parliament is directly elected, although turnout for European Parliament elections tends to be low compared to national elections. Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are members of trans-national political groups, of which the largest are the centre-right (PPE – 232 members), the Socialists (181 members) and the Liberals (52 members). Plenary sessions of the Parliament are held one week a month in Strasbourg,but much of the detailed work is done by 17 committees, meeting in Brussels. Each committee report is drafted by one member of the committee,the rapporteur,who has responsibility for steering proposals through both the committee and plenary sessions of the Parliament.
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The Parliament gained significant new powers in 1999,when the Amsterdam Treaty came into force, extending co-decision (with the Governments of the member states) into a wide range of new policy areas,although still excluding agriculture, fisheries,foreign and security policy,justice and home affairs,taxation,international trade and economic and monetary union. The Council consists of Ministers of national governments, who meet behind closed doors to take decisions. In many areas, principally relating to the internal market,the Council shares decision-making authority with the Parliament;in the event of disagreement between the two bodies a conciliation procedure has been established. As within member states, much of the detailed work is carried out by officials, initially through Council working groups and subsequently at more senior ambassadorial meetings, known as COREPER (Committee of Permanent Representatives). Most Council meetings are in Brussels, though some are in Luxembourg or in the country that holds the Presidency.The Presidency is rotated every six months around the member states and has the responsibility for moving the Union’s agenda forward.The order of Presidencies in the current decade is: 2001,Sweden and then Belgium;2002,Spain and Denmark;2003,Greece and Italy. At least twice a year, the Council meets at the level of heads of government and this is the Union’s ultimate decision-making authority. Brussels-based lobbyists are divided about the merits of involving the media in lobbying campaigns. Some are strongly of the view that there is rarely a role for a media campaign, partly because most of the issues at stake are technical and partly because there is really no such thing as European public opinion, only a series of national points of view. Others take a more positive stance, pointing to subjects (such as BSE and corruption) where the institutions have undoubtedly been influenced by public opinion expressed via the media,and arguing that all three institutions are sensitive to media coverage of the subjects that they are tackling. It probably is the case that the Commission,which lacks democratic accountability, is somewhat less sensitive to the media than most political institutions.To a lesser degree, the Parliament and the Council may feel somewhat remote from public opinion,but on major issues at least they are acutely sensitive to what journalists are saying about them.
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Certainly, in a European Union context, campaigning via the media should only ever be a supplement to, not a replacement for face-to-face lobbying. Equally, it is worth emphasising that (contrary to widely held perceptions in the UK) both the Commission and the Parliament are very receptive to direct lobbying. Given the immensely broad canvas across which they operate and the technical nature of many of the proposals they are considering, both institutions are, in general, grateful for an informed view from the front line about the real world impact of the policies under consideration. In those cases where you are seeking to interest journalists, or where they are already interested, it is important to bear in mind some simple, but easily overlooked considerations.You need to remember that of the three institutions, in general, it is only the Commission officials, whose main media consumption will be Brussels-based; even in their case many Commission officials will frequently return to their home countries at the weekend.MEPs divide their time between Brussels, Strasbourg and their home countries and, for most, their main focus will be on their national media. Ministers are but infrequent visitors to Brussels and will be almost wholly focused on their national media. Then there is the language issue.Most Commission officials can operate in English and French,as well as their own language,but many MEPs and Ministers will only be comfortable in their own language.This is particularly true of the British and the southern European nationalities.The best linguists tend to be the Belgians, the Dutch and the Nordic countries.
The Brussels press corps These same linguistic characteristics are shared by many in the Brussels press corps, which vies with the Washington DC press corps for the title of the largest in the world.The use of English in Brussels continues to advance inexorably (much to the irritation of the French),but,wherever possible,news releases should be issued in both English and French. Where you are trying to interest journalists from a particular country,especially in the case of southern Europe,you should try to do so in their own language. The scale of the Brussels press corps certainly presents the lobbyist with huge opportunities to disseminate a message across Europe and indeed globally, taking into account the substantial American and Japanese media presence in Brussels. Given the nature of EU decision-making and the key role of national governments in particular,the opportunity to have your message seen,read or heard simultaneously from Dublin to Vienna and Lisbon to Helsinki is a potentially important one.
