Tag Archives: media

My thoughts on the KPMG reputational crisis

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KPMG’s name and reputation remains in crisis and in the headlines. We just can’t stop talking about it. So let’s start learning from it. Having been involved in practising, lecturing and consulting in Corporate Communication, I can’t resist throwing out some of my own thoughts on the matter.

Loss of ethics loss of Reputation

In terms of corporate citizenship, ethical branding, responsible leadership, accountability and reputation, here are my offerings:

  1. For many years now, the King Report has been the go-to document for guidelines on corporate governance, corporate citizenship and responsibility to one’s stakeholders, community, politico-economic and natural environment. Large corporate are obliged to take note and commit to upholding the principles and values contained in the King Report which is constantly being revised  to ensure it remains valid, relevant and current.
  2. Transformational leadership. It’s simple: know what it means. Know the code of conduct. Know how to motivate and inspire. Know the law but act ethically. Know your people and their feelings. Know the truth. Spread the truth.
  3. Reputation management: Every company –small and large – must plan and manage its identity, its values and its behavior in order to manage outcomes and others’ perceptions of it. Only through critical strategic discussions with all stakeholders, including the media, can a company develop a strong positive reputation.
  4. Crisis management – Plan, prepare, strategise for negative disruptive events that impact your operations and your reputation. Without a crisis plan you’re doomed. Public sharing is vital for a reputable organization to gain support. Don’t apologise unless you mean it and are prepared to pay the price.
  5. Corporate culture: Vision, Ethos, Values, Beliefs and Behaviour. Accountability means to take responsibility for one’s decisions and actions and be adaptable to changes in the environment and courageous to stand one’s ground in the midst of potential threats, temptations and challenges. Be purpose- not greed-driven.

Finally, companies should strategise for sustainability. Their strategies must translate into best practice – setting standards and acting as examples for conducting ethical business, based on principles and values of trust, integrity, professionalism, not greed, status and power.

Corporate governance and CSR – is it for REAL?

What is ‘fake news’?

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What is ‘fake news’? And how does it affect us?                                    Fake news 1

Have you noticed how this ‘catch-all’ confusing media term is being used every day? Donald Trump uses it to describe any news he doesn’t like, doesn’t agree with, or that doesn’t come from his own tweets. And although we associate the term with Trump, stories involving ‘fake news’ have been around for a while. But what does it mean in our hi-tech social media world and how does it affect our own interpretation of news and how we respond to it?

Is it propaganda, deception, misrepresentation or just plain you-know-what?

All of the above. One definition of fake news, or hoax news, is “false information or propaganda published under the guise of being authentic news. Fake news websites and channels push their fake news content in an attempt to mislead consumers of the content and spread misinformation via social networks and word-of-mouth” (www.webopedia.com/TERM/F/fake–news.html).

Wikipedia defines it as news which is “completely made up and designed to deceive readers to maximize traffic and profit. News satire uses exaggeration and introduces non-factual elements, but is intended to amuse or make a point, not deceive. Propaganda can also be fake news”   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fake_news .

In The Guardian, Elle Hunt explores ‘fake news’:  “Until recently, there was news and “not news” (referring to human interest stories or features). Now there is ‘fake news’, said to be behind the election of Donald Trump as US president. The US election result was influenced by a widespread belief in fake news among Trump supporters. 73% of Trump voters thought the billionaire financier George Soros paid protesters to disrupt the Republican candidate’s rallies – a fake news report later repeated by the president-elect himself.”

Other fake news includes a report that Democratic senators wanted to impose sharia law in Florida, and a false report that Trump supporters chanting “we hate Muslims, we hate blacks, we want our great country back” at a rally was reported as true on election night.

Fake news in SA                         

Fake news 4According to Verlie Oosthuizen, a partner at Shepstone and Wylie’s social media law department, “Fake news – which previously targeted celebrities – has shifted to politics; Donald Trump’s election shows the impact of this growing trend on politics”.

Xolani Dube, from the Xubera Institute for Research and Development, believes what is now termed fake news has been around since the inception of power. “Pre-information age, fake news was called propaganda and preserved in print media and radio. It existed by other names before that. For anything to sustain itself it needs to rebrand, so it is appearing now as fake news, electioneering sabotage.”

