Lo tech, Hi tech
First a word of apology to both my readers. Sorry. It’s been a very lo-tech week. I lost my wireless computer connection last Tuesday and with the rigours of performing in a splendid run of the Gilbert and Sullivan masterpiece, Ruddigore, at the Harrogate Theatre every night and twice on Saturday, it’s taken until now to get back on track. Check out the pictures on
http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/3073772Enough about me. I’ve just been checking out the
Sandi Thom website. Who? Well, she’s a new singer who has been employing some clever methods to get public attention for her new single ‘I wish I was a punk rocker’. But you need to know more about what’s happened to see that this is clearly the way forward for the Church of England, stuck as we are with out 20th century notions of PR – pamphlets, flower festivals and faxes. Sandi Thom, who looks like my younger daughter, and sings a song which reminds me strangely of the Albanian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest, wishes she was still in the lo-tech age, a ‘Punk Rocker with flowers in my hair’. It must be post-modern irony though, because, according to the Guardian, it is computers, high tech websites and up-to-date PR which will make her ‘a self made internet superstar’ with a number one by the weekend.
And this is where the C of E is missing a trick. Instead of relying on her music, nice though it is, its in the use being made of PR. Particularly a new PR tactic, almost, some suggest underhand, a style of PR employed by music PR companies like ‘Quite Great’. Its tactics include, and this is the revolutionary bit, the use of ‘street teams’ to 'spread the word' on the, er, streets, in fact. “‘You can’t just rely on good music’ said Louis Harris, PR manager at ‘Quite Great’ ‘-its really important to have the street teams out there talking about them’”. Apparently the street teams (many unpaid) go out and enthuse people, spreading the word, getting people talking about Ms Thom, mainly in the streets but sometimes, I’m guessing, in Costa Coffee, or Waterstones and create a “buzz” about the artist. The critics say its all a bit unsporting, a bit iffy. Gosh. How awful! Imagine if the church stooped to such tactics!
Need I say more? Not really… Yes, it really isn’t ‘clever PR, unique to the Internet age’. It didn’t even start with Bill Grundy and the Sex Pistols, which is where, according to the Guardian we can trace these tactics back to. I have a feeling that the church invented it. Check out the gospel accounts of the 72 enthusiasts going out as 'street teams' (without scrip or purse) or anything in the Book of Acts starting at Chapter 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 etc etc, creating there own ‘buzz’. Its devastatingly lo-tech and its the latest 21st century PR weapon.
Problem. We need enthusiasts – not the sort that shout a lot on street corners, but the sort that create, what was it, '48,000 web hits before any press publicity got going'. And of course we need something exciting for them to enthuse about and St Swithun's nativity play may not quite cut the mustard. But, here’s the good thing. The street teams can be unpaid as well as paid.
Da Vinci - the secret is out!
OK lets get the less important stuff out of the way in a couple of sentences.. is the Da Vinci Code as bad as the critics said? – well no, I actually enjoyed it a bit more than the book. Is this Tom Hanks at his worst? – possibly, but it’s a great performance by Paul Bettany as Silas, Sir Ian McKellen is fun and the others make the best of the wooden script. Is the film too long? – yes, but the scenery of Scotland is stunning, the Rosslyn chapel is gorgeous and worth staying in your seat for even if the film is already running of gas and stuttering to it’s rather lame and slightly surprising conclusion. The main faults of the film already lay in the book – never let a dramatic action scene get in the way of another lecture - an approach which Ron Howard tries to get around with lots of grainy film, cut away shots of spinning letters and plenty of dramatic music, sadly without total success.
So is the film a threat to Christianity and should the church be worried? Should we be writing books, staging demonstrations and panicking? The answer is no—indeed the church militant can reduce its threat from Code Red to Orange, it can stand down from 'Defcon 3', 'shields down', deflectors down - for a new secret has emerged, one which isn’t in the book, and I predict that Ron Howard will be thanked by the Vatican, in the fullness of time, for his adaptation of Dan Brown’s novel. For behold, the certainty of the book is replaced by a questioning, more sceptical approach in the film, the 1st century family man Jesus of the book is restored at the end as (possibly) the divine, prayer answering, miracle working Jesus that we are more familiar with, and those who hold Dan Brown’s conspiracy theory views are shown up to be all as mad as a bag of snakes! Even Opus Dei comes out ok - we have the honest if misguided Opus Dei detective, Bezu Fashe, there's plenty of mention that the movement has lots of ordinary married followers, and it turns out that it’s just the maverick corrupted bishop, Aringarosa, and the Albino monk Silas who have taken the movement off course. Meanwhile Sir Leigh Teibing, representing Grail fanatics everywhere (inc Dan Brown?) , turns out to be cunning, deceitful, murderous and bonkers, his complex and contradictory arguments failing to convince the main protagonists, let alone the audience.