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However,you need to have a realistic understanding of the limits of the possible. Just like the institutions, the journalists have a huge range of issues to cover and most tend to focus on the top issues of the day.Your chance of attracting their interest therefore depends on linking your concerns to topical debates within the institutions.In addition,you need to make sure that the points you are making will have a resonance and a relevance for the journalists’readers or audience back home. Every day the Brussels journalists are presented with an enormous range of possible subjects to cover and they inevitably develop a ruthlessness in sorting the wheat from the chaff. So to maximise your chances of success you should ideally choose a moment when your issue is the subject of a Commission proposal or is up for debate in the Parliament or the Council. Additionally, it will often make sense to target journalists from a particular member state or states,since there are relatively few issues that will be of equal interest in Manchester and Munich.Equally,you should try to avoid competing with the bigger EU events, such as summit meetings or the more sexy Council meetings (for example, Ecofin or the internal market). Timing is everything, not just in the sense that pre or post a Parliament debate may represent your best chance,but also in terms of the daily and weekly rhythm of Brussels life.On the whole,that means avoiding Mondays or Fridays,when many of your target audience will be travelling and, unless you have a blockbuster, avoiding Wednesdays,when the weekly Commission meeting will often dominate the media’s agenda. On the day when you are seeking attention (often a Tuesday or a Thursday) you will need to avoid the Commission’s midday briefing and to remember that many of the Continental European broadsheets (for example, in Germany) have early deadlines. It is always worth considering the most effective method of communication. In most cases this will be a news release, followed up by targeted telephone calls to the journalists that are most important to you.You should reserve media briefings for when you have something really important to say, or risk developing a reputation as a time-waster.The location of the briefing should certainly be in the EU area in Brussels, with the International Press Centre (IPC), close to the Berlaymont building, the best choice.
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Media targets The range of possible media targets is almost infinite.Where you are seeking wide dissemination the wire services – Reuters, Bloomberg and Agence France Presse – will be important. Agence Europe covers EU affairs in mind-boggling detail.The single most widely read newspaper in Brussels is the Financial Times; with an increasing circulation and a treasured reputation for objectivity.Your choice will often be determined by nationality. Europe’s largest single market (population 80 million) and, increasingly, its most important government is Germany, home also to Europe’s largest-selling newspaper,the Axel Springer-owned Bild Zeitung (circulation, four and a quarter million) – but, just as its UK rival, the Sun (circulation, three and a half million) will rarely be an important target for lobbyists, so in Germany their focus will be the quality broadsheets.The media landscape reflects the decentralised nature of Germany,with Suddeutsche Zeitung,Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Die Welt among the most important. The German television market is dominated by three stations: RTL (owned by Bertelsmann) and the two national public channels,ARD and ZDF. The German business newspaper market has long been dominated by Handelsblatt, with a circulation of 160,000. Now it faces a new challenge from Financial Times Deutschland, jointly owned by the Financial Times Group and Gruner & Jahr, with daily sales of 62,000. In France, as in Germany, the regional media are important, with Ouest-France the country’s largest-selling newspaper (circulation 783,000).Among the Parisbased press the most important are Le Figaro (on the right), Liberation (on the left), Le Monde (deeply serious, published in the afternoons) and Les Echos (the principal French business newspaper).The two principal television channels are TF1 (privatised in 1987) and the publicly owned FR2. Italy’s single most important and largest-selling title (circulation 685,000) is Milanbased Corriere della Sera.Other important targets include Fiat-owned La Stampa, Rome’s daily Il Messaggero and the main business newspaper,Il Sole-24 Ore.Bear in mind that the favourite reading of European Commission President, Romano Prodi, is Terra e Vita, the weekly magazine for Italian farmers. Italian television is effectively a duopoly: divided between publicly owned Rai and the channels owned by Mediaset,the television interests of Forza Italia leader,Silvio Berlusconi.
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In Spain the media landscape has been partially transformed since the death of Franco in 1975. Of the four most important newspapers today, two (ABC and Barcelona-based, La Vanguardia) pre-date Franco, while the other two (El Pais and El Mundo) have been created since his death.As in Italy,of the two principal television stations, one (TVE1) is public and the other (Antena 3) private. Looking at the EU’s smaller countries,one might focus on Der Standard (Austria), Le Soir (Belgium’s French language daily), Politiken (Denmark), Helsingin Sanomat (Finland),Kathimerini (Greece),the Irish Times (Ireland),Luxemburger Wort (Luxembourg), De Telegraaf (the Netherlands),Publico (Portugal) and Dagens Nyheter (Sweden). If your story has an American business angle,the Wall Street Journal Europe will be an important target;expanded coverage and design improvements in 2000 led to a 20% gain in circulation within a year to around 100,000.There is also CNBC and CNN. In a class of its own, because it is solely devoted to EU affairs, is European Voice. Its coverage is thorough and extends beyond the institutions to encompass, in particular,the economic interests affected by EU action.Remember,however,that because of its unique focus you will need to come up with a genuinely fresh angle. Finally, there is the weekly magazine, the Bulletin, worth a mention not because it is particularly relevant to lobbying, but as the most useful lifestyle magazine for the English-speaking expatriate in Brussels.