Sabotage had allegedly been the aim of the work of an ANC team called the “War Room” in the run up to the local government elections. Allegations that its goal was to create posters depicting opposition political parties negatively, were contained in a court application by Sihle Bolani. The public relations strategist fingered Shaka Sisulu, Walter Sisulu’s grandson, as her recruiter, as did Thami Mthimkhulu, a Durban man who claimed – on Twitter – that he had been sent slanderous posters of EFF and DA leaders to share and “push” on social media.

The proliferation of fake news targeting political parties and politicians is “new-age propaganda” that is not likely to stop and political leaders have to brace themselves for the online onslaught. This is according to a social media lawyer and a researcher, who were responding to allegations that the ANC spent R50 million to spread fake news and pay social media “influencers” to discredit the political opposition. Many commentators agree that as the ANC succession debate heats up, South Africa could expect even more fake news. So be aware….

Should we be worried about fake news?

Social media expert, Arthur Goldstuck, believes fake news completely destroys public discourse and undermines democratic values: “Anyone who participates in this in order to advance their objectives should realise the long-term damage. It ultimately renders everything they put out untrustworthy.” He believes there should be consequences but “until someone is caught and prosecuted, it will go on”.

Hunt says, “These stories – compelling to click on, and with a “truthiness” quality to them – soar on the social web, where links are given the same weighting regardless of source, and particularly on Facebook where there is a potential audience of 1.8bn.”

Analysis by BuzzFeed found that fake news stories drew more shares and engagement during the final three months of the US election campaign than reports from, for example, the New York Times, the Washington Post and CNN.    The power of this ‘fake news’ is clear.

So, how do you tell what is fake news?

Surely it’s easy to tell fake news from real news   Actually, no.   A recent study carried out by Stanford’s Graduate School of Education assessed more than 7,800 student responses on their ability to assess information sources. Researchers were “shocked” by students’ “stunning and dismaying consistency” to evaluate information at even as basic a level as distinguishing advertisements from articles (from The Guardian article by Elle Hunt).

Soon, Facebook will flag stories of questionable legitimacy with an alert that says “Disputed by 3rd party fact-checkers”. Melissa Zimdars, a professor at Merrimack College in Massachusetts, compiled this list of websites that either purposely publish false information or are otherwise entirely unreliable, broken down by category.

The German chancellor Angela Merkel, pressured Facebook to introduce a fact check button to try to deal with fake news. This is already effective in the US as well and whether Facebook is going to mobilise this across the globe remains to be seen.

“I don’t believe there is a political will in South Africa to put up the same kind of pressure,” said Oosthuizen.  “Trying to prosecute the creators of fake news sites would be extremely difficult. You’d end up chasing leads in different jurisdictions.”

And what can we do to stop its spread?

So we’ve deduced that fake news is intentionally created and can discredit stories and the people in them and lead us to believe that something is true when it’s not. So we need to be smarter at recognising and combating news that is fabricated.

“Share responsibly”, says Hunt, “you are an influencer within your own social network: put in the legwork, and only post or share stories you know to be true, from sources you know to be responsible. You can help shape the media you want, too. Withhold “hate-clicking” on stories you know are designed to make you angry”.

Pay for journalism and news that have real value.

NGOs a site for PR skills development

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Earlier this month a jubilant Department of Education announced the 78% pass rate for the 2013 Matriculants. But hot on the heels of the release came questions, criticisms and expressions of concern regarding the lack of jobs, the skills deficit, and the relevance of a university degree when there was dire need for artisans (who actually earn more than graduates). We all know the problems but what about solutions?

On 9 January Rowan Philp wrote a piece in The Witness entitled “Volunteer or Bust!”
http://www.witness.co.za/index.php?showcontent&global[_id]=112563

What caught my attention were the following:

• pupils had “fixed and unrealistic ideas” about jobs
• “Young people have to change their mind-set from ‘What can I get from employers?’, to ‘What can I give to employers?’ They should draw up a list of all the employed adults they know – and ask to work-shadow, intern, or just volunteer.”
• gain on-the-job experience, even if it meant no pay.
• there was “increasing concern” over viable careers for matrics.
• the country needed artisans and entrepreneurs.

