tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58924458571597688622024-03-05T00:47:58.317-08:00CCPRCommunication and Public Relations Discourse Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13467798306010034496noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5892445857159768862.post-68439370399538043092018-09-24T10:35:00.000-07:002018-09-24T10:35:16.620-07:00Towards a communication proficient workforceThat almost all activities in organisations are realised through communication is a reality some people are not aware of. Little wonder not many organisations are keen on investing in this indispensable tool.<br />
<br />
Communication is every organisation’s lifeblood. Through communication, leadership is exercised and such other organisational activities as planning, directing, assessment of staff and many others are executed.<br />
<br />
Without communication, how could organisational leaders ever appreciate their team members’ contribution towards the attainment of organisational goals? How could organisational conflicts and other challenges ever be resolved without communication?<br />
<br />
Some organisational leaders have challenges demonstrating leadership due to their inability to communicate effectively. In this context, communication transcends writing or speaking skills, which are, of course, important. The concept should be understood to include communication consciousness, that is, some level of theoretical appreciation of this important human activity.<br />
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In today's dynamic and increasingly sophisticated business environment, only employees with informed communication consciousness and cutting edge communication skills effectively foster positive work relationships, help drive business, enhance organisations’ reputation, contribute to organisational effectiveness and report on work progress with greater clarity.<br />
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However, gaps in communication consciousness and skills among employees at different levels at work places, including top management team members, seem endemic. In my view, there are a number of conspiring factors.<br />
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First, it is formation. Students’ exposure to organisational communication in training institutions and colleges is limited. What most are introduced to in colleges and universities are language and communication skills courses for academic purposes only, with such courses limited to the first year of study.<br />
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That has the potential to prevent students from acquiring work place related communication skills, let alone organisational communication consciousness. With limited knowledge of, and proficiency in, communication, the very tool meant to facilitate their performance at the work place throughout their careers, a lot of college and university graduates are ill prepared for the world of work despite their acquisition of ‘technical’ expertise in their fields.<br />
<br />
The existence of communications offices or departments in organisations is another factor that aggravates the problem. In some organisations, the view, explicit or implicit, is that it is personnel in communications offices that should be worried about the quality of communication. Personnel outside communications can as well ‘do without’ communication and still perform, so is the misconception.<br />
<br />
The third culprit are communications personnel themselves. Everyday offers evidence that suggests some practitioners act in a manner that propagates this ill-informed view. A lot of communication practitioners limit their efforts to the visibility of their organisations instead of also promoting organisational communication consciousness which is key in the management of numerous corporate issues.<br />
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Another reason is organisational leaders’ failure to realise the power that lies untapped in their communications personnel. Consequently, communications practitioners are denied the latitude for unleashing the powerful artillery they possess and contribute meaningfully to the effectiveness of their organisations.<br />
Overcoming these challenges is possible, nevertheless.<br />
<br />
The first solution is the full integration of organisational communication courses in all college or university studies, especially in the final year of study, regardless of one’s specialisation. That would prepare students for meaningful communication execution in any type of work environment.<br />
<br />
Secondly, if, at the time of their recruitment, staff demonstrate limited communication consciousness and weak communication skills set, employers need to expose such personnel to short term programmes designed to turn their employees into value-adding workforce. The workers’ specialist expertise in their field alone is inadequate.<br />
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Organisational leaders should also create space for personnel in their communications offices and departments to lead in promoting best organisational communication practices for effectiveness and efficiency.<br />
<br />
Last but not the least important, it is also time various professional bodies and organisations put organisational communication on their professional development agenda and programmes. Organisational Communication should be given space at professional body conferences, team building sessions, staff retreats and other fora that bring professionals and other workers together. Professionals in engineering, finance, health, HR etc should be constantly reminded of the need to continuously improve their organisational communication knowledge as well as their practical communication skills.<br />
<br />
The pursuit of these initiatives could be all we need to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of some of our organisations, after all.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13467798306010034496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5892445857159768862.post-17998053131351431642017-02-08T00:36:00.001-08:002017-02-13T06:31:13.927-08:00Communication competence matters <div style="text-align: right;">
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<![endif]--><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Over the past years,
I have encountered situations that suggest employees’ communication abilities
have a direct, though subtle, relationship with their overall performance,
regardless of the nature of their work. The abilities also have a bearing on their personal
and organisation’s image.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In this discussion, communication
competence refers to the skills involved in disseminating a message, orally or
in writing. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Poor message delivery,
be it through a letter, an e-mail, a telephone call or a public presentation,
creates a loathsome image of yourself and of the organisation you represent. Although one's communication abilities is no<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif";">t a measur<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif";">e of their actual job performance, the reality is that failure to communicate clearly </span></span>raises que<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif";">stions about </span>your expertise in a
given area. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Some people comfort
themselves with the false belief that all that matters is the content of their
message and care less about the quality of their communication. This is suicidal.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Apart from the brutal
damage it causes on people’s personal and organisational image, poor
communication skills have a significant bearing on employees’ work performance
in many ways. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Due to employees’
lack of communication competence, some deliverables are always delayed. For
instance, it takes some longer than necessary to draft a one page communication
(memo, report etc) due to lack of confidence in their writing or due to lack of
knowledge of how to confront the task. Poor performance rating is the sad
consequence.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Employees with weak
communication skills and are aware of their deficiency often fail to contribute
to organisational growth. Participating in meetings, discussions and in other work
related activities requiring them to communicate scares them. Often, such
people fail to seize opportunities through which they could showcase their abilities
or float the brilliant ideas they could have. For example, such people decline offers
to facilitate a session at a meeting or to direct a ceremony.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">When they are aware