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Mergers and acquisitions L O B B Y I N G A N D M E D I A R E L AT I O N S C A M PA I G N S
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Chapter 8: Mergers and acquisitions The classic scenario where lobbying and media relations need to go hand-in-hand is in the case of mergers and acquisitions. The outcome of many takeover battles will be decided by the shareholders,almost always on the basis of price.The lead advisers in these cases will be the investment bankers and lawyers, assisted by financial public relations consultants, whose principal job will be to communicate messages to shareholders via the media. In a significant number of bid battles, however, the outcome may turn on the decision of competition authorities, either in Brussels or at national level. The decision will rest with Brussels in the largest bid battles or those having an impact on a number of member states. Specifically, the Commission will have jurisdiction where the companies involved have a combined world-wide turnover of five billion euros and an EU turnover of 250 million euros (except where each of the parties has two thirds of its turnover in the same member state). Where the decision to block a bid,to allow it to go ahead or to allow it to go ahead with conditions rests with the European Union, the key role is played by the Competition Directorate (formerly DGIV), the Union’s competition authority, headed by the Competition Commissioner, currently Mario Monti. In the most significant cases he presents his recommendation to the Wednesday meeting of Commissioners;their decision is not subject to review by member states. A Brussels decision may be relatively speedy (four to six weeks), but where Commission officials conclude that a detailed investigation is required, this will take four months.While formal responsibility rests with the Competition Commission, it will be responsive to views expressed by other DGs and national Ministers. Where the decision rests with a member state, precise arrangements vary from country to country. In the United Kingdom, the key players are the Office of Fair Trading, the Competition Commission and the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. In theory, the UK Government has decided to ‘take the politics out of mergers’, with the exception of defence and media-related issues. In practice, political influence still appears to be a factor, with the competition authorities looking to make recommendations that they think will find political favour.
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The key role of the Office of Fair Trading is to recommend to the Secretary of State whether or not a bid should be referred to the Competition Commission. Before making its recommendation the OFT will seek information from the parties to a merger and from competitors, suppliers and customers. It operates a system of confidential guidance, which allows the parties to a bid to seek a view on the likelihood of a reference. In the case of utilities, their sector regulators will also have an important part to play. In those cases where the competition authorities are or may be involved,whether in Brussels or at member state level,there will invariably be considerable lobbying, both formal and informal,by the companies whose future is at stake,but also often by third parties who may be affected by the outcome.
Lobbying and media relations campaigns Invariably this behind-the-scenes lobbying goes hand-in-hand with a media relations campaign. In every merger and acquisition case the competition authorities will monitor media coverage carefully and the parties will generally work hard to ensure that the case they are making directly to the authorities is reinforced in the media.Equally,they will seek to ensure that damaging propositions advanced by opponents are quickly and comprehensively rebutted, both directly to the authorities and via the media. It will be evident in this scenario that there needs to be very close co-ordination by all of the advisers to a company,not least between the lawyers and the lobbyists (to ensure that the formal and informal case-making are consistent) and the lobbyists and the financial public relations consultants (to ensure consistency of message, however delivered). Classically,the primary vehicle for such co-ordination will be a daily early morning meeting, generally hosted by the lead investment bank and involving both the principals and all of the advisers. The scale and complexity of activity will vary from case to case, but is likely to be particularly great in cases involving Brussels.This is partly because more than one part of the Commission is almost invariably involved, partly because representations from national competition authorities will be a factor and also because,where American companies are concerned,there will also be liaison with the US authorities.
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For all those involved, over a period of many weeks and months, events will resemble a game of chess, with each move needing to be carefully considered for the impact that it will have on the bigger picture. Those working on media aspects will need to ensure that their reach extends to all of the countries involved. Invariably, the Financial Times coverage will be perceived as crucial,as will that of the Wall Street Journal Europe,especially where US companies are involved.Depending on the countries involved,other financial media,such as Les Echos in France,Handelsblatt and FT Deutschland in Germany, Business AM in Scotland and so on, will also be important. In a UK context, financial public relations consultants will also pay particular attention to the Evening Standard, which is well read in both the City and Westminster and Whitehall,as well as by journalists on the national broadsheets. Similarly,they will seek to develop a good rapport with the principal Sunday media, notably the Sunday Times, the Sunday Telegraph and Sunday Business, in the belief that their coverage has a particular impact on shareholders, politicians, officials and other media.