The matric results have focused the nation’s attention on the desperate need to address the problems of unemployment and skills shortage. For me, the NGO environment is an ideal one for developing volunteers into skilled workers and entrepreneurs over a wide range of activities while building the capacity of communities. I have been involved in CESL (Community engagement with Student Learning) projects and seen the positive impact on young people working with NGOs.

There are so many NGOs with uplifting projects needing staff and funding. In conversation with Michael Deegan, CEO of the PMB Community Chest, he mentioned the need for NGOs to think of new ways of doing things, and to rework their corporate identity, image and communication strategies to create more awareness and draw more donors, corporate sponsors and volunteers.

Clearly the new audience is the youth and so NGOs and charities need to change the perception that charity and community work is only for the older generation. Already the Community Chest has a programme directed at the youth called the “@Generation” to address this. Having young volunteers working in NGOs would go a long way to improve their understanding and perceptions of ‘charity’ work.

NGOs are multi-dimensional too in that they operate on so many levels and with so many stakeholders – from government departments, communities, business, international donors and aid organisations to local educators, women’s groups, healthcare givers and of course the media. Volunteers would leave with a range of skills, abilities and interests to offer the world of business.

So here’s my suggestion for a possible solution:

Volunteerism as “giving to grow” – NGOs, Business and the Community can do it together

We need to develop a volunteer programme whereby unemployed matriculants go into NGOs to work and to train.
The types of skills they would learn is wide-ranging, from office admin, computer, financial and business to project management, government relations and funding policies, procedures and proposals.

However, my sphere of interest and expertise is corporate communication and public relations, so I will focus on NGOs and their dire need of strategic planning in this area. They are also perfect sites for potential learning and development of specific communication and PR skills, techniques and activities which are vital for their existence.
These include: Branding, copy writing, publicity, interpersonal communication skills, CSI – corporate social investment, community relations, media relations, sponsorship, integrated marketing, event management, and so on.

All they need is people to teach them! And funds to pay them.
So my proposal is that business contribute in money and in kind to enable NGOs to implement such a programme by covering the cost of willing professionals like me to deliver skill interventions and deliverables to achieve the outcomes – NGOs performing optimally, addressing socio-economic issues like healthcare, education, skills development, unemployment, whilst simultaneously building citizens, communities and the country.

It’s not impossible. It just takes concerned citizens and business to put their money where their mouths are! NGOs like The Community Chest are waiting for you…….

Things SA voters should know before April 2014 elections

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I have recently done some informal research to explore attitudes about registering to vote. I questioned about 40 people locally (70% black, male and female, between 21 and 44 years of age, urban and peri-urban, education ranging from Grade 7 to a degree). I was staggered at the lack of knowledge around democracy and elections.

An educated electorate is essential in a democracy so, as the election draws nearer, it is imperative that the influencers in SA inform voters, especially the new voters and those who have been voting without understanding, about the most important issues around making a choice. It’s not where you make your cross. It’s why you make it there. Voter education would contribute to voters’ asking more questions before they make their marks.

So, this is an appeal to communicators, media presenters, advocacy groups, journalists, politicians, educators, parents, commentators and community leaders to use their influence and platforms to inform and educate voters about issues regarding elections. Let’s call it Election Education 101 whereby voters receive information that will guide them towards active participation in the election and hence the public sphere.

Let’s start a list of facts that every voter should know and share with others. Here’s mine:

1. Democracy and state funds
2. It’s your vote – every 5 years
3. Voter’s role and responsibility in an election
4. Dump the ‘race’ vote.

1. Democracy and state funds. Ensure that, before the election, people in this country know what democracy means. Explain the difference between state and government. It is amazing how little voters really know. From questioning people, I found that not one separated government and ANC. The governing party is not the state. State funds are not governing party funds. State funds means just that: the money belongs to the state. And the difference between parties is their attitude to and policy around state funds and the uses they put the funds to. Most people I spoke to believe that if they don’t vote for the ANC they would lose out on grants for housing, education etc. They assumed that if another party came into power, they would not have the money to do ‘the good stuff”.