of their communication deficiencies, employees already feel defeated even
before bringing their ideas to others. Often, persuading team mates or superiors
to buy in your proposal for something requires a firm command of communication
tools, including language - English in the case of most work places in Malawi. </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A
good idea lost in a myriad of language and communication lapses reduces its
acceptability chances. Either your team mates or superior will dismiss your idea
outright or they will assure you the proposal will be considered ‘in the next
meeting or discussion’. That is a dismissal veiled in diplomacy so you do not
get demoralized. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When that happens,
chances are you failed to communicate. This is not to suggest that all rejections
are a result of poor communication, though. Sometimes it is just that the idea
itself has little merit.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL1vsRVpvh3Q5yKYiD0WfmsyceKAEoftU_4-12HskYEvpGTw9KO5ByNSUHyCUdPJC0wMSAM24s39rJyfOBf4uYD8-ecF4Wss2__mvUxdmqRn7EqcG7BmbqahgfBrvvDFpJsE-10TjheAI/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL1vsRVpvh3Q5yKYiD0WfmsyceKAEoftU_4-12HskYEvpGTw9KO5ByNSUHyCUdPJC0wMSAM24s39rJyfOBf4uYD8-ecF4Wss2__mvUxdmqRn7EqcG7BmbqahgfBrvvDFpJsE-10TjheAI/s1600/images.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Team members in a meeting.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">However, to an extent
that you could not be aware of, your credibility as a professional and the
acceptability of your ideas are dependent upon the quality of the communication
involved. The ability to communicate well, perfectly, is therefore key to your
career. Ever wonder why many job vacancy announcements include excellent
communication skills as an important attribute regardless of the nature of the
job advertised? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Regardless of the
level in your career, it is never too late to embark on a communication skills improvement
programme, in whatever form. Self-study is one. This works effectively
especially if you are aware of your own deficiencies. Another is seeking help
from a communication expert. The advantage of expert help is that they can
easily diagnose your language and communication imperfections and recommend an effective
remedial programme for you.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">At the organisational
level, superiors may not be able to detect how weak communication competence
among their team members affects their performance. For instance, the superiors
may not realise that delayed deliverables such as reports by their juniors are,
sometimes, a result of distressing and pitiful struggles in putting things
together in narrative form. The juniors could be spending hours and days on a
writing task just because they cannot find the right words with which they can deliver their
message.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Organisations,
therefore, need to make a deliberate move to carry out communication competence
audits to detect the real
communication abilities of their team members. As they do this, the organisations
should also realise that communication deficiencies cannot just affect
employees’ performance but that these are also a Public Relations risk. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Communication is a
skill. It requires continuous learning. Even communication professionals have
to continue acquiring new skills. You or your team should also endeavour to
enhance your communication competence. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2.0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>###</span></b></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13467798306010034496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5892445857159768862.post-3655268456822277692015-11-24T02:37:00.000-08:002015-11-24T03:07:08.890-08:00Why PR People should be part of Management<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In addition to the
many reasons that show why PR people should be part of Management, I have this
one:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When he comes up with
something intended for external publics, for example, a media statement, a
simple statement, a PR person who is not part of Management needs approval from
some top guy before publication. Now, top Managers have their own work to
attend to. Their priority, therefore, is their core work. Attending to a PR
person’s statement just appears to be ‘extra work’ for the top guy. The statement
therefore cannot be their priority.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What happens? The PR
person’s work suffers as the review of the statement is left ‘waiting’ for
decades. Meanwhile, the PR person cannot proceed but wait until the much
sought-after approval is granted.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This wouldn’t be the
case if the PR person had a greater amount of authority within the
organisation. If he were a Manager he would simply proceed to get the statement
published and explain the same later to his fellow Managers. The practitioner's autonomy would help. Some statements
are just so straightforward that they do not require a CEO’s approval. But that
is only when the PR person is part of Management, not when he/she is out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What’s the point,
therefore? Keeping a PR person outside of Management is one sure way of robbing
an organisation of some efficiency. As simple as that.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Of course, as alluded to in the opening, there are a myriad reasons for PR people to be part of Management. What has just been discussed here is just one of the numerous.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13467798306010034496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5892445857159768862.post-38790686062056719132014-11-04T02:05:00.002-08:002014-11-04T02:09:25.574-08:00Inside Malawi’s withdrawal of Thoko Banda as ambassador to Zimbabwe – a PR perspective<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In an interview with state broadcaster, MBC TV, on Tuesday, 3<sup>rd</sup>
November, Malawi’s Minister responsible for Foreign Affairs Dr George Chaponda made
remarks that suggested, explicitly and implicitly, that President Peter Mutharika
did not have enough information about Mr Thoko Banda who was recently appointed
to represent Malawi in a diplomatic mission to Zimbabwe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mr Thoko Banda has since declined the offer, following media revelations
that in 2006, he described Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe ‘an idiot’ and a ‘horrible’
man.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">From media reports, Mr Banda does not deny having described
Mr Mugabe as such. He has even gone to tell the BBC that he cannot represent
Malawi in a country that has a dented human rights record. Read the whole story
on <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29883701">http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29883701</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Well, a discussion around that is not within the TOR of this
post but is not unworthy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Our interest is on the Foreign Affairs Minister’s remarks.
Let us look at this: A state president makes an appointment without gathering
adequate information about the prospective diplomat. If true, that in itself is
a goof. It suggests someone in the Office of the President and Cabinet did not
do their job well. That someone has done a big disservice to the president and
to the nation as a whole. The president, I understand, cannot go around scouring
for information about candidates for certain positions to serve in Government.
He relies on his team to do this kind of work for him so that he can make
decisions on our behalf.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Now, that someone failed to do their job is bad enough and
should invoke the President’s rethink of the caliber of the people serving him
in his office. But to have a cabinet Minister make this revelation in the media
is unthinkable, a PR malaise, if I can put it that way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Why couldn’t Government PR team admit it was an oversight to appoint
Mr Banda to represent Malawi in Zimbabwe in view of his remarks about that
country’s president without saying the President did not have enough information
about the candidate? I know some readers cannot help but be confused by what I am
saying here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The thing is: It is one thing to admit you did not know about
a candidate you preferred but went on to give him a job and it is completely
another to say you overlooked one element that has turned out to be crucial.
