If the public don’t really care about spin, why are journalists so preoccupied by it? Brent Hooley, an author and former government media adviser, discusses.
Spinning the Media
Come in Spinner: Chutzpah and the nuclear campaign
Anyone imagining that the nuclear industry is reeling in disarray and on the defensive after the Japanese disaster ought to think again.
Loss of basic female skills or loss of basic journalistic skills?
It’s the job of really good journalists to question the way PR-led stories are presented.
How PR became the art of imitating the art of journalism
New evidence shows that arts journalism in Melbourne’s newspapers is saturated by PR content, writes Lucinda Strahan, lecturer in media and communication at RMIT University.
Come in Spinner: The conventional wisdom is always wrong
The late J.K. Galbraith had a remarkable capacity to coin memorable epigrams and quotable quotes. The idea that the conventional wisdom is always wrong was one of them.
Come in Spinner: Silences and complexity
Two of the ways PR people seek to make issues disappear are: to create strange silences in which they are lost, or to bury them in so much complexity and confusion that people just stop listening.
Come in Spinner: Come in Spinner: PR, David Jones and ethics
Discussions of PR ethics often suffer from conceptual confusion — about the nature of ethical challenges and the way to deal with them.
Come in Spinner: Come in Spinner: inside the prolific Vatican PR outfit
For an organisation that prides itself on its millennia-long view of the world, heaven and all things in between, the Vatican certainly spends a lot of time focused on day-to-day public relations.
Political snippets: When does the spin stop?
When the five mainland capital city Murdoch Sunday newspapers run their own state based version of the same story it’s fair enough to call it a fair dinkum News Limited campaign.
Come in Spinner: Come in Spinner: a question of perspective
The more detailed online media monitoring statistics become, the greater sense of perspective we get about what people see as important, writes Noel Turnbull, adjunct professor, media and communications, RMIT university.
Come in Spinner: What a minority government means and why it won’t stay on the front pages for long
AFL and NRL finals are in train, the spring racing carnivals are near, Christmas is coming, so the political election hysteria might get pushed off the front pages in coming months, writes Noel Turnbull.
Come in Spinner: Come in Spinner: the next big thing
Every PR person in the world is at some stage or other trying to promote some product, service, concept — or even themselves — as the next big thing, writes Noel Turnbull.
Come in Spinner: The plural of anecdote is/is not data
One of the biggest problems facing anyone interpreting what is going on in politics is that they simply don’t have access to the most important research political parties and governments undertake, writes Noel Turnbull.
Come in Spinner: Why populism is so popular with politicians
We’re in the thick of the campaign and again populism is more popular with politicians than almost any other form of political activity except alliteration, writes Noel Turnbull, adjunct professor, media and communications, RMIT University.
Getting sourcey: time to apply ethical standards to ‘bad’ journalism
Many journalists lean too heavily on PR. Surely the excitement of using your own brain to uncover fresh information is the right reason to work in the industry, right?
Come in Spinner: On the road to Canberra
Ah, lobbyists. Ringing mates to get something fixed still has some relevance in NSW but elsewhere in Australia it is nearing its use-by-date, writes Noel Turnbull.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: Environmental impact? Don’t forget food
Crikey readers write to us about population growth and our Spinning the Media series. And our own letter writers tell you how to write a letter to the editor.
Spinning the Media: Pack your suitcase for some free advertising
Welcome to a world of junkets and media familiarisation tours: also known as the travel section of your local newspaper, write Giselle Nguyen, Ajay Khandhar and Yasmin Geneva.
Spinning the Media: When PR really means Police Relations
Our Spinning the Media study found that 70% of police stories published in the major newspapers originated from Police PR, report Nicholas Hollins and Wendy Bacon.
Beecher: Kewell story the latest hit in the media’s celebrity crack fix
Without a constant supply of celebrities — the full array from actors to sports stars to politicians to wannabes — most of the popular media simply would not function, as demonstrated perfectly in the SMAge’s Good Weekend lift-out this week.
Spinning the Media: Pre-packaged journalism: just download!
PR companies are now delivering sound bites, interviews and footage straight to the journalist’s desk — and TV and radio news often run them unfiltered and unedited, writes Biwa Kwan.
Spinning the Media: Arts and entertainment — old recycled bits about Nicole Richie
Journalists no longer need to tackle the paparazzi scrum for snippets of Hollywood news, writes Amanda Hoh: they can be found through a simple Google search.
Spinning the Media: The PR drive
If there is anything that’s sure to sell a car other than a flashy advertising campaign, it’s a glowing endorsement from a leading motoring publication, write Daniel Bishton and Alexander McGhee.
