Isle of Man welcomes social media pro

We’ve recently welcomed a new voice in social media to the Isle of Man. Derek ‘The Bandit’ Richardson has just relocated from South Africa and you’ll soon be hearing him at weekends on 3FM.  But when he’s not entertaining Island residents with his take on dance music, he’s pretty busy online. He’s got two podcasts: [...]

Why you should come to Third Thursday

The third Thursday of each month, the Isle of Man Social Media Club meets. This month, Third Thursday is tomorrow, 18 September, 12.30 at Paparazzi, Douglas Promenade.  Everyone is welcome.   But should you come?
Anyone who is interested in journalism, publishing, communication, art, media, teaching, learning, Internet, marketing.  In short, anyone who is curious about how [...]

An apology

Image via Wikipedia
Every once in a while a journalist, a blogger or commenter will push things just a little too far. I’ve been accused of it myself once or twice.  Usually I’m happy to make things right.
Today the Independent on Sunday teaches us all a lesson on how to write an apology for publication [...]

Sometimes you just need hard copy

Image by Tasa_M via Flickr
Last evening, after a pretty trying day, I spoiled myself by sitting down in a quiet room and reading the newspaper.  For someone who usually only finds time to scan a website, it was a real treat. The Isle of Man Examiner is still published as a broadsheet, and I [...]

Johnston Press cuts deep

Media Week is reporting that Johnston Press, owners of Isle of Man Newspapers, has seen advertising revenues plummet by 21.0% year on year in the first seven weeks of the second half of the year.
Total revenue fell 6.3% to £293m for the first six months of 2008, year on year, while operating profit fell 15.6% [...]

Hindley row out of proportion

Image via Wikipedia
It seems a whole bunch of people have their knickers in a twist about a split second view of a portrait of murderer Myra Hindley in a Visit London promotional video shown in Beijing.

A spokesperson for Boris Johnson said the use of the image is ‘deeply disturbing’.
A senior government official told Sky [...]

The Journo: Ed Pereira

Title: Managing Editor/Director/Broadcaster
Employer: Pear Publishing
Beat: Worldwide celebrity music, culture and business.
Career highlight: Oh god, I have a few! The first one was when I launched my first celeb mag back in 1997. I was still at university in Swansea. Basically, I was a typical student and I wanted to get into nightclubs/gigs for free and [...]

Boobs and chips

Some readers might say that boobs and chips are two of their favourite things. And that’s exactly what Canadian franchise New York Fries is hoping people think when they see this advert. You might think I’m about to climb up on my feminist soapbox over this one, but no.  I’m just saluting great Canadian ingenuity.
Thanks [...]

Isle of Man ThirdThursday meet up 21 August

Image via Wikipedia
According to the Social Media Club blog there are nine get togethers organised before the end of the month. All of them are in American cities, plus there is one other taking place right here in the Isle of Man.
The Isle of Man Social Media Club meets the Third Thursday of each [...]

Martin Bashir: sexist? racist? both?

Take a bit of racism, add a smidgen of sexism and mix well with one male ego.  Yield: Internationally acclaimed journalist Martin Bashir.
Ok, I know I’m a bit late on this one, but I wanted add my two pennies on the incident where journalist Martin Bashir’s attempt at humour managed to offend his audience and [...]

Dan Davies to leave Manx Radio

Isle of Man journalists are leaving the profession in droves.  ITV Border recently lost journalist Joanne Clague, 3FM said goodbye to news director Merita Taylor, Isle of Man Newspapers have lost both editor John Sherrocks and business reporter Julie Taylor.  Now Dan Davies is leaving Manx Radio to take on a government  position.
Why the exodus?  [...]

My PR Week

Every weekend I look forward to sipping a cup of java and reading the UK public relations profession’s trade mag, PR Week.  I love it; I really do.  It’s chock full of interesting stories about the business I’m so passionate about.  There is news, campaign case studies, media profiles and collection of columnists worth reading.  [...]

THE Journo: Stuart Peters

Welcome to the third installment of THE Journo, Strive Notes’s…modern day ‘meet the press’.  Today I’m very pleased to feature the hard man of news from Manx Radio….Sir Stuart Peters.
Name: Stuart Peters
Title: Senior Broadcast Journalist. Producer and presenter of ‘Mandate’ - our early morning news and current affairs hour
Employer: Manx Radio
Beat: Isle of Man [...]

Apostrophe crimes

The Apprentice is over, long live the queen (Lee Mc that is). Of course he won because, despite lying about his university credentials on his CV and misspelling ‘tomorrow’, he reminded Sir Alan of himself, and who better to promote than someone in Sir Alan’s own image?
Sorry, Lee didn’t ‘lie’ but said he ‘misconstrued information’which [...]

£25k for 800 words from JK Rowling?

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

With the news that JK Rowling’s 800 word short story was sold at a charity auction for £25k and that London Mayor Boris Johnson will pocket £250k a year for a weekly column in the Telegraph, I do believe it’s time I should have a chat with my editor at [...]

UK’s brightest are liars and bad spellers

Image by jovike via Flickr

Britain’s brightest lie and they can’t spell either. That’s the conclusion you can draw from The Apprentice that speeds to its conclusion next week with four, rather than two candidates who are, the programme makers tell us, the tycoons of tomorrow.
They include Lee McQueen who’s a likeable chap, tall, good looking, [...]

Dos and don’ts for journos

I know we’ve been reading a lot about bad pitches from PRs these days. How about letting some bad behaviour from journos get some air time too?! If they want us to help them do their jobs, they should show a little respect.
Dos and don’ts for jounros if you want to get the [...]

New mag for Isle of Man

This morning I had a note from local publisher Keith Uren about the launch of new magazine for the Isle of Man.  It’s called Here & There and will be published monthly as the in-flight magazine for Manx2.com airlines.
Here & There will be an A5 glossy magazine published on the 1st of every month and [...]

Humphrys gives Brown ‘a hard time’

Imagine your spokesperson is hauled over the coals in a hostile interview for something that he never said. He holds his own in the interview but comes across looking defensive. What can you do, after the fact, to salvage the situation?
This is the exactly the challenge faced earlier this week by the PRs [...]

THE Journo: Sally Whittle

THE Journo is a recurring feature on Strive Notes…a kind of modern day ‘meet the press’. With this installment I am very happy to welcome tech and biz freelancer and entrepreneur…Sally Whittle.
Name: Sally Whittle
Title: Freelance journalist
Employer: I write for a mixture of magazines, newspapers, trade mags,
websites and commercial clients. I also run pitching workshops [...]

THE Journo: Reg Crowder

Following on from our redesign, Strive Notes is introducing some new regular features including ‘THe Journo’, a bit of a modern day, ‘meet the press’. I am very pleased that my Canadian colleague Reg Crowder (now working in France) has agreed to be our very first subject.
Name: Reg Crowder
Title: Freelance business journalist based [...]