The former suggests that you do not know how to do your job. The latter, on the
other hand, is an indication that you admit you are only human and certain things can skip
your good professional judgement. That can earn you a plus with regard to
building your reputation as a CEO and that root would not be unethical which is one thing PR practitioners should always be concerned about. That is how I look at it, anyway.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Having said that, my final thought is that Minister of
Foreign Affairs Dr George Chaponda should have sought proper advice on how to
convey the message of Government’s withdrawal of Mr Thoko Banda as Malawi’s
diplomatic rep to Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe. What are your views on the matter?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13467798306010034496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5892445857159768862.post-12207089711287754092014-11-02T09:28:00.002-08:002017-02-06T02:15:53.327-08:00Awakening reflections by a Communication Practitioner<div class="MsoNormal">
During the many months I have not updated this blog I have
encountered so many PR/ Communication situations
worth discussing and reflecting on.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The remaining two months of the year will be used to bring
the different experiences, both pleasant and not so pleasant, to PR Space.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13467798306010034496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5892445857159768862.post-70203940149258161392013-04-17T07:31:00.001-07:002013-04-17T23:31:55.844-07:00Activist Seodi White's public dislike for Rev. Chakwera unfortunate<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Century','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I am having problems with Human Rights activist Seodi White's public expression of her feeling about Rev. Chakwera's accent. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Century','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.nyasatimes.com/2013/04/17/man-of-god-chakwera-irritating-with-american-accent-seodi/" target="_blank">Nyasa Times</a> is reporting that Seodi White says Rev. Chakwera's American accent irritates her. According to the online news site, Seodi’s argument on her face-book page is that she is only exercising her right to free speech. Well, that is not disputable. She is indeed entitled to her right to free expression as granted by the country’s constitution.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Century','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Where I see a problem is the implication of her freely expressed speech on her credibility as an activist. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Century','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Context</span></b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Century','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">First, in Malawi, the clergy have been very instrumental in shaping public issues. Rev. Chakwera is president of the Assemblies of God in Malawi and is definately among those whose word on public issues cannot just be dismissed without giving it enough thought.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Century','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Second, there have been media reports suggesting that Rev. Lazarus Chakwera intends to contest for the presidency of the Malawi Congress Party, the country’s main opposition party. The party will be holding its convention in a few weeks. If he contests and gets elected, Chakwera will be the former ruling party’s presidential candidate at the country’s 2014 polls.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Century','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Credibility implications<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Century','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Seodi White is a renowned human rights activist in the country and I would not be afraid to say that when she speaks, policy makers and other people that matter in society stop to listen. They may not necessarily agree with her position on issues. Her activism examines issues across a wide spectrum i.e. the interrelationships between culture, traditions, politics, law, religion etc on one hand and human rights on the other.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Century','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Such a role in society demands that one’s credibility remain intact. Although there are several factors that can determine an activist’s credibility in the public eye, that standing is largely secured if the activist is seen to be objective in their analysis of issues and in their advocacy. Any allusion to subjective analyses of issues simply serves to erode the authority such a figure might have earned on public issues.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Century','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Now, is Rev. Chakwera public figure? We may not have to argue over this. However, one thing for sure is that as president of the Assemblies of God in Malawi, he holds an influential position in the country. He can influence policy at different levels. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Century','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">That aside, imagine a scenario where the reverend stands for the MCP presidency, wins and gets elected as president of this country. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Century','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The question I would like considered is: Should Rev. Chakwera, whether as a religious leader or - if he is lucky - as president of this country, be involved in some human rights issues deserving the intervention of minds like Seodi's, will the activist's word be viewed objective and credible, especially if her's is not Chakwera's stand?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Century','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">My bet is that in such a scenario her objective look at the issue will not be accorded the attention it is supposed to earn. By commenting on the reverend's accent, such a useless thing, Seodi has attached herself to an issue that I dare say is not what a person of her stature should be seen to spend her energies on, at least not in public. The public will judge her analysis as a personal attack against the reverend. Why? She may not have intended it but Seodi's comments have surely prompted serious minded Malawians to view her as an ordinary person who concentrates on personalities not real issues.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Century','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Final thought<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Century','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Yes, she is entitled to her free speech but as a public figure herself, Seodi White could do better by confining her public comments to issues, not trivia like people’s English accents. Her dislike for public figures’ personalities could be privately shared with her siblings and friends, no?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13467798306010034496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5892445857159768862.post-12278355721053507992013-04-12T13:50:00.001-07:002017-02-13T06:23:30.429-08:00Malawi State House statement on Madonna<div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIHNcD-Os-0Y1FZj5B_5KD77GtMowinaXi2mmiBphzPWlWiVyp9zBurI9nP57ZRqa1q7RtazKt0Fi-0x81kc0Qp-eqQXzmsWxANNz3AuOT2kHjzbQHp-oj5j-OQ1iiVAQkhhv5rKavRjE/s1600/Madonna.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" bua="true" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIHNcD-Os-0Y1FZj5B_5KD77GtMowinaXi2mmiBphzPWlWiVyp9zBurI9nP57ZRqa1q7RtazKt0Fi-0x81kc0Qp-eqQXzmsWxANNz3AuOT2kHjzbQHp-oj5j-OQ1iiVAQkhhv5rKavRjE/s400/Madonna.bmp" width="400" /></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">The BBC is reporting that Malawi President Joyce Banda is ‘furious’ because of the press statement her communications team issued recently, accusing Madonna of demanding VVIP treatment when the pop star was in the southern African country. I must say I believe the BBC story. That is not to suggest that I believe the President is indeed ‘furious’, though. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">It’s not the focus of this post but I want to acknowledge right at the outset that I wouldn’t be surprised if it is figured out the reported anger is simply some PR operation. However, let’s assume President Banda is indeed angry as reported by the BBC.