local newspapers - good/bad PR for a firm.

[caymanbill]

The initial message was deleted from this topic on 29 July 2023 at 23:12

[uber]

The industry is full of little cretin reporters who take back handers and freebies to screw over competitors as they know that job security is a thing of the past and they just want cash.

I have a business that we cant trade in a major city because of this and unless you want to go down the same route there is very little you can do. I know who is paying for the attacks, I know the reporters who are involved and the guy behind it is well respected and thought of as a local business hero so butter would not melt ...

[trackdemon]

uber said:

I have a business that we cant trade in a major city because of this

[mel]

Leveson 2.........Oh yes, how silly of me, we're not having that now are we, everything is all squeaky clean and it's not needed......

[StevieBee]

caymanbill said:

Putting journalistic integrity to one side, is it OK to pay a journalist / newspaper to portray your firm in a positive light without formally paying for advertising/advertorial? Are there actually any rules against it? Or is this just the way things "work"?

No. It's illegal. I forget the law under which it falls - misrepresentation I think. Bribery as well - payment to induce a desired outcome that may not have existed without payment.

It's also contrary to industry regulator's codes of conduct.

Proving it is of course difficult.

I have in the past, used advertising spend to adjust the editorial leaning of local newspapers. One paper in particular was a long term thorn in the local council's side. We were promoting a new recycling service but the negative slant the paper was taking on the new services had the potential to cause significant problems for no good reason other than the editor's personal dislike for a few councillors.

We had a £50k advertising budget, most of which went on ads in said newspaper - the largest single client spend they'd had in a long while. To start with; a front cover leader criticising the new services looked daft next to an ad promoting the same services. And at a lunch to which I was invited to by the editor and sales director, suggested that my client was putting pressure on me to divert spend to more amenable news channels.

Editorial then changed to a more supportive tone.

I have no issues having done this. The paper was taking an unwarranted, uninformed angle based on nothing other than the personal opinions of the Editor who assumed all that the council did was wrong - when it wasn't.