People need to know that whichever party is in power uses the same state funds to carry out programmes for social development etc. The ANC does not ‘own’ those state funds for grants and upliftment projects like housing, poverty alleviation and health programmes. If another party should come into power, it would hold the same purse strings, but use the funds in a different, hopefully better, way.

2. It’s your vote to use every 5 years. You don’t only have one chance to vote in your lifetime. Why vote, who to vote for? Criteria for selection – each party puts forward an argument why you should vote for it, and makes promises about what it would do to make your life better if it were the governing party. If it appeals to you, vote for that party. And remember, each election you get to decide again and even change your vote, if those promises aren’t met. Then you see if your new party upholds its promises. If it doesn’t, vote for yet another party in the following election. It’s your vote, and your right to chop and change, that keeps parties on their toes with regard to promised service delivery.

Therefore, learn to listen to party promises in the run-up to the election, and then hold the winning party accountable to fulfil its election promises. Each party’s election manifesto should outline its priorities and how its planned expenditure will deal with those priorities.

3. GET registered! Surely the people who are protesting against lack of service delivery by NOT registering, should in fact register so that they can vote for another party that would make more effort to change people’s lives? Get involved: attend meetings of different parties to hear the different points and promises, ask questions, assess each party’s argument for credibility and viability. Above all, talk, debate issues and become more critical. Don’t just follow and accept what the majority says……

Bear in mind, if one party gets over 60% of the votes it may become less accountable, less concerned about grassroots needs, thereby neglecting its promises to service those most in need. It might also make changes to established laws to suit its own agenda. So, it’s a good idea to keep some semblance of ‘balance of power’ across parties so that they can challenge each other on important public issues.

4. Don’t vote on the basis of race colour. Viktor Frankl said: “There are two races of men in this world – the ‘race’ of the decent man and the ‘race’ of the indecent man. Both are found everywhere; they penetrate into all groups of society. No group consists of entirely decent or indecent people. In this sense, no group is of “pure race”.
So vote for someone of the ‘decency race’.

Get voters educated now for Election 2014 !

Putting humanity back into Business

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Putting humanity back into Business

People create businesses, people are businesses, people drive businesses and people break businesses. So why overlook people and the human aspect of business?

This is the information society and we need to change our tactics!
People know more than we think. People have more power than we think. So why should they choose you? It’s time to change how we communicate and connect with our people, change our marketing, advertising and PR practices and change the entire ‘ecosystem’ of our company.

Accessibility to technology and media saturation has informed people and empowered them to engage in the public sphere. If they feel strongly enough about an issue they can garner huge support to oppose or protest against it. The growth of this ‘civic’ power has seen the rise of advocacy and social pressure groups and, their actions could cause losses for a company. Consider, for example, the role of anti-alcohol-abuse groups to bring about a ban on alcohol advertising in SA.
Big business is beginning to acknowledge its interdependence with other groups; it can’t act irresponsibly or unethically and not be accountable – what it does affects others and if it impacts negatively on them, there could be negative consequences. Hence, as companies are part of society, they should act like social and economic entities, become corporate citizens and change how they do things.
To survive as part of a greater system: A business or organization should focus mindfully on the following:

1. Know why it exists. Get to its ‘source’ and develop a goal and values-driven mission which must be turned into a written statement by which it conducts itself. If a mission statement is only about sales and profit, customers will go to someone who CARES. It has been proven that people support companies not only for their prices, they choose them because they understand them and their needs.

2. Do some research and planning to develop strategies, objectives and tactics to guide your communication (SWOT and PEST analysis will help to set you on the right path). There is nothing haphazard about PR and integrated marketing communication. Plan and strategize to achieve your goals.

3. Develop an identity and brand that is unique to you and your goals, is recognisable & memorable. Based on cognitive psychology, visuals like logos and slogans can attract people and create associations that are positive, based on their own good experiences which are often emotional not rational.

4. Identify its key target groups or stakeholders, not only customers, but community, media and environmental groups. Understand them and their needs and connect with them based on this knowledge. Ask what information they need about your product and your company. And use all platforms, traditional and online, to share relevant and focussed information with them.