</span></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">One thing I am interested in regarding the<a href="http://www.nyasatimes.com/2013/04/10/malawi-state-house-responds-to-madonnas-outbursts-full-text/" target="_blank"> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">press statement</b></a> from the President’s office is the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>conduct of the press team. I have to admit, when I read the statement as published on Nyasa Times I was not impressed with the kind of language and tone used. To say the least, the statement resembled some communication from a private citizen to another. No sense of executive decorum. No wonder writing on his face-book page, Malawi based BBC correspondent Raphael Tenthani described the statement ‘yummy’. Was I wrong to read a lot of sarcasm in that one word description? I just feel the press team that worked on the statement did a great disservice to the president, which takes us to the second aspect of the issue around the statement.</span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Going by the BBC story, the President did not know about the press statement. That raises a big question on PR practice. It is a basic norm that press statements issued by PR practitioners are supposed to represent a position taken by the institution or individual the practitioners work for. In other words, an institution or an individual takes a position on an issue and a PR practitioner communicates that to a target public or advises the institution/individual how they should communicate that position for an intended effect. It is also the PR practitioner’s responsibility to advise their client on the sort of position to take on an issue.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">What this tells us is that whatever goes to the media ought to represent the views of the client institution or individual, whether based on advice from PR staff or not.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">However, PR practitioners and their clients are not always talking in order to come up with positions on issues. Yet, sometimes, during those times when the two are not in touch, the practitioners are supposed to communicate with different publics through the mass media. It is such moments that reveal the level of expertise of the practitioner. It is such situations that the practitioner’s understanding and knowledge about their client becomes handy. In other words, basing on how they understand their client, a PR practitioner can offer a media statement on behalf of the client without even seeking their view first. But that ought to be done with extreme caution in order to avoid goofing which is what the Malawi Presidential Press team has done.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">The press team has demonstrated they didn’t consult their client i.e. the president on the kind of response they were supposed to send out to Madonna. That in itself is a big goof. They were supposed to seek her opinion on the matter.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">And if it is true that President Joyce Banda is not happy with the statement by her press team I am sure this means she would not have endorsed it if the statement were sent to her in-tray for vetting. This clearly suggests that the press team do not fully understand the thinking of their client, the state president. If they did, they would not issue a statement that contradicts the way she looks at the Madonna issue.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">That leads us to the question: how far should PR practitioners be allowed to express their client’s ‘view’ in the absence of that client’s say on any given issue? If the Malawi president’s press team had bothered to wait to consult their client on the Madonna issue before issuing a statement, would that have any adverse effect on the country’s first citizen’s PR image to the world?( Right now, the issue is no longer a Malawi PR issue, it’s about the president’s image to the world).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">An extra question could be, how can the President salvage her ‘image’ in the issue? Publicly disown the statement by her press team?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 2in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">_________________<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13467798306010034496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5892445857159768862.post-16162128021252776342013-04-10T12:57:00.000-07:002013-04-10T13:01:11.143-07:00Who would your priority be?<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I am currently in Nairobi, Kenya, with a team of other Plan International Communications persons from Africa, attending a week long training on Communication for Behavioural Impact (COMBI) being facilitated by Dr Everold Hosein, a Senior Communications Adviser at the WHO. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Just to put you in perspective, COMBI is a communications planning approach that draws from private sector marketing principles to design communication programmes aimed at creating impact on people’s behaviour in social development. Some refer to this as communication for behavioural change.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This morning, we were discussing market segmentation. We looked at the basic fact that at any given point with regard to a behavioural impact/change communication intervention, audiences will be classified as follows:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 21pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Plan; mso-fareast-font-family: Plan;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Those who have never heard the message you would like them to hear <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 21pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Plan; mso-fareast-font-family: Plan;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Those who have the information but are not yet convinced about what you are communicating<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 21pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Plan; mso-fareast-font-family: Plan;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Those who are convinced but have not yet decided to act<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 21pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Plan; mso-fareast-font-family: Plan;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Those that have decided to act but have not yet done so<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Plan; mso-fareast-font-family: Plan;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Those that have acted but are still not sure if their action is worthwhile<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Plan; mso-fareast-font-family: Plan;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Those that are fully into the desired behaviour<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and need to maintain that<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The question that we grappled with was this: In view of the ever limited resources communications persons in social development organisations work with, implying that one cannot focus on all these at once, which of the categories above should one regard as their priority when it comes to communication planning if they were to chose only one segment ? Is it the first group? The second, etc? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Which segment would be your priority? Why? Remember, the assumption is that the situation demands that you choose only one segment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">To this I would like to add my own question: With what is given above, are there other factors you would consider in order to determine which segment you would prioritise?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>____________________<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13467798306010034496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5892445857159768862.post-1148928347291613082013-04-10T12:10:00.000-07:002013-04-11T12:23:48.173-07:00Supervise your superior<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpIcH7eFAR83zIBNQrt1hhjE4oiom4QUWdIdTQg55ovbcGjp5-_RaP6SGxWPARN6Tm6c9KnZ-n2E0cL9DzGYaDEKlf5J98MCcZse6qCI35fg-wgxQVH6r8iM1uW7MuARpcGaAwvjvfCoA/s1600/images%5B1%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" bua="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpIcH7eFAR83zIBNQrt1hhjE4oiom4QUWdIdTQg55ovbcGjp5-_RaP6SGxWPARN6Tm6c9KnZ-n2E0cL9DzGYaDEKlf5J98MCcZse6qCI35fg-wgxQVH6r8iM1uW7MuARpcGaAwvjvfCoA/s1600/images%5B1%5D.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Obvious! It’s a ‘taboo’ for you as a junior to supervise the work of someone senior to you. But not when they are meeting the media.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">One day I accompanied a team of Plan Malawi’s disaster preparedness team to a southern Malawi district where floods had destroyed houses, property and crops and had displaced hundreds of people. Plan was visiting the area to distribute relief items to the floods victims.