The thing is, it’s a
film and we know how to watch films- we suspend our disbelief until we walk back out into the cold night air (or wet afternoon in Harrogate as I did). Even if the film had contended, like the book, that it was Fact with a capital ‘f’, which it doesn’t, we wouldn’t have necessarily been sucked in by it’s conspiracy theories. In the event Ron Howard has watered it down, nothing is fact, everything is up for grabs and it's up to the church to get involved in the debate. “The only thing that matters is what you believe” says Langdon. Audrey Tautou’s Sophie may or may not be the last of the bloodline of Jesus – its up to us. She may look divine, but she can’t walk on water. Hank's Robert Langdon, the sceptical expert, admits he prayed to Jesus at a moment of childhood trauma and felt he 'wasn't alone'. Could the Son of God have sired children? If he married Mary Magdalene did that make him just an ordinay bloke from first century Palestine? Or was this 135 minute treasure hunt a wild goose chase - and the church was right after all? The questions are left hanging, and in any case many in the audience will have lost the plot ages before thanks to its preposterous (and ponderous) twists and turns.
Dan Brown, post the book, pre the film, backtracking rapidly, should have the last word - "Controversy and dialogue are healthy for religion as a whole. Religion has only one true enemy - apathy- and passionate debate is a superb antidote". He's right, but this film probably won't do as much as he hoped to stimulate that debate.
Opinions and columns
If the England fans in Germany get to sing “One Theo Walcott, there’s only one Theo Walcott…!” (to the tune of Guantanamero for the uninitiated) they will apparently be more accurate than they thought. There is only one Theo Walcott according to my daughter who has been trying to track down anyone else with that name for a PR campaign for a certain online address finder. If you know another one then Suzy Carter would like to hear from you!
Don't speak out
PR, like journalism is a wonderful job because you can be highly creative. But whereas in PR you are generally being positive and creative, quite often journalists can get very negative, writing acres of rubbish and making highly personal and damaging statements from the high moral standpoint of their office desks - using a vehicle which certainly didn’t get to its height of popularity by their efforts. OK, you can tell I’m cross about something in this week’s papers, but rather than go on about it I’ll just give you the link. Thank you to the Yorkshire Evening Post for working me up into a lather! The few times I’ve met him I’ve found John Thorpe to be an affable and friendly chap, so maybe before I write an outraged letter to the editor I should do my homework. (a) Where does he stand on the BNP himself, ‘cos it seems to be arguing that those who voted for them were somehow in the right? (b) Is it really his view that journalists, like the colleague he castigates, as well as bishops have no right to express opinions? –if so, it’s a view that would sideline his own efforts pretty quickly. To be consistent maybe he should put his pen down now anyway! And much as I hate point scoring, I tried out the wonderful 192.com on him (it finds addresses) and I don’t think he lives closer to a sink hole estate than the bishop he has a go at – someone who spent much of his work as a parish priest on housing estates in Sheffield, and now spend much of his time on the ground in many deprived areas listening to the genuine concerns etc etc.. well you can see the gist of my letter to the Editor if I write it!
Da Vinci again?
Sorry, went off on one there.. I’ll try not to do it again. On a lighter note, having thought my musings on the Da Vinci code would be the last word on the subject, it seems some people just will not let it lie! Oh no, bishops calling for people to boycott something again! This time our RC cousins, much more used to the concept – cf abortion, euthanasia, condoms (but strangely not Hitler –maybe they read the YEP too- sorry - cheap shot). Anyway, they don’t seem concerned by the ‘oxygen of publicity’ argument, huh, like the Da Vinci code needs more publicity, yeh right. I don’t care –I’ll be there on opening day anyway, though with the big build up, I suspect we might be in for a bit of a let down.
Keep Up!
Can you be a techno geek at the age of 50? Or is a geek by definition a spotty youth? If that's ageism, then I'm doing my bit to counter it. This week, as well as eating mainly
Special K (don't ask!) I have made great progress in the technological revolution... Firstly I purchased (online of course) a brilliant
MP3 digital voice recorder - and yes, IT'S THE FUTURE! This week I did my side of a radio interview on it which I cleverly emailed as an MP3 file to a radio station - but that's just the start. Watch out for a new wave of podcasts - when I've got a few spare hours, ha.
I've also now got something called a
Mobizine on my phone. And this is the phone which I thought could already do everything - I already listen to the radio on it while it makes the tea. But the Mobizine is
brilliant - ITS THE FUTURE! AT the touch of a button I get a huge welter of headlines which i can dip into and if I'm interested they automatically log on to the internet and go straight to the story in depth on the BBC news website. So you see, I'm also getting more for my license fee. It's my BBC too!