5. Connect proactively with your stakeholders or targets. Engage with key target groups thru’ managing the flow of relevant information sharing (not giving) to build relationships and reputation. Don’t engage in ad hoc marketing communication activities. It’s an ongoing dialogue to influence the perceptions people have of your company which impacts your image and company reputation.

6. Keep communicating, creating ‘stories’ for exposure, identification and image. Position your company within the stories. Add to the narrative regularly so as to attract attention and convince them of what makes you different from others and tell what you have been doing to make their perceptions of you better, or their lives better.
7. Manage your reputation – thru’ messages, behaviour, employees, CSR et cetera. Use the media (editorial not adverts) to create news and publicity about you and what you do. If people perceive you in a good light, your image improves and your reputation grows stronger.

8. Keep all the pieces of the Marketing Mix together. Plan for integrated campaigns that ensure that you speak with ONE voice and your products and services uphold your promises. Your actions and communication must be in unison. Contradictions confuse people. Don’t try to pull the wool over their eyes by giving information for your own ends, rather share it collaboratively. No longer are companies seen as the owners of information – there are no ‘fundis’ – everybody is a learner and a teacher.

Today people can access whatever information they want about a product or service and they can verify the information gathered. They ‘google’ a product or service, get thousands of companies doing similar things. But what makes them choose one and not the other?
Do things differently and see the difference!

Overcoming the risk in getting your media release published optimally.

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I’ve been teaching ‘writing for the media’ for many years, giving guidelines and tips to journalists and PR writers. And yet, I fell prey to one of the most common traps……..
I recently wanted to publicise an important activity within my own organisation and, as I have a good relationship with the local media, I approached a particular and highly competent business editor with my media release. He asked me to send in my CV as well to see if he could turn it into an interesting article. This I did. He used the information to write a very good piece and duly sent me a draft for checking before submitting. I was happy, returned it and he submitted it.

However, when it appeared, we noticed that a ‘sub’ had omitted the most important and recent information and retained items less important and newsworthy. Hence, the result was not the one I had hoped for. Getting a media release published was one thing, getting the desired outcome was another. So, in evaluating that PR exercise, I’m reviewing important aspects of writing a media release and getting it published – to your satisfaction.

The MOST important thing is, DO NOT submit any information you do not want used! Sending in my CV was my mistake. By doing so, I gave the editor the power to select additional information that he thought would make a useful or interesting article. And then in the subbing process the original important information was omitted. Hence, “there’s many a slip twixt the cup and the lip” so ensure you only send what needs to be made known for your purposes.

Other tips to remember:
Tip 1: Create stories. The link to the media is newsworthiness – send only items that you think the audience would find newsy and interesting. Reporters and audiences like quotes. They add authenticity and immediacy to the story or piece. So give them a few – even quote yourself!
Tip 2: Timing your media release. And link to other news and events. Keep abreast of what’s going on in the news so that you can tap into what’s happening and create synergies with other events, special days and organisations.
Tip 3: Be organised and correct. Use a method like the 5Ws and 1 H for your media release to ensure the important information is included. Only add extra info if space permits. Write in the third person, not the first (we not I) – to meet the journalistic criterion of ‘objectivity’. And always proofread to be free of typos.
Tip 4: Essential inclusions – Source of info with contact details; date; a catchy headline; and a picture helps.
Tip 5: Tweak your press release according to the different media you use to suit the various audiences and to create ‘synergies’ (Tip 2). Come up with a number of creative angles for each story and submit the timeliest and most appropriate ones.

Keep writing, keep contact with the media and keep submitting your stories!

A Lesson in PR for Minister Davies and others

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A few weeks ago I heard Minister of Trade and Industry, Rob Davies, bemoaning the fact that the pace of BEE is too slow, saying that many of the companies who assert they have Black partners or board members, are not taking BEE seriously. This, in his opinion, was because these ‘token’ Blacks are given ‘less serious portfolios like Public Relations’ (my quotations).