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">My role was very clear. I had to pitch our story to editors at local media houses and I did just that. A team of journalists came along.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The journalists and I had agreed very well on the time they would need Plan’s and other officials for interviews. When the time came, I alerted who ever the media had asked for. I listened to the media interviews as they were being conducted and everything went on well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">However, one experience prompted me to arrive at a resolution I will leave with as long as I remain in charge of Media Relations for any organisation or for any individual. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Before an interview with a Plan official, I left the place to look for another person who the media had also indicated they needed. This is what followed.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I had requested the television crew we went with to share with me the raw footage of the interviews they had captured. For some reason I had missed our story when it was on TV during news. I therefore decided to watch the raw footage on my laptop in my office.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The Plan official was asked a set of questions first in English and the same questions were asked in Chichewa, Malawi’s most widely spoken local language, which almost all electronic media houses in the country also use, alongside English, to broadcast news.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">As I watched the raw footage, I noticed that during the Chichewa version of the interview, the spokesperson would, within a sentence, code switch between Chichewa and English as he answered questions from the TV reporter. That went on in that fashion in all the Chichewa questions. That got me thinking: What would I do if I were the editor of the story brought by the reporter and if I had decided to use the story in a news bulletin?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I figured out that if I were the editor I would be confronted with four options to choose from.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">First option: I would have to have the English phrases in the Chichewa interview translated into the local language to enable viewers with a limited grasp of English get the message. That is the essence of having Chichewa news bulletins anyway. But that would be expensive on my part as it would require more resources in terms of time and personnel. What with the transcription, translation and the production of voice-overs. Apart from that, I would grapple with the question around the aesthetic implications of a mixture of English and Chichewa phases within an interviewee’s sentence of any chosen clip for the news. I figured out the interview would sound and appear a disjointed package. That is debatable, though.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Second option: I would throw the Chichewa clips that I would have chosen into the bulletin the way they were, without any translation and voice-overs. But the presence of more English phrases in Chichewa sentences would mean viewers with limited levels of English would not get the message by the Plan official. That would defeat the whole purpose of having a Chichewa version of the bulletin.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Third option: I would choose only ‘clean’ Chichewa clips i.e. clips in which the interviewee spoke Chichewa without code-switching between the local language and English. That would make my work easy but the organisation’s opportunity to deliver its key message would potentially be missed in the process. Well, as an editor, I would not care much about that. After all, I would tell myself, rightly so, it is not my job to make an effort to help organisations deliver their key messages to their target audience. I would owe no one any apology for my decision.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Well, if, at this stage, you think this would be the organisation’s Media Relations person’s biggest failure in this assignment I dare say you have not yet figured out what I consider the most painful failure, at-least on this one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">My fourth option as an editor of this Plan Malawi story would be the easiest of all and for which I would also owe no single soul any semblance of an apology: throw the story into the rubbish bin. The story would not get on viewers’ TV screens. If this would not be classified the most frustrating thing for me as a Media Relations practitioner, having spent my organisation’s financial resources to take the TV crew all the way to the interior of the flood hit district, then I have no idea what would be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">So what does all this suggest? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Whenever your organisation’s spokesperson on any issue is giving a media interview, hang around and listen to every single word that they utter. If I were around during the Plan Malawi official’s media interview at the relief item distribution exercise I would instantly advise him to respond to the Chichewa questions exclusively in the local language. I would monitor his every word and sentence so the editor of the news would not be bothered about deciding what to do with the interview as demonstrated above.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">My experience with the TV interview taught me one basic Media Relations mantra: Don’t walk away. No matter how well prepared or smart you think your organisation’s spokesperson is, do not stay away when they are giving the media an interview, unless it is practically impossible for you to be physically around. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> _____________<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13467798306010034496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5892445857159768862.post-8555166356491100902013-02-25T05:31:00.000-08:002013-02-25T05:32:52.004-08:00<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif';">Clearly communicated principles enhance your reputation - Thumbs up MCP</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif';">In the week 17<sup>th</sup> -23<sup>rd</sup> February 2013, Malawi politics offered an invaluable tip for the enhancement of an organisation’s reputation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif';">The country’s main opposition the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) denied Gwanda Chakuamba re-admission into the party as a member. Gwanda Chakuamba has been in Malawi politics for a long time and is founder as well as former president of the New Republican Party (NRP). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif';">In 2004, while still in MCP (before forming NRP), he led a coalition of political parties that was facing the then presidential aspirant Bingu wa Mutharika who was being sponsored by the then ruling United Democratic Front (UDF). Gwanda was so popular that he was late president Bingu wa Mutharika’s fiercest challenger at the 2004 polls. Gwanda missed the presidency by just an inch. That is how high the old man from Nsanje had risen in Malawi politics. Ordinarily, one would not expect a political party to close the door for a man of such a stature if his 2004 political ‘achievement’ is considered.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif';">In view of this, MCP’s rejection of Gwanda Chakuamba’s re-admission into the party is attention grabbing. The party argues that Gwanda has an unstable political mind, meaning he changes party membership at every available opportunity. Like so many other Malawian politicians, especially those in ruling People’s Party and former ruling Democratic Progressive Party, Gwanda has offered his allegiance to several political parties, not once but more than that. In other words, he has been all over the place, from party A, B, C and beyond. A few years ago, he announced his retirement from active politics, only to bounce back onto the political arena later.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif';">Now when last week Gwanda announced that he was ‘going back home’ to MCP, the party clearly said the old man was not welcome due to his political prostitution. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif';">This must be the first time for such a thing to happen in Malawi’s politics. Political parties have always pursued an open door policy, one that welcomes whosoever wishes to join, regardless of their political career background. It is such a policy that left many a Malawian disappointed with the composition of the National Executive Committee of President Joyce Banda’s People’s Party. With the exception of the party’s Secretary General Henry Chibwana, the former Polytechnic Principal, the rest are figures that have camouflaged several times between mainly the United Democratic Front and the Democratic Progressive Party. