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http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24556017-601,00.html

Much embarrassment for Aussie Liberal wing-woman Julie Bishop and publishers, Melbourne University Press, that her essay contribution for a book about the future of the Liberal Party was cribbed from a ten-year old speech by a New Zealand businessman Roger Kerr. A Libs senior Media Adviser Murray Hansen has fallen on his sword/pen admitting it was all his doing/fault. From The Australian Murray says…”he had written the essay and forgotten to send footnotes in time for publication…Asked how footnotes could have given credit for words that are not in quotation marks in Ms Bishop’s essay but blended through, he said: “I knocked it together very quickly. If I’d formatted it and put direct quotes, it would have alerted her much more quickly to the fact that I was taking large chunks out of someone else’s ideas and speech.” Author writes: A major published book; representing an MP; knocked together very quickly!!! In late September, Ms Bishop was accused of plagiarism for lifting material from The Wall Street Journal for a speech.

This unbelievable piece suggests that Scotland is a tough place to practice PR. The UK PM’s wife Sarah Brown (a former PR at Hobsbawm Macaulay Communications), was allegedly involved in a PR photo-op where govt PR minders seemed somewhat over-zealous in protecting their client interests. The messengers threatening scribes with a bullet; there’s a new twist on a theme.

Mike Murphy and Peggy Noonan join the esteemed cohort of media ‘professionals’ caught in off-mike moments, saying things they wished they hadn’t and should’ve known better about doing so (esp in a TV studio environment). This time, gun-totin’, moose-dressin’, soon-to-be-glamorous grannie, wannabe-VP of the USA Sarah Palin gets it in the neck.

Great example of how and when not to conduct a media conference… Embattled NSW MP Belinda Neal feels ‘vindicated’ over allegations she intimidated and lorded it over nighclub staff (see link for story chronology) and held a press conference to, well…gloat over the findings. Thing is for this press thingo, Belinda was poorly advised and ill-prepared as her media appearance only acted as a forum for rehashing questions over her formative behaviour. Again, the cloud of doubt lingers. Never front the press when you know you can’t satisfactorily answer their hardest question…the evasive footage becomes gold.

Going to a high-level briefing? This salutory tale from the UK, shows just how probing media intrusion can be. Just make sure you don’t carry your notes in a see-through folder, where press photographers can focus in and blow up your meeting notes. A UK Housing Minister’s notes betrayed her meeting crib notes, reminding her (in bold) to:
“…show that at this time of uncertainty…we are on people’s side.”
Another note reads: ‘We can’t know how bad it will get’
Ironically, as the UK Daily Mail reports, the gaffe emerged on the day the Government’s own figures showed house prices are still rising.

While I’ve been over in New Zealand, talking with comms advisers and colleagues mostly about Online Reputation Management, Australian politics has unearthed another cracker of a PR disaster. Liberal MP Troy Buswell has admitted he sniffed a seat that a female staff member had very recently been sitting on…classy eh?
Buswell has some other sexist ‘form’ (read below) which suggests that this scenario reveals the man’s true character; and it’s the unsavoury nature of his character that’s undoing his reputation. Even admitting the incident to the media, Buswell’s tears seemed as much to do with getting caught as they were about remorse for the offence caused to the woman whose, erm…seat he sniffed.
Recalling the scenario (which happened 3 years back) the unnamed woman said that, in front of other staffers, Buswell started sniffing the chair she had been sitting on at his Parliament House office in December 2005. Mr Buswell has previously admitted to snapping a Labor staffer’s bra as a drunken party trick and has been accused by retiring Liberal MP Katie Hodson-Thomas of making sexist remarks to her.
Here are a few telling quotes about the issue from Buswell’s Liberal colleagues (as reported to ABC TV) - what do they tell us about their views of Buswell’s actions and character??
“Troy has had the bra strapping incident and you know he’s had a, you know, the same as anyone else, had a background of fun, fun times and I mean we’ve all had that, we’ve all had times we’ve regretted.” Barry Court, WA Lib Party President
“He’s a rough diamond with a robust sense of humour“: Kim Hanes
“Troy is a very sensitive, a very dignified person in all of his dealings with me and I think that these issues are issues that are well and truly passed.” Helen Morton

Talk about stamping on a man’s grave before he’s cold in the ground; Gawker gleefully reports how BM’s PR supremo got chucked outta the Clinton campaign (which incidentally culls aides faster than China does with Tibetan dissidents). Why did Mark Penn depart? Most commentators agree it was his PR consultancy interests, which saw him meet with the Colombian government with a view to representing them on the opposite side of an issue from Hillary Clinton, while running her campaign. Conflict of interest anyone? Sterling judgement from an expert in impression management? A salutory lesson for any ‘big’ client; is your adviser too big to represent you? After all, when the consultant (and his other interests) becomes the story, it can eclipse your goals and reflect poorly on your reputation, too.
Oh, and as Gawker happily reports, Penn and BM also dropped the ball with the Columbians too, who were none too happy with the publicity, either.
But a wee word to Gawker; many decent PR practitioners disagree with your description of the…”PR industry, which is definitively one big amoral hired gun.” Tsk, tsk. That’s like saying all journos are delusional hacks that play decorative second fiddle to a revenue-driven media model based on advertising expenditure. Doh!!

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