If this is indeed his opinion, I would challenge Minister Davies and say he knows very little of what PR is. Hence, as a corporate communication specialist, I’m offering a quick lesson on the vital, strategic role of PR in the overall functioning and survival of an organisation. To be given this portfolio would indicate the board’s absolute trust in the person selected and its willingness to hand over the management of the organisation’s entire communications, including its corporate identity, brand, stakeholders’ perceptions and its reputation. That is a HUGE responsibility for a PR professional.

Some might argue that PR activity does not contribute to the bottom-line profits, but try telling a Chairperson or CEO of an organisation in the throes of a sale, takeover or merger that the company is only worth what it says on the balance sheet! He’ll counter that with notions of ‘good will’, ‘solid stakeholder relations’ and ‘reputational capital’ as the difference between the asking price and the ‘book value’. And for me, that indicates the worth of the corporate communication and PR function.

So, what does the PR function involve? To show it’s not just about publicity and events, let’s take as an example, South African Breweries (SAB), the largest producer and distributor of alcohol brands, and let’s look at what the Public Relations or Corporate Communications Director has had to manage over the past few years. Let me add, I offer this example as an analyst, not as an employee of SAB.
Since 2003, government departments, including that of Trade and Industry, Transport, Social Development and Health, together with a number of special interest groups, have been investigating ways of dealing with the major social problem of alcohol-related violence in SA and, in October 2010 the government proposed a ban on the advertising of alcohol, including a ban on sponsorship by alcohol companies which, until then, had been among the major sponsors of sport, arts and social development programmes in the country. This much-publicised move has been the topic of on-going debate.
However, our focus in this lesson, is what the SAB PR director would have been doing to address this critical decision which could negatively impact the organisation.
External Organisational Communication
External stakeholders are strategically important to the organization and therefore communication with them focuses on ‘knowledge creation’ and ‘relationship building’ especially around issues that affect the organization and where it stands on those issues. It therefore covers all the corporate communication functions aimed at influencing the external environment. The goal of public relations and public affairs is to communicate information that presents the organisation in a favourable light so as to influence its publics to support the organisation on a particular issue. Therefore, SAB’s PR director would use the special PR techniques within the public affairs function including: issues management, government relations, lobbying and coalition building, media, community relations and corporate social responsibility.
Issues Management
This involves an organisation’s scanning and monitoring the environment for any issues – economic, social, legislative or environmental – that could impact it. If there is evidence of a potentially threatening issue, such as this one, SAB would conduct a threat assessment to establish possible impacts. Within this process, an organization also considers possible scenarios, responses to them and the possible outcomes, to protect their reputation, operations, and financial conditions, to neutralize damage. In this case, SAB goals would be to prevent or minimize government legislation and regulation that would negatively impact its business.
Faced with the challenges and the anticipated loss of its multimillion rand advertising activity, and the impact on its agencies and on labour, the PR director’s team would’ve analysed the situation and asked, how do we control and manage the negative influences from this? SAB PR would have to re-strategize its corporate communication activities, in order to build a reputational platform within which SAB would continue to grow, despite the impending government regulation, and still retain its positive image and position and strong reputation.
To achieve its goals, SAB would’ve set objectives and actions within the framework of opening up channels of communication with all SABs stakeholders and the general public, taking cognizance of the voices in the public sphere, and engage with them too.
Government relations and Lobbying
On the one hand, there’s the government communicating with its people around an issue of public interest, showing its good intentions to improve society by addressing the alcohol problem by proposing the ban on alcohol advertising. On the other hand, big business (SAB), as one of governments various constituencies, wants to communicate with government about issues that concern them with a view to influencing government decision-making. The political and PR technique of lobbying is used by organizations and special interest groups, to access and influence government regulation and legislation in a particular direction. So SAB would’ve had a lobbyist negotiating its way around this problem with a number of government departments which, incidentally, could have had conflicting agendas themselves! But that’s another story…..

In addition, big business needs access to the media in order to proactively get support for their positions. In this regard, the media has always played a pivotal role in disseminating relevant information around social and public issues, raising points of argument from all sides of debates.
The media and media relations
One of PR’s core functions is working with the media. The media’s power to influence is crucial to communicators who want to affect change in society, whether economic, social or political. Traditional media activity by organizations includes press releases, press conferences and various types of publicity to inform the public of what they’re doing. The media carry corporate messages or ‘stories’ to convince stakeholders to change or improve their perceptions of the company. Hence, these messages would be persuasive and include information about the company’s positive, responsive activities that will ensure a positive outcome.