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif';">The UDF and the DPP too have politicians that have recycled themselves in their desperate attempt to make themselves relevant to Malawi politics. Such recycled politicians do not hold any unique philosophy. They do not live any distinct principles that can earn them any respect from those that value principles in politics.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif';">MCP’s rejection of Gwanda Chakuamba’s membership is the most prudent thing any party that cares about its reputation could ever do. An organisation that is concerned with its public image and reputation never compromises anything, especially its values, for anything else. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif';">If he were accepted in, Gwanda would obviously come to the Malawi Congress Party with several, a hundred or possibly thousands of sympathizers. That would grow the party’s membership which is political parties’ most pursued strategy for achieving their ultimate goal i.e. to rule.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif';">In rejecting Gwanda, MCP looked beyond this immediate membership growth. MCP looked at the real value Gwanda’s rejoining of the party would bring. Deducing from his political prostitution, he would bring zero value to the party. And it is not just about failing to add value to MCP. Gwanda’s rejoining would bring down the public’s perception of the party from whatever levels. In other words, the party’s reputation would be significantly traumatized and deformed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif';">Every organisation needs to have its members focused and have all their efforts point in one direction. It is that sense of unity of purpose that helps the organisation achieve its goals. However, it is hard to have that unity of purpose if members do not have a firm belief in, and conviction about, the mission of their organisation. Gwanda’s propensity for different political colours signifies he is not capable of holding onto a particular purpose. He just cannot be trusted in any political organisation as someone who can fully commit himself to that organisation’s core mission.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif';">MCP may face or may be facing other reputation challenges but surely, such challenges do not and will not emanate from the pursuit of an open door policy to accommodate every Jim and Jack. Managed well, MCP’s rejection of Gwanda is a big plus for the party’s reputation. And that’s what every political organisation ought to do – have principles, communicate them clearly and live them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Plan','sans-serif';"><span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>______________________<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13467798306010034496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5892445857159768862.post-33783827872429803012012-08-12T21:51:00.002-07:002012-08-14T08:48:47.670-07:00Will three vice presidents strengthen PP?<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Century","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
am yet to find answers to some questions regarding the intention by Malawi’s
ruling People’s Party (PP) to restructure its top leadership. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Century","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">In
Friday (August 11<sup>th</sup> )’s re-broadcast of Zodiak Radio’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tiuzeni Zoona</i>, PP Publicity Secretary
Steve Mwenye and Secretary General Henry Chibwana told the host, Pilirani
Phiri, the party will elect three vice-presidents, each representing Malawi’s
three regions. The
elections will be held at the party's first national convention scheduled for August 27 this year. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Century","serif";">Surely, PP hopes that this arrangement
will help secure nation-wide appeal. Most political parties in Malawi are
identified by regions, consequently rendering their grip over some geographical
areas relatively weak. PP’s planned leadership structure therefore must be an
attempt to circumvent that. It must be PP’s belief that if each region produces
a vice president all its members across the country will feel represented at
the top leadership level, thereby fortifying membership loyalty and commitment
to the party.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Century","serif";">If that was all there is, the party would
be said to be somehow vaccinated against the tendency of looking at party
business with regionalistic eyes. Unfortunately, that is not as straightforward
as it sounds.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Century","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">With
three vice presidents, the party will be opening a new set of possible
challenges that it will have to grapple with if there is no concrete plan as
regards the management of its new power structure. I find a few questions a bit
mind boggling.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Century","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">For
example, does PP believe that having three vice presidents, with each
representing each region, is the best strategy for making itself a truly
national party and get rid of regionalistic tendencies? I doubt it. This is
what I mean:</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Century","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">In
the interview with Zodiak, Mr Henry Chibwana said the vice presidents will not
have to come from the particular regions they will be representing. In other
words, an aspirant from the south could become vice president for the centre or
the north. That doesn’t sound very realistic to me.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Century","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">There
is a high likelihood that due to the mere mention of a vice president position
for, say, the central region, delegates to the convention will be inclined to
put a person from that particular region in that position. Though not entirely
correct, the reasoning is likely to be: who else can best represent a region
other than an individual who comes from there? In fact region of origin is
likely to be a campaign issue from the lips of candidates facing contestants
from other regions. Is the party therefore being realistic in its expectations
on this?</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Century","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Now
there is a question regarding power dynamics. Unless there is some information we
are yet to have, the three-vice-presidents-arrangement gives all these office
bearers equal powers in the party. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Century","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">With
this equality, who assumes the party’s presidential powers in the event that
for some reason an elected president cannot discharge their duties? </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Century","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Or should
it be assumed that each of the vice presidents will have unique
responsibilities i.e. vice president responsible for XXX; vice president
responsible for YYY issues etc (apart from simply representing a particular
region)? </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0.05pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Century","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I
think it is only if each of the vice-presidents is responsible for other unique
functions than simply representing a region, that the party will avoid challenges
when it comes to power relations among the three vice presidents. Depending on
how they are created, the unique responsibilities may define which vice
presidential function is second in command as regards the party’s presidency. </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0.05pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0.05pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Century","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">However,
that itself has its downside. The choice of who will be in charge of which
unique functions cannot be sorted out at the party’s convention as it can only
complicate the electoral process. It is therefore a question that can only be
conveniently resolved by a small number of people. May be the National
Governing Council. However, there is some danger: the NGC may end up installing someone as ‘second
in command’ (by virtue of their unique responsibilities) without the blessings
of the convention. That doesn’t resemble democracy.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 24pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0.05pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Century","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Unless