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The Internet T H E I M PA C T O F T H E I N T E R N E T O N L O B B Y I N G THE MAIN POLITICAL USES OF THE INTERNET THE ROLE OF ONLINE MEDIA IN LOBBYING TEXT MESSAGING
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Chapter 9: The Internet
The impact of the Internet on lobbying ‘When I came into office, the World Wide Web had only 50 sites’ – that hard-tobelieve statement made by President Clinton as he left office in 2001 is a vivid reminder of how quickly the Internet has changed the world in which we live. It is that speed of change that makes the judgements in this chapter the most tentative in the whole Report.Within a matter of weeks in the autumn of 2000 the dot.com world seemed to go from boom to bust.So it is hardly surprising that there is relatively little consensus about the impact of the Internet on lobbying (as on most other things). The spectrum of opinion stretches from those who believe that the Internet has changed everything to those who say it has changed nothing. The former group is exemplified by former Clinton spin-doctor, Dick Morris. He contends that, thanks to the Internet, Jefferson’s ‘utopian vision of a democracy based on town meetings and direct popular participation is about to become a reality’ (keep an eye open for ‘about to’ and ‘potential’ in most discourse on the Internet). His viewpoint is clearly stated in the title of his 1999 book,‘How bigmoney lobbyists and the media are losing their influence, and the Internet is giving power back to the people’. Closer to the latter group are Kevin Hill and John Hughes, whose 1998 researchbased book, ‘Cyberpolitics: Citizen activism in the age of the Internet’, concludes that:‘The net itself will not be a historical light switch that turns on some fundamentally new age of political participation and grassroots democracy’. As usual, the truth is probably somewhere in between and it may well be that the Internet’s impact on lobbying will become greater as more and more people have access to it,not least with the arrival of digital television in the second decade of this century (98% of UK households have televisions). Certainly compared to the United States or Scandinavia,penetration of the Internet in Britain has been relatively slow.The number of people in the UK with home access to the Internet in 2001 was just over one third, compared to over half in the United States.Only one in five of the British population use the net on a regular daily basis and most go online for sex, shopping or sport, not politics.
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It isn’t just that many people can’t use the Internet; significant numbers simply don’t want to – a recent MORI poll suggested that 15 million Britons have no interest in using it.However,there are other more optimistic statistics;for example, 18% of adults who use the Internet do so to access web-based Government services or information.The UK Government is committed to being able to transact all business with UK citizens electronically by 2008. In the 2000 US elections nine out of ten major party candidates for the Senate had campaign web sites (compared to seven out of ten two years’ earlier) and in the House elections two out of three (compared to one out of three).Yet, it was still the case that the candidates with the most developed new media campaigns (John McCain and Bill Bradley) failed to topple the front-runners,George W.Bush and Al Gore. The major UK political parties have been running web sites for five or six years, but until recently their use by individual MPs or constituency parties was small, with web sites for some 15% of MPs and rather fewer constituency parties.As the 2001 General Election approached,the major political parties were devoting considerable resources to their web sites and that seemed bound to have some effect on the general attitude of MPs and Ministers. Tony Blair,of course – though a famously slow learner himself – has pledged (like leaders the world over) to make Britain ‘the best place in the world for e-business’. As part of that,sustained efforts continue to put Government services online,with the aim of setting an example for others to follow. More than 40% of UK Government services are now available online and this is due to rise to nearly 75% by 2002.There is a new citizens’ portal, UK-Online, as well as a Government Gateway and UK-Online for Business. By some measures, not universally accepted, the UK is already the world leader in businesses trading online, just ahead of the US, Canada, Germany and Sweden. Certainly,the Government’s target of a million businesses online by 2002 had already been achieved by 2001. According to a survey of European executives, Britain is viewed as the preferred location to start an Internet-related business,followed by Germany and France. Similarly, a third of European business managers perceive the UK to be the leading information economy, followed closely by Germany. What evidence there is about the impact of the Internet on lobbying comes mainly from the United States and suggests that the reasonable conclusion to draw is that it is not going to change the lobbying world overnight, but will have a slowly developing impact.
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Perhaps the most vivid effect of the Internet on lobbying (together with that of the mobile telephone) relates to its use in grassroots campaigns.As a way of helping protesters to keep in touch and to mobilise supporters,the Internet clearly played a role in both the global anti-capitalist campaigns of 2000 and in the British fuel protest,where petrolbusters.com provided an effective discussion board to inform and organise. So politicians may still not be looking at web sites very much, but they can begin to see their effects. The unique feature of the Internet is of course its interactive nature and yet the early evidence suggests that it may be more used for governments and parties to communicate with voters than the other way round.There have been some early experiments in the use of the Internet to broaden the scope of consultation (for example, several hundred women who had lived with domestic violence gave online evidence to the Commons all-party domestic violence group),but in reality the numbers of those participating have been modest. There are many reasons why, on the whole, politicians and officials continue to approach the Internet with caution. One is simply their innate conservatism. Another, however, relates to widely-expressed concerns about the ‘digital divide’ – the reality that it is the poorest and those in rural areas who are least likely to have access to new technologies.That, for example, helps to explain why many politicians are deeply resistant to suggestions that various activities (such as Government procurement) should be conducted uniquely online.They simply feel that this would be deeply unfair and it is hard to quarrel with that conclusion.