So, how has SAB used the media? Using its website as an example, there is much evidence of its vision and values. On its corporate affairs page we read, “We’re in the business of brewing beer, but we’re committed to doing this in the most ethical, environmentally sustainable and transparent way possible. SABMiller is determined to give back to society and has a commitment to doing what is right”. And in a SAB publication entitled “Leading the way in tackling alcohol abuse” it states:
SAB is proud of the quality products that it produces and the economic and social benefits that it brings to South Africa. Unfortunately, a relatively small percentage of South Africans and this has a disproportionately negative impact on South African society…..SAB has years of experience in leading the way in addressing alcohol abuse in the country. It has listened to the response from local communities and has developed a strategy to tackle alcohol abuse that takes its learning from South Africa and around the world.

CSR and Community Relations
Corporate citizenship refers to an organization’s acknowledgement of its interdependence on other groups, individuals and organizations in society. In as much as these are dependent on the organization in various ways, so too does it depend on them for its survival and success. Organizations engage in corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities in order to create awareness of their involvement in social issues and to influence stakeholder perceptions positively and enhance their reputation.
According to the website, SAB has for years engaged in CSR and community development projects aimed at addressing the social needs of disadvantaged groups. Through this SAB has spent much effort and money on building partnerships with government and other organizations, developing social upliftment projects that portray them as caring, responsible corporate citizens concerned about social problems like alcohol abuse. In the process SAB has gained positive coverage.
Coalition building
Within the framework of public affairs large organizations like SAB form alliances to strengthen their lobbying capacity when negotiating with government to exert a more powerful influence its decision-making in favour of the coalition or alliance. Among those with whom SAB might have built coalitions would be key constituencies with a stake in this debate by virtue of the fact that they too have much to lose if the Bill is passed, and are against the regulation, like sports bodies and the Department of Sport, advertising, sponsorship and other marketing related agencies, as well as labour and unemployment groups. Whilst it is forming coalitions to challenge the proposed ban with ARA (the alcohol industry Association for Responsible Alcohol consumption); WCSA (Wine Cellars South Africa), SA Liquor Traders and the advertising coalition, SAB is also needing to build relations with groups that are for the ban with a view to negotiating their way through the situation by acknowledging the social problem and perhaps making compromises to reach a more balanced outcome, and organizing campaigns with them. These could include the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), South Africans Against Drunk Driving (SADD) and Foundation for Alcohol Related Research (FARR).

Public advocacy is showing its influence in communities and is used to lobby government on various social, political and economic issues affecting citizens’ lives. Individuals also see the value in building coalitions that would more effectively serve their specific interests, including environmental, domestic, labour, and community or ‘grassroots’ development. So organizations need to address the different agendas – public interest versus private economic interests – and also communicate with opinion leaders and advocacy groups who are actually lobbying government for outcomes that could impact negatively on them.

Integrated marketing communications
Given the above, SAB would need to take cognizance of the perceived link between their products and the problem of alcoholism, and be seen to be adapting its activities accordingly. PR is constantly working with Marketing to develop new ways of ‘doing business’. Hence, while PR is overseeing the ‘communication for relationships’, Marketing is simultaneously developing different strategies of ‘positive talk for sales and profit’, including ‘black marketing’ techniques, with key stakeholders like business partners and loyal consumers.

From a PR perspective, SAB’s management seems to have done much. From online survey figures, and from online news, Twitter and Facebook comments, the public continues to hold positive perceptions of SAB’s endeavours in business, employment etc., as well as its handling of the current issue. SAB’s PR activities have won stakeholder support. It is still viewed as a ‘good corporate citizen’ and one of the ‘best brands’ with a solid reputation. So, it would seem that the PR efforts seem to be paying off. SAB may not be in danger of collapsing just yet!

If that’s what PR and communication can do for a company, the person in charge has a very serious function and has to be on the board where the big decisions are made.

