Comments on: Churnalism? http://www.72point.com/blog/churnalism/ News, PR and Survey Specialists Sun, 22 Apr 2012 19:53:51 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Harriet Crosse http://www.72point.com/blog/churnalism/#comment-968 Harriet Crosse Wed, 09 Mar 2011 17:40:28 +0000 http://www.72point.com/wp/?p=1001#comment-968 Hi Martin - thanks for you response. I can see why the word "press releases" on the OnePoll website is confusing - I will ensure this is changed to "press copy" - because essentially, that is what it is. Following your conversation with Oli - we added to the press archive page the following text: "All press releases on the OnePoll press archive page have been written by trained news journalists and have been issued via the SWNS newswire. They have featured in national newspapers prior to press-copy being uploaded to the press archive section." Our new website which goes live next week states clearly that OnePoll is owned by the SWNS Group - it also clearly states that is the case on our Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OnePoll Our news copy is ALWAYS transparent in that we explain why the survey was carried out, who it was commissioned by and how many responses there were. We also add three or four paragraphs of quotes from the commissioners of the survey - as is standard practice for news copy. What is printed in newspapers and online as a result of our copy is sadly out of our control. Thanks again for getting in touch - and any other questions / suggestions - feel free to contact me directly. Harriet Hi Martin – thanks for you response.

I can see why the word “press releases” on the OnePoll website is confusing – I will ensure this is changed to “press copy” – because essentially, that is what it is.

Following your conversation with Oli – we added to the press archive page the following text: “All press releases on the OnePoll press archive page have been written by trained news journalists and have been issued via the SWNS newswire. They have featured in national newspapers prior to press-copy being uploaded to the press archive section.”

Our new website which goes live next week states clearly that OnePoll is owned by the SWNS Group – it also clearly states that is the case on our Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OnePoll

Our news copy is ALWAYS transparent in that we explain why the survey was carried out, who it was commissioned by and how many responses there were. We also add three or four paragraphs of quotes from the commissioners of the survey – as is standard practice for news copy.

What is printed in newspapers and online as a result of our copy is sadly out of our control.

Thanks again for getting in touch – and any other questions / suggestions – feel free to contact me directly.

Harriet

]]> By: Martin Moore http://www.72point.com/blog/churnalism/#comment-967 Martin Moore Wed, 09 Mar 2011 17:13:30 +0000 http://www.72point.com/wp/?p=1001#comment-967 Hi there (Oli?), Helpful post - and it's been very good to engage with you in a dialogue about churnalism. A few things it's important to clarify. I still have a number of issues about your distinction between OnePoll 'press releases' vs news agency copy based on OnePoll surveys: - The copy is published on the OnePoll site under the title 'Press Release title' and you refer to them as 'press releases' at the top - Nowhere (that I can find) on the OnePoll site does it indicate that OnePoll is owned by South West News Group, which also owns a news agency that writes up the surveys as 'news'. Though the copy you have recently added to the top of the press release archive is helpful - From the perspective of the public, whether the surveys are written up by professional journalists as 'wire copy', or by people in professional communications as 'press releases', it is as important to trace the news story back to source. In most of the OnePoll cases referenced, the source appears to be a commercial organisation that has commissioned the poll in order - at least partly - to promote a product or service they are trying to sell. This, to me, makes greater transparency even more important. - We have been working closely with news agencies, particularly the Associated Press, for over two years now and have a good idea of how news agencies work. We did not know about One Poll / South West News but now do thanks to the dialogue we have had in the past couple of weeks. Though I'd be very surprised if many members of the public knew about how One Poll / South West News works. Happy to chat more about how to make your releases more transparent if you think that would be helpful. Contact details on our site. Best, Martin Hi there (Oli?),
Helpful post – and it’s been very good to engage with you in a dialogue about churnalism.
A few things it’s important to clarify.
I still have a number of issues about your distinction between OnePoll ‘press releases’ vs news agency copy based on OnePoll surveys:
- The copy is published on the OnePoll site under the title ‘Press Release title’ and you refer to them as ‘press releases’ at the top
- Nowhere (that I can find) on the OnePoll site does it indicate that OnePoll is owned by South West News Group, which also owns a news agency that writes up the surveys as ‘news’. Though the copy you have recently added to the top of the press release archive is helpful
- From the perspective of the public, whether the surveys are written up by professional journalists as ‘wire copy’, or by people in professional communications as ‘press releases’, it is as important to trace the news story back to source. In most of the OnePoll cases referenced, the source appears to be a commercial organisation that has commissioned the poll in order – at least partly – to promote a product or service they are trying to sell. This, to me, makes greater transparency even more important.
- We have been working closely with news agencies, particularly the Associated Press, for over two years now and have a good idea of how news agencies work. We did not know about One Poll / South West News but now do thanks to the dialogue we have had in the past couple of weeks. Though I’d be very surprised if many members of the public knew about how One Poll / South West News works.
Happy to chat more about how to make your releases more transparent if you think that would be helpful. Contact details on our site.
Best, Martin

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