In an unprecedented move, PM Patrick Manning sat down for a frank interview with broadcast journalist, Shelly Dass, last evening. I say unprecedented because rarely do we see government minister's having open discussions, inviting calls from the public and attempting to be open.
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I can only imagine what must have been going through the Prime Minister’s mind as he announced the existence of a malignant tumour on his left kidney. Have you seen the video? On www.news.gov.tt (GISL’s website) the Prime Minister’s face is devoid of expression.
This article in today's Guardian suggests the right moves being made by Prime Minister Manning to quell the media storm and the kind of olive branch that I hoped would be extended to bridge the widening gap.
Well done Mr Prime Minister! Well done!
I am being presumptuous, I know. But if I was to advise the Prime Minister on the brewing controversy, I would certainly tell him this.....
This meeting must work two ways though. And the media should recognise that in the controversy there is a bigger story about standards and responsibilities when they stand on their varied soap boxes. In your messaging, feel to press the media to adopt and share policy guidelines. Challenge MATT to be more vigilant.
This shouldn’t be too difficult Sir. It will win you points. It may send a strong message that your relationship with the media is turning a corner. And depending on the sincerity with which you communicate it, it may even guarantee you some positive headlines
Mr Prime Minister, respect can be legislated. Look across the pond. Ask Obama. Respect has to be earned across the divide of race, gender, religion and yes, even incompetence (again, these announcers clearly were wrong ).
Finally Sir, I would ask that you trust your Minister of Communications. Don't make his office a mockery. Communicators are (generally) trained spokespersons with the required skills to communicate tough messages with diplomacy and tact. Might I even say, taste? We are concerned with solid messaging, advocacy and the preservation of key stakeholder relationships.
A phone call to your Minister should have sufficed. May I also suggest a meeting with him, one that is focused on relationship building, policy articulation (who says what, when) and oh yes, trust.
Local media "got a wake up call from hell last week". But it could be a blessing in disguise. Why? Because finally and collectively, media houses appear to have shaken off their inertia, exhibited by a deafening silence on the broadcast code, to take a much required hard stance against the Prime Minister for his ill fated visit to 94.1 Boom Champion Radio.
Was his angst valid? Sure. Personal commentary has no place in a newscast. The on air-announcers were wrong.
But the collective thinking is that the Prime Minister also went too far. For me, the most telling issue is that Mr Manning felt he had every right to pursue his course of action in his capacity as “an ordinary citizen.”
But Joe the Plumber Mr Manning is not, and his actions point their scrooge like fingers to the prevailing rumour that Mr Manning is full of his own self importance and in fact listens to no one. Not his handlers. Not his communications specialists. Not his PR professionals. Clearly not his more media savvy wife.
I am actually glad ‘Boomgate’ happened if only because truths were revealed.
Firstly, there is a need for standards in 94.1 which all announcers and newscasters should adhere to. As the Express said in its front page editorial, the country "has had a free press to the point where some media houses have, in our view, been guilty of excesses, even execrable ones."
But most importantly coming on the heels of the proposed broadcast code, the Prime Minister’s actions suggest the birthing of something ominous, the weight of heavy handed state measures against a free and open media as evinced not only by the broadcast code, but also recent comments made by the Minister of Health as well as Minister of Information thinly veiled comments to journalists that the Government would need to revaluate its advertising spend.
There are always clouds before a storm. And this latest wake up call signifies dark days yet.
I listened to third and final debate between Obama and Mc Cain on BBC radio so I missed all the body language and non-verbal nuances so important in communications especially when the conversation centers on the economy, energy and health care.
Let me declare, I am a Democrat party supporter and I feel strongly that Obama will be the next President of the United States, my prediction is certainly helped by the fact that in the past three weeks "it's been about the economy stupid'.
In this frame from left to right: Minister of Information Neil Parsanlal, Judette Coward-Puglisi and Maria Mc Millan
This got me thinking about why the Minister’s search for a few good strategists is so necessary and how the information ministry can be more of an effective arm of government. In essence, how can Parsanlal and his new bunch of communicators get a seat at the Prime Minister’s table, be part of the inner circle so to speak?
If I could have Parsanlal’s ear for a moment, I would tell him to position his department as the ultimate immediate feedback mechanism who has its ears on the ground and who is in touch with all voices even the dissonant ones. I think that in many instances he would need to push for soft power advocacy (to use a phrase invented by Prof. Joseph Nye at Harvard), with a focus on messages that speak to the laws of attraction and persuasion rather than the hard power attributes of force, compulsion, and arrogance. Where else is the PM developing the perception that he is growing into a dictator other than the fact that he is communicating the issues and his own personal image very, very badly?
I would also advise that Parsanlal to always measure, over time the effectiveness of his communications output to see if the strategies and campaigns adopted by his new team increases knowledge, changes attitudes, improves credibility of the government and burgeoning dictator image of the Prime Minister.
Heaven help him! Parsanlal has a tough job ahead.