Why is the Bredasdorp rape case getting all this attention?

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Why such a focus on the Bredasdorp rape story when rape has become a regular occurrence all over South Africa? Here are some thoughts……

Ordinary people have had enough! Now, using new media as activists, concerned citizens, special interest groups, NGOs etc are forming coalitions, focus groups, and the like, to address public issues threatening our society and to pressure government to seriously address problems like violence against women and alcohol abuse for the benefit of society ….more…

1. Social media as sites of mobilization
The rise of ordinary people protesting, petitioning and advocating against violence and injustice in a participative, democratic manner is seeing a redefinition of the citizen. Through the use of social media, there is a growing activism culture focusing on creating awareness of issues impacting both the public and society and on getting people active in communities that were previously seen as marginalized and disempowered. This phenomenon of participation may be fragmented, but nevertheless is political-personal expression directed not only against those in power but could be leverage for positive social change. It represents new options for ordinary citizens to affect changes in social policy and behavior.

Here in South Africa people and groups have been voicing discontent about the numbers of violent rape cases for some time now but the powers weren’t listening nor responding adequately. Perhaps the traditional channels of expression were ineffective. Now the agitated citizenry is using the power of social media to circulate the protest and garner support and, it would seem, the Bredasdorp case came at the right moment when a number of factors came together simultaneously to carry it to such a great height in our discourse and our consciousness.

Hence, the growth of engagement with online pressure groups has resulted in new sites for creative activism and social change.. They offer great possibilities for bringing collective pressure to bear on political and corporate groups, resulting in action. Depending on the different situations, the subsequent action could suggest that, “social networking technology has come to play a larger role in both creating and maintaining corporate [and government] reputations and damaging them” (Beal et al., 2008). The phenomenon of a changing media environment of ‘continuous connectivity’ and ‘collective participation’, where citizens can participate in ongoing discussions and debates in the public sphere, is now contributing to a new form of political engagement. Citizens can use both traditional and new media to form pressure or advocacy groups to publicise and promote their views, activities and campaigns, and to win public support and grow their membership to pressure or lobby government, either advancing or staving off government regulations.

The Bredasdorp case confirms that the present state of violence, crime and corruption in South Africa has also resulted in a growth in public activism and a new kind of citizenship where citizens seek to educate themselves and maintain community vigilance. As citizens, using new media, they are developing discursive strategies to effect change in policy and practices, using petitioning and advocacy through the Internet, coalition building and aligning with social movements. Their voices join to form alternative identities and public sphere, and work in the interest of social change. This indicates people’s new-found ability to make judgments, and make decisions to communicate and generate awareness to mobilize others to action, thereby inducing the government to be more accountable and socially responsible.

Ultimately, ordinary citizens are exercising their political rights, using critical news coverage to stimulate social discussion and concerted actions and to create awareness through collective initiative and social movements, articulating interconnectivity between people of different classes, genders, and races, and acting as advocates for social change.

2. Political and Media manipulation

The media has always played a pivotal role in disseminating relevant information around social and public issues, raising points of argument from all sides of the debates. The media’s power to influence therefore is crucial to communicators – individuals, groups and organizations – who want to affect change in society, whether economic, social or political. How (through intensity, frequency etc) media present information and stories influences public perceptions.

Common strategies used by media to divert readers’ attention away from certain issues, people or actions (eg agenda setting, accumulation and framing) include placing undue focus on one news item while seeming to ignore similar stories elsewhere. Some might say that – as was stated in a recent news story – the ANC is strategizing to wrestle the Cape out of the hands of the DA in the next election. Speculators say there will be more negative news and criticism around events in the DA-led province to perhaps give the impression that the violence there is on the increase or that it is getting out of control – usually it’s areas like Limpopo that get much coverage for crime, violent rapes etc.

3. Women Activists for Women’s issues in the media
Women’s pressure groups are growing and are bringing all cases of violence against women into the open through the media in the hope that government will act to end this scourge. However, those in government, particularly the women, also want to be seen to be supporting these calls in the hope that the public will perceive them as part of the solution… Take a look at who is on the scene when the SABC TV cameras are rolling at the homes of victims – comforting and commenting….
Ends.