The main political uses of the Internet If we examine the main political uses of the Internet,they can probably be broken down into the following categories, in descending order of importance: Online political donations Greg Sedberry, web strategy manager for the Bush-Cheney campaign, has highlighted the importance of this. Between March 1999 and December 2000 (remember this campaign,uniquely,extended beyond the November election date) the Bush-Cheney eCampaign raised over $6 million online from more than 40,000 individual contributors. By way of perspective, however, it is also estimated that of the $3 billion total spent during the US 2000 campaigns, only $50 million was raised online.The principal challengers to Gore and Bush, Bill Bradley and John McCain, raised substantial funds online, but still lost decisively in the primaries. In the UK the political parties certainly see the Internet as a relatively easy and cheap way to raise money, but its impact would still appear to be marginal.
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Mobilising grassroots campaigns As Tip O’Neill,former speaker of the US House of Representatives put it,‘All politics is local’.The Internet does provide a unique way for the organisers of a campaign to reach out to their local supporters and for individuals out there in cyberspace to contact the centre.We have already noted the role of the Internet in Britain’s fuel protests. In a slightly more traditional way junior UK civil servants are now required to count e-mail volume, as they have always had to count letters – and it is important not to under-estimate the impact that volume can have. After one of the earliest grassroots campaigns that I was involved in, I recall a Department of Trade and Industry official telling me that they had had more letters on the subject in question than any other that year and that this had been an important factor in convincing Ministers to make a U-turn. Information provision Governments,political parties,companies,interest groups and individuals all now use the Internet as an effective way of offering information to citizens,supporters, stakeholders,voters and journalists.Its principal advantages are volume and speed. For the media in particular, web sites can be a vital resource, acting in effect as 24-hour press offices, including up-to-date press releases and high resolution photographs that can be downloaded for use by the print media.
The role of online media in lobbying Finally, we should consider the role of online media in lobbying, both as a target for lobbyists and as a source of information.This is one area where the early hype has proved to be just that. Predictions that newspapers would be made redundant by online media have proved to be as misplaced as those earlier predictions that television would kill newspapers. Of course, some online media have made an impact: the most famous example being,predictably,in the United States,where the online gossip column,the Drudge Report, first broke the Monica Lewinsky story in 1998 under the title ‘A White House intern carried on a sexual affair with the President of the United States!’, even though Matt Drudge himself found out about the story from Newsweek. However,such scoops have been surprisingly rare and many online sites are little more than Internet versions of the newspapers from which they derive.
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Appropriately, the final report from the independent investigator, Kenneth Starr, was released on the Internet at the same time as it was made available to Congress and the traditional media.The New York Times reported that ‘The downloads were slow, the error messages were many, but in the first experiment in electronic communication between the United States Government and its citizens on a massive scale,millions of persevering Internet users were devouring the Starr report within hours of its release’; it described this and the subsequent influx of views on electronic message boards as an ‘unprecedented kind of electronic town hall meeting’. In Britain there is a remarkable degree of consensus about the best media web site. Almost everyone will point you to BBC Online,the largest web site in Europe, praised for its in-depth,factual content.Its UK Politics section is given high marks and certainly rates as a trusted source of breaking stories as they happen. The evidence to date would seem to be that online media can be a useful source of news, but that their relevance as an outlet for lobbying campaigns is modest, given the relative infrequency with which most politicians and officials surf the net. Rather as with trade and specialist publications, the online media generally assumes importance only when its stories are taken up by the traditional offline media.
Text messaging By way of a footnote,it may be worth taking a brief look at one other new medium and its potential impact on politics: text messaging on mobile telephones.There is a considerable body of evidence that they played an important part in the downfall of both Slobodan Milosevic in Serbia and Joseph Estrada in the Philippines. In the vivid language of Alex Magno, a professor of politics at the University of the Philippines in Manila,“In revolutions people used to say ‘keep your powder dry’. Now they say,‘keep your cellphone charged’”. Of the up to a half a million people who converged on Manila on the day that Estrada was toppled, huge numbers were responding to the simple message:‘Full mblsn (mobilisation) today’.