Which is good because I've decided there should be more programmes like
The Da Vinci Code, The Greatest Story Ever Sold, on BBC 4 last night. It was, almost, a thorough examination - and demolition - of the 'facts' of the best selling book, and it should be required viewing for anyone who's read the book or will see the film - which is probably everyone, according to the incredible sales figures. I say
almost because it missed out my two main gripes about the Da Vinci Code - (a) the book suggests you have to jump on the Undergro
und from the Temple church to Kings College (they are actually a few hundred yards apart and served by the same station- geek fact number one) and (b), slightly more importantly, why would anyone seek the Holy Grail at all if its just the bloodline of an ordinary bloke who married a prostitute and had kids.
Ruth Gledhill, the Times journalist (doesn't she look young?) , did alude to this fact when she asked why, if there were people around who are descended from Jesus why aren't they out saving the world? And an old chap who obviously knew a thing or two pointed out that Versailles isnt north of Paris - so we know the book is a bit rubbish on its geography.
Anyway,
The Da Vinci Code, the greatest story ever sold, should (apart from that title) have pleased this new Roman Catholic task group which my
Mobizine (
it's the future) alerted me too while I was rehearsing Ruddigore (
May 23rd to 27th, Harrogate Theatre, seats in all parts) the other evening. The
Da Vinci Code Response Group includes a Benedictine abbot and two priests who are seeking to counter its damaging effects on the church. It's a tough task but BBC 4's programme went some way to helping them in their , dare I say, quest .
Once upon a time knights in shining armour went seeking a special cup, or was it a plate? Either way, as crockery goes, it was in demand. Perhaps the
Da Vinci Code Response Group should do something positive and set about recovering the real Holy Grail. Oh, and allow Roman Catholic women to become priests instead of just housekeepers. That might help.
Dancing round the maypole
Top
Bank Holiday TV programme so far:
The Impressionists (BBC something), mainly because it was pure escapism from this wet, cold bank holiday weekend. If you missed it, it was the first part of a series, narrated in the words of Monet, about his life, his friends, and the development of this popular art movement filmed, with little expense spared, on location in Paris, Givernchy etc. Ideal holiday viewing - probably 'cos its full of places we like to go on holiday and the weather in the 1870's was generally good - but why
was it holiday viewing. Why
are we having another
bank holiday two weeks after Easter? This is our newest-I think- introduced by Labour in 1978, and strengthened in its arguments by the lousy weather, the Daily Telegraph is having a predictable go at it today - while conceding that we still are at the bottom of the European league table for bank holidays- Italy has 16, for goodness sake!!
Which brings us to the subject of
spin. (It does - just go with me here.) Last Thursday I stood on the south bank of the Thames outside the Ofcom building (its somewhere between London bridge and the Globe Theatre), and, having negotiated security and been asked to avert our eyes while honest workers toiled in front of their TV's perusing controversial episodes of
Songs of Praise or
Jerry Springer the Opera, we, a party of twenty five church communicators, eventually got down to discussing our trade, for a change from a theogical point of view. And, looking at the question, 'Should the church be involved in spin?' (see last blog) we of course noted that it was the stock in trade of every newspaper and many broadcasters, however much they might fulminate about wicked 'spin doctors' in their columns. Every paper has its worldview, its values, its arguments, and every event, every piece of news is judged and written about from that perspective and for people who share these views and values. It doesn't explain why I get the Guardian, but might explain why others of my family take the Telegraph or indeed the Express. Being shallow, I just enjoy the size and shape and photos in the new Guardian, while not in the least subscribing to its humanistic, utilitarian, new-labourite and God-sceptical viewpoint.
Anyway, yes, the church and spin - well the six groups we divided into to discuss this and other questions (
How do we communicate abstract concepts such as love and forgiveness in the black and white world of media certainty? And
I want to be proactive but what am I trying to say?) were difficult to stop once they got into their stride. The feedback could have formed the basis of a useful book on the subject, and if my colleagues remember to return their notes, maybe it just might. And it was recognised that once we start writing press releases, or countering misinformation from the media, we are thrust into this media world of spin and opinion and pretty quickly have to be able to learn and understand its language and rules. Those of us who have been journalists or PR professionals in a former life, shouldn't leave our skills at the door. But we need to be rigorous in applying the highest ethical standards to the decisions we make, the conversations we have, the advice we give.
Should that poor vicar have been subject to that fly on the wall documentary? Shouldn't we inform the press about that difficult court case which is taking place tomorrow? Should we insist that the local vicar speaks about their village rather than pandering to the media desire for a man in a purple shirt? There are lots more issues and debates and discussions to be had as we think through some of these issues together - and I'd like to see journalists getting involved too. But, ah, is that a chink of sunlight shining through the clouds?! Maybe its time to break off and enjoy Mayday.