it has already figured out how it will manage power relational politics at the
top, PP will be shocked to find itself hurt by the very arrangement that is
designed to strengthen it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As it is, PP’s
leadership plan risks rendering the chain of command in the party chaotic which
can breed factions.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0.05pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0.05pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Century","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">PP
knows very well how power struggle, though for different reasons and in a
different fashion, has adversely affected the once mighty opposition UDF. PP
should know how leadership fights injure a party’s image. Members and
non-members regard such a party as just another disorganised bunch of power hungry
politicians, disoriented by greed. And that is not far from the truth. </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0.05pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0.05pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Century","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Considering
all this, I feel compelled to ask: through the planned leadership structure regarding
the office of the party’s vice president, is PP not creating a fertile ground
for power struggle at the top, which, in the long run, may spiral into the party’s disintegration?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Century","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 7;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Century","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 7;"> </span>________________</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13467798306010034496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5892445857159768862.post-83161523832234580112012-08-08T08:54:00.001-07:002012-08-12T21:26:15.855-07:00Airtel could do better on its radio advert
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6FG3KG4p0sI8FrYlqMVYol1_SsdDxuUVw91-KJpECI2cxWREXIhtqCzAw6Qr74eNUwEWppdur5o6JIBH3mOUvFKXDRJGcWL96e4RFvaD-pXgC9QRqzDNNgLo2-H2rYr6pHrUkxT_y4ow/s1600/Phone+and+hand+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6FG3KG4p0sI8FrYlqMVYol1_SsdDxuUVw91-KJpECI2cxWREXIhtqCzAw6Qr74eNUwEWppdur5o6JIBH3mOUvFKXDRJGcWL96e4RFvaD-pXgC9QRqzDNNgLo2-H2rYr6pHrUkxT_y4ow/s320/Phone+and+hand+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Century","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">This
evening (afternoon, Malawi time) I found myself glued to Zodiak Radio online
for some three hours as I worked on some little stuff on my PC. An Air-tel
advert that the continuity announcer played several times in between some
programmes during this period compelled me to suspend my focus on what I was
doing.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Century","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">To
be frank, the production quality of the advert leaves a lot to be desired and
casts some doubts on the seriousness of the mobile phone service provider in getting
its message across using this particular advert.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Century","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
<a name='more'></a>Here
is the context of my assessment. I did not manage to transcribe every single
word of the advert but I managed to capture a good part of the it. The script goes
like this:<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Century","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">We
all know that after the devaluation of the kwacha a lot of companies have
raised their prices…….</span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Century","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
am here to inform you that we aren’t going to raise our prices because we think
about u……</span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Century","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Without
u we are nothing. With u we are something, hence the need for us not to raise
our prices……..</span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Century","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Two
things I have problems with.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Century","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Listening
to the advert, one can tell the narrator was reading his script.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Of course a radio or television script is
always read but the reading itself is not supposed to come out as ‘reading’.
Rather, the narrator is supposed to ‘talk’ the script. He/she is supposed to
read it as in telling a story to a person. The reading has to flow smoothly.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Century","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">In
the advert I am referring to, the narrator can be heard reading from one line
to another, punctuating the script. It sounds like a learner in an English
reading class. It really doesn’t appeal to the ear. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Century","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Unless
it says it was deliberate that the script be read that way to achieve some
effect, which I have to admit I can’t figure out, Airtel could have done much better than what
went on air.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Century","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Well,
enough of that. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Century","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Then
there comes the language part of the advert. The narrator says, ‘<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">We
all know that after the devaluation of the kwacha a lot of companies have
raised their prices……’</i></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Century","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
wonder: Do companies really raise <u>their prices</u>? I thought what companies
raise are the prices of <u>their products or services</u>? Someone at Airtel
did not do their homework properly regarding the language part of this message.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Century","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">With
the poorly narrated radio advert, I doubt if the communications team at the
mobile service provider really meant it when they passed the script as fit for
customers’ ears. There could be other good adverts from Airtel. However, this
one is surely a goof.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Century","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> _____________________</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13467798306010034496noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5892445857159768862.post-75643807046488039752012-07-31T03:43:00.001-07:002012-08-01T16:42:35.603-07:00Most effective ways to annoy a journalist - Part 2<span style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: 0cm;">What
do you call a hungry person who shouts ‘you irritate me’ or spits ‘mmxxxi’ yet you are offering him a bowl of rice?</span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .1pt; mso-char-indent-count: 0; text-indent: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .1pt; mso-char-indent-count: 0; text-indent: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">In Part
1 of the series <i>Most effective ways to
annoy a journalist, </i>real NEWS, not PR blabla’s, was said to be what
reporters and editors look for in your pitch, which helps you endear yourself
to them. But look, that is not the same as saying real news buys you automatic media
coverage of your organisation or event.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .1pt; mso-char-indent-count: 0; text-indent: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .1pt; mso-char-indent-count: 0; text-indent: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">You
know very well that well fried and tantalising Chambo fish brought to you in a
tattered, scrappy and unwashed plastic plate loses its appeal to you. The
manner in which you talk to reporters and editors about NEWS in your
organisation can do two things:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .1pt; mso-char-indent-count: 0; text-indent: 0cm;">
<br />
<a name='more'></a></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .1pt; mso-char-indent-count: 0; text-indent: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">It
will EITHER earn you media coverage OR will force the editor to do what is not
so hard to do and for which he/she owes no one any apology – putting the invitation aside to
look at it ‘later’. Trust me, ‘later’ from an editor or reporter is not good