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How to work with journalists T H E B A S I C T O O L S O F M E D I A R E L AT I O N S W H AT T O AV O I D W H E N D E A L I N G W I T H J O U R N A L I S T S
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Chapter 10: How to work with journalists
The basic tools of media relations Let us assume that, having considered the arguments for and against, you have concluded that there is a role for a media strategy.Then how do you set about working with journalists? What are the rules? What should you do and not do? The simple answer is that we are talking common sense, not rocket science. Whether you are working with politicians, officials or journalists, you are dealing with human nature. Four C’s – care, clarity, common sense and courtesy – will always stand you in good stead. Let us consider some of the basic tools of media relations, starting with: The press release Nine times out of ten this will form the basis of your communications with journalists and the essentials of a good press release are easily stated. Start with a headline that encapsulates your key message and ensure that it is repeated in the first paragraph. Make your points starting with the most important and progressing to the least important.That way if your release is cut from the bottom upwards, as will often happen, it will continue to make sense wherever the cutoff point. When composing a press release try to put yourself in the position of the key journalists who will be receiving it. Consider what points they are most likely to be interested in and include them in the release. Avoid stating opinions as if they are facts.The standard way to convey opinions in a press release is to put them within quotation marks and most press releases will benefit from the inclusion of ready-made quotes – i.e. John Smith, Chief Executive of ABC plc, said ‘The announcement that we are making today signals our determination to gain market share in this crucial sector. It represents a revolution in….’
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Always provide telephone contact details and,if available,e-mail and fax numbers at the end of your release for those who will want to follow up with questions. Keep your press release brief and where you feel the need to include detail, put this in ‘notes to editors’ after the main body of text.Where you have a web site, remember to keep this up-to-date with your most recent press releases. Before you send the press release out,give some careful thought to the questions that it is most likely to trigger from journalists and make sure that you are well prepared to answer them. The press briefing document This differs from a press release in that it is not announcing a particular development, but rather conveying background information about your organisation. Again it should always include telephone contact details and,where appropriate,should both include your web site details and be posted on your web site. Although,in contrast to a press release,the information in a briefing document will be relatively timeless,it will need to be kept up-to-date.It will be a particularly useful tool for a journalist who is new to covering your subject. The press statement This differs from a press release in that it is not prepared voluntarily and distributed, but rather prepared defensively and used in response to questions. There may well be occasions where you are not seeking publicity,but where you need to be ready to make a coherent response to inquiries.You probably hope that the statement never needs to be used, but it pays to be prepared. Such statements should normally be brief and to the point. Questions and answers Where you are planning an announcement of some complexity or where you have reason to anticipate hostile questioning, it makes sense to plan ahead and try to anticipate the most likely questions and the most effective answers to them.Focus this preparatory work on the areas that you feel least comfortable about. If you expect a difficult press conference, it may well be worth holding a rehearsal 24 hours ahead of the real thing.
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The press conference These should be held only when you have a very significant announcement to make.Journalists are generally busy people and will resent giving up time to attend a press conference unless they get a really good story out of it. Even where you do decide to hold a press conference,consider calling it a press briefing;this both conveys the impression that you will be crisply imparting useful facts and conditions expectations about the numbers likely to attend (i.e. they will not be enormous). Where you do decide to hold a press conference try to give the media plenty of notice and remember the importance of both location and timing. The press conference should be held in a location that is convenient to reach, in a room that is neither too big,nor too small and at a convenient time (often this will mean late morning). If time allows,make yourself available to individual journalists after you have closed the formal part of the press conference.This will give them an opportunity to pursue particular angles in which they have an interest and to which they don’t wish to alert their colleagues. It also offers an opportunity for any broadcast journalists to interview you. The one-to-one briefing This can be a very effective way of building a good relationship with individual journalists; it signals that you regard them as important to your organisation and it even more securely provides journalists with the opportunity to pursue lines of inquiry without being overheard by competitors. It also gives you the opportunity to convey background information unattributably – which is to say, that you are happy for the information to be used, providing that you are not revealed as the source.However,be careful. A journalist is entitled to assume that everything you say is on the record and available for quotation,unless you clearly indicate to the contrary. Contact building It is human nature to be more sympathetic to people that we know than to complete strangers.It can therefore often be worthwhile investing some time (and the occasional restaurant bill) in building relationships with journalists with whom you will have to deal in the future. Always make it clear,however,that this is exactly what you are doing – so that journalists will not be misled into believing that they are being given a story, as opposed to useful background information.
