the(new)mediaslut

In April 08, this blogger wished for the next SG Prime Minister to be a web2.0 junkie.

Recently at the National Day Rally, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong spoke of how New Media will change Singapore and how Singpaore is going to adapt to it. 

PM Lee even demostrated “live” streaming via his mobile phone.

Even that blogger-politician Jeff Ooi was mentioned in the Rally.

Sadly, the Prime Minister is getting a old media guy to regulate New Media.

Wrote Channel NewsAsia,

The Advisory Council on the Impact of New Media on Society - led by former Singapore Press Holdings editor-in-chief Cheong Yip Seng - will set out its recommendations on these issues later this month.

When will they learn that New Media does not equal traditional media?
 

Which SG journo was chatting to a Thai journo at a press conference loudly and non stop  that an Aussie journo told them to shut up and pay attention?

Following on from this article, PR O’s country manager called Smartbrain today and apologised for the mix-up, taking full responsiblity for providing his name for the Dellli (no, that is not a typo) trip to their client and for the late invitation.

Apparently O provided D with Smartbrain’s name for the invitation, not as confirmation that Smartbrain had accepted to go. Not that Smartbrain ever got an invitation with the junket details, late or otherwise, but still, apology accepted and he does appreciate someone having the guts to apologise rather than disappear and get someone else to manage the account which happens once in a while after big mishaps in this industry.

Meanwhile, the start of the Olympics brings back some sour memories. Smartbrain never got an apology from the other, er, episode he had, the Atos-Origin “people like you” incident where the country manger of Atos Origin said he personally withdrew Smartbrain’s name from a junket to the Olympic venue in Beijing as he didn’t want his precious games associated with “people like you”. He also had the nerve to CC Atos’ VP for communications and neither of them sent me a reply afterwards.

Smartbrain is still trying to figure out what “people like you means” and he can only assume that the Atos country manager does not want any investigative reporters on the trip, especially ones who might ask why he married the daughter of an arms dealer and, through his father in law, won a big payphone contract with the state owned Telco TOT that was being investigated by the (now defunct) Assets Examination Committee set up post-coup to prosecute corrupt politicians. Of course, it is probably just a coincidence but it would have been nice to ask the question in person. But, after deep thought (read: burning hatred), Smartbrain is taking it as a compliment.

All of that has left Atos Origin, who have done the RFID ticketing system for the Genocide Games, sorry, Olympic Games, with zero coverage in Smartbrain’s paper for now, or forever, as long as he writes there.

Yes, Atos Origin does the ticketing for the Genocide games.
Atos Origin does the ticketing for the Genocide games.
Atos Origin does the ticketing for the Genocide games.

Ok. Perhaps Smartbrain is being a bit silly today.

The rumour going around in the Singapore PR grapevine is the mass exodus at Fleishman-Hillard Singapore.

A total of 9 senior staff  left the PR agency during the months of June and July 2008.

They include the following:

Karen Ho (SVP, tech)
Ronald Wong (VP, consumer)
Yeo Siang Hock (financial controller)
Gavin Foo (AD & head, digita)
Adrian Lee (AD, tech)
Lars Voesdisch (AD, tech)
Sonia Chen (AM, corporate)
Kevyn Eng (SAE, corporate)
Navin Nambiar (SAE, tech)

Insiders have hinted of rumors of alleged mismanagement and alleged unhappineess over salaries & benefits.

This is also reflected by the sentiments of local headhunters that FH offers on of the least competitive remuneration packages in the industry.

Two of the ex-FH team have started their PR agency.

One of the biggest no-no for a blog is the use of vulgarities in any of the post.

Bloggers may argue that it is their freedom of speech to post what they want. That’s your right as a blogger but if you want to be considered to be engaged by the PR agencies or the big brands, it is better to refrain from using vulgarities.

There are some popular blogs out there that are on the PR agencies blacklist because of vulgarities found on the post.

Many of the PR do not want to have to deal with a post that has too much vulgarities especially with the client.

PR are also caught in between so it is better not to add fuel to fire. If the blog post were to have something vulgar in the post, the vendor might not want to be associated with  that post and demand that the PR get the blogger to pull out that post.

But if the PR were to ask the blogger to pull out that post, a backlash might happen as the PR might be seen as wanting to control the blogger’s so called “freedom of speech”.

Hence, PR would rather refrain from engaging such blogs despite their popularity.