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One great advantage of this kind of meeting is that it gives you, as well as the journalist, the opportunity to ask questions and to listen to the response. Many specialist journalists have an enormous fund of knowledge,which they will often readily share. Some of the most effective ‘media handlers’ are those who appreciate that meeting a journalist can be an opportunity to find things out, as well as to convey a message. One other advantage of this kind of contact building is that you will then be able to identify questioners at a press conference by name. It is a small point, but one that will generally appeal to a journalist’s sense of self-worth.
What to avoid when dealing with journalists Now here are some things to avoid, when dealing with journalists: Off the record It is important to understand that ‘unattributable’and ‘off the record’mean different things and that the former has its uses on occasions, while the latter should be avoided.‘Off the record’ means not only that a remark cannot be attributed to its source, but also that the facts conveyed cannot be used directly, but rather are designed to condition the environment in which a story is written. The vast majority of journalists will be deeply irritated by being told something is ‘off the record’ and it almost always ends in tears. Don’t do it. Jargon It is a matter of both courtesy and effectiveness to make your points using plain English.You are so involved in your subject that you may not readily recognise when you are using incomprehensible jargon. A helpful technique is to imagine that you are explaining your point of view to a twelve year-old. It is especially important to express yourself clearly, simply, directly and briefly in the case of radio and television interviews. Fear If you are unused to dealing with the media, it is natural enough to feel anxious as you contemplate your first encounter. However, there is no need to be afraid and seeming to be so may arouse suspicions that you are trying to hide something. So remind yourself that you have nothing to hide and that, on the contrary, what you are facing is an opportunity that needs to be seized with quiet confidence.
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Anger Just occasionally a journalist may make an accusation or a comment that you feel is grossly unfair.Well,don’t get angry,get even.In other words suppress your anger, both because it will not put you in a good light and because it will hinder coherent thought. Rather, redouble your efforts to make your case courteously, calmly and relentlessly. Being rushed into an inaccurate or unwise response Faced with a difficult or unexpected question, you are under no obligation to respond immediately.Pause to consider your answer and it often makes far more sense to give yourself time to think by promising to get back to the journalist with a considered reply – but make sure that you do so.Then use the time that you have gained by using this technique both to check the facts and to rehearse your answers to likely follow-up questions. During a press conference you should feel free to pause and reflect before replying to a difficult question. Indeed, there is benefit in occasionally doing so, since it shows that you take the question seriously and are thoughtful. If you are new to your organisation or job, it is both reasonable and sensible to avoid giving substantive answers to questions about what you plan to do until you have had time to be properly briefed. By all means provide answers about your past or relevant experience, but don’t allow yourself to be bounced into offering prescriptions for the future until you are ready to do so. Lies Let your teachers be Clinton and Hamlet (‘To thine own self be true.’).Time and again it is not the original offence that brings someone down, but their attempt to cover it up after the event.The best way of dealing with the media is to be yourself.Journalists are adept at spotting someone who is forcing themselves,for some reason, to behave out of character and will tend to suspect the worst. Lateness Most journalists’ daily lives are ruled by deadlines. It is worse than useless to respond to a journalist’s inquiries too late in the day for him to be able to use your response. Always ask what the deadline is and always respond within that time-scale, even if you have little or nothing to say.
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No comment There may be exceptional circumstances (for example,legal constraints) that force you to use this phrase, but it inevitably conveys the impression that you have something to hide. It is almost always possible and preferable to say something, however banal. More often than not you will at least to be able to explain why you are not at that point in time able to give a detailed reply. Complaining Nine times out of ten if an inaccurate story about your organisation appears (we are talking about facts here, not tone of voice), it will be because you or your colleagues have failed to get the facts across. Even on the tenth occasion, where you appear to be faced with a deliberately hostile journalist,complaining to them (or,worse still,to their editor) will rarely improve things;far better to be relentlessly charming, courteous, helpful and accurate in the hope of securing better coverage next time. On those rare occasions when your are dealing with a genuinely incompetent journalist you will generally find that they quickly move or get moved without any intervention by you. Favouritism It has been a recurring theme of this Report that some media are more important than others,with the Financial Times frequently cited.So it may often be tempting to seek to secure especially prominent coverage by offering them an exclusive. On very rare occasions that may be the right call, but more often than not you will lose more through the resentment of other journalists who are important to you than you will gain from the favoured individual. Hiding behind your press office or PR consultant Your PR consultant may give you invaluable advice and your press office provide a first-class service to the media,but you should not hide behind them when your organisation has important messages to convey. Journalists expect to have access to the front line – generally to the top person in an organisation – and will give you better coverage if you are available to them at key moments.The opposite is certainly the case:if a company chairman or chief executive seeks to hide behind his press office at a difficult moment, journalists will resent this and their resentment may well influence what they choose to write.
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Overkill Don’t become so infatuated with dealing with journalists that you bother them when you have nothing important to say.They will quickly mark you down as a time-waster and the danger is that they will not be there when you most need them. Irrelevance You may fail to convey your message by being too vague or obscure. Decide on your one or two key messages and make sure you convey them; don’t be afraid of repetition.This concentration on and,if necessary,repetition of central messages is particularly important in the case of television. Always try to remember where a particular journalist is coming from – and convey your messages in terms of what they mean for Leeds or Spain or teachers or women or whatever is appropriate. Being let down by your appearance You need to be smartly dressed and alert, when dealing with the media.This is obviously particularly important in the case of television,where viewers form their impressions as much,if not more,from how you look as by what you say.So,unless you are dealing with a particularly grave situation,remember to smile and to look your interviewer in the eye.If you lack experience with television cameras,spend some time and money on television training. In summary,as I stated at the outset,dealing with journalists professionally is largely a matter of common sense and courtesy. Provided that you remain alert and thoughtful, you have nothing to be afraid of and much to gain.
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Conclusion Having read this far,you may well have concluded for yourself that there is nothing particularly complex or mysterious about communicating effectively with politicians, officials and journalists. Certainly, that is the conclusion that I would invite you to reach. This Report is, in a sense, an essay in demystification.Too often, I think, attempts are made to suggest that effective lobbying and effective media relations are immensely complicated and difficult tasks, best left to those who have been initiated into these arcane rites.Yet all of my experience teaches me that it isn’t so, that best practice is quite straightforward and relatively easily learned. If, for example, you take and examine the four C’s mentioned at the outset of the last chapter,you will already have encapsulated much of what you need to know when communicating your messages to governments or to the media: Care A recurring theme of this Report has been that time invested in research and preparation prior to communication will be time well spent. It may be the least glamorous part of the job,but it is also the most essential,for,if you have the facts at your fingertips,you are far less likely to be disconcerted by questions that may be posed to you.Equally,careful reflection before responding to questions is both allowed and advisable.Fortunately,few of us are likely to be on the receiving end of a Countess of Wessex–style sting operation, but it is a useful reminder of the value of pausing for thought.I often find myself saying to clients that if they would not be happy to see their comments picked up and quoted by a hostile politician or journalist they should not be making them. Clarity When I think about the contribution that a consultant can make to the effective communication of a client’s case, it often seems to relate to helping clients to express their point of view and their objectives with maximum clarity. People deeply involved in their own world will quite naturally use the semi-secret language of that world,without even realising that they are doing so. An outsider can help to ensure that they express themselves in plain English,using concrete examples, rather than abstractions – for this is the way to communicate effectively with busy politicians, officials and journalists. So use short words, not long words; as far as verbs are concerned, prefer the active to the passive; make sure that your words
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have real meaning by deploying the ‘opposites test’ (i.e. could I conceivably say the opposite? – only if the answer is ‘yes’ is my statement meaningful); focus on a maximum of three key messages and have the courage to ditch the rest. Common sense The corridors of power,newspaper offices and broadcasting studios are not places in another world, where the normal rules of life don’t apply.They are a part of the world that we all inhabit and the ordinary, practical judgements that serve us well in everyday life work there as well. Courtesy The most successful people with whom I have worked have all shared one common characteristic:courtesy.My observation is that it is the characteristic that unites effective communicators everywhere – even or,perhaps especially,the most powerful.That it should be so is not surprising, since effective communication is all about having an appreciation of the concerns and interests of the person with whom one is talking.Take the trouble to look at it from their point of view and you will greatly enhance the chances of getting your message across. In writing about ‘demystification’, it is particularly the parts of this Report that deal with lobbying that I had in mind.The lobbying industry has suffered in the past from a lack of understanding of what it does and, if it has been secretive, it can hardly complain if misconceptions have arisen.I have argued and passionately believe that the right to lobby is a key element of an open society;I equally believe that those who lobby have an obligation to be open about what they do and how they do it. Good lobbying does involve a deal,but not one involving cash in brown envelopes. The deal is about an exchange of access and information – politicians and officials agree to listen and,in return,they expect and have the right to expect useful and accurate information about the world they seek to govern.There is, in my view, no conflict between ethical and effective lobbying. Rather, the two go hand in hand,for a key to success in lobbying is to be believed and you are far more likely to succeed if politicians and officials conclude that you can be trusted. Finally,having read this Report,I hope that you may have come to share my view that working with politicians and journalists can be both enjoyable and worthwhile.I hope too that some of its practical advice may be of use in helping you to communicate effectively with government and with the media and so to make a real difference to the success of your organisation.
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