news at all. The journalists themselves don’t know when that ‘later’ will come.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaUU_jzR3ICHtMhainKRZhn3PV9Mqbyps78zJOl6S4nSuJwfcRxBMnyC4PJrnUSp_t0lEIn6sTPMNFzk93DZoKupw1vO2mm6pimGZ8Zb0M0fqgydFcfWXfLXVywRmmVQEqznt2D0cSg1M/s1600/Microphones+good.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaUU_jzR3ICHtMhainKRZhn3PV9Mqbyps78zJOl6S4nSuJwfcRxBMnyC4PJrnUSp_t0lEIn6sTPMNFzk93DZoKupw1vO2mm6pimGZ8Zb0M0fqgydFcfWXfLXVywRmmVQEqznt2D0cSg1M/s320/Microphones+good.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .1pt; mso-char-indent-count: 0; text-indent: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">One thing
that irritates editors or reporters in Malawi has to do with Media Relations
practitioners’ timing of their invitations to news events. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .1pt; mso-char-indent-count: 0; text-indent: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .1pt; mso-char-indent-count: 0; text-indent: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Probably
you know the nature of their work requires reporters to be flexible in their schedules,
for example leaving one assignment to cover some breaking news somewhere. However,
reporters do also have their own news projects that they work on, with
deadlines. In fact meeting the strictest deadlines is one of the things that make
newsrooms of serious news media houses very hot places.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .1pt; mso-char-indent-count: 0; text-indent: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .1pt; mso-char-indent-count: 0; text-indent: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">As a
PR person you earn yourself a minus if you interrupt a journalist’s work by
inviting them to an event which you had been planning for weeks or days but about
which you did not inform the media person well in advance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .1pt; mso-char-indent-count: 0; text-indent: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .1pt; mso-char-indent-count: 0; text-indent: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">This
is what I mean: Your organisation has been conducting some research in the
country and it’s time for the dissemination of the findings or results. You set
a date and inform other stakeholders, for example, partner organisations,
government departments etc. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .1pt; mso-char-indent-count: 0; text-indent: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .1pt; mso-char-indent-count: 0; text-indent: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">On
the day of the dissemination of the research findings, half an hour before the
scheduled starting time, your superior asks you how many media houses will be
represented at the event. You remember you did not inform any but at the same
time you realise how the absence of the media will badly reflect on you and
even on your superior. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .1pt; mso-char-indent-count: 0; text-indent: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .1pt; mso-char-indent-count: 0; text-indent: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">You
pick your phone, start dialing reporters and editors ‘We have been conducting a
study on XYX issue. We will be presenting our findings to the public at XXX
hotel. We will be starting at 9am, so our driver is on his way to get a
reporter from your media house.’ <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .1pt; mso-char-indent-count: 0; text-indent: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .1pt; mso-char-indent-count: 0; text-indent: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Serious?
What if all the reporters at the media house you are calling are working on their own projects
which they cannot afford to leave even for a mere half an hour?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .1pt; mso-char-indent-count: 0; text-indent: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .1pt; mso-char-indent-count: 0; text-indent: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Well, if
you thought I consider such a PR person unprofessional, you should waited to hear this: There are times when someone calls an editor ‘Bwana (sir), I am a driver
from VVV organisation. Mr/Mrs so so (the organisation’s PR person) has sent me to
get a reporter for our event starting in half an hour’.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .1pt; mso-char-indent-count: 0; text-indent: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .1pt; mso-char-indent-count: 0; text-indent: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">When
I was with Zodiak, this is how my colleagues and I used to feel each time we got such type of invitations:
Why do some PRO’s do things as though we have reporters assigned to sit on
a bench, waiting to be picked for news conferences/events?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .1pt; mso-char-indent-count: 0; text-indent: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .1pt; mso-char-indent-count: 0; text-indent: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">It’s
just luck, sheer luck, if you get media coverage if that’s the style of your
Media Relations. Otherwise, editors or reporters are likely to tell you ‘Oh
thanks. We will get there ourselves’.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .1pt; mso-char-indent-count: 0; text-indent: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .1pt; mso-char-indent-count: 0; text-indent: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Usually,
that is politely put to you but you can be assured that 95% of the time, behind
that polite response is great disappointment or even anger. The editor is therefore unlikely to dispatch a
reporter to your event. As I indicated in Part 1 of this series, even without
your event or news conference, a journalist will still find news elsewhere.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .1pt; mso-char-indent-count: 0; text-indent: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .1pt; mso-char-indent-count: 0; text-indent: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">It
is not just the interruption of journalists’ own scheduled work that irritates
them when you do things this way. Something more does.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .1pt; mso-char-indent-count: 0; text-indent: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .1pt; mso-char-indent-count: 0; text-indent: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Journalists
feel that the fact that you ‘forgot’ to inform them about your event well in advance simply suggests you don’t really value how the media
can help you. As such your organisation doesn’t deserve media coverage. That’s very bad but
that’s the reality in the newsroom.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .1pt; mso-char-indent-count: 0; text-indent: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .1pt; mso-char-indent-count: 0; text-indent: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Reporters
and news editors cherish anyone who gives them news. Yet they can, and do, though
not overtly, loath PR persons who conduct themselves unprofessionally despite offering
opportunities for real news. A journalist can be a hungry person who gets irritated by the very person who offers him a bowl of rice. Of course as you might have
seen, that is not without good reasons. It's not a question of being ungrateful.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
bottom line is - Unless it’s breaking news, avoid calling journalists just minutes
before your event starts. It reflects lack of planning on your part; cultivates journalists' resentment towards you and can estrange you from the media. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Include
the media in the planning of any event that you wish covered and give journalists adequate time, at least some two or three days or even weeks before the event, depending
on its magnitude.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">This
works to your organisation’s advantage. The media house prepares for you by identifying
the right reporter to cover you and by doing the necessary background research
about the event or the issue if necessary. That allows the media house to cover
you as comprehensively as possible which helps in the dissemination of your organisation’s
core message on an issue to your target publics.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">However,
if you would like to be good at irritating reporters and editors, call to
invite them to an event starting in just 20 minutes of your conversation. Above 90%
success rate guaranteed!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> _______________________</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">In
Part 3 of this series, I will be discussing how news
conferences irritate journalists.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13467798306010034496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5892445857159768862.post-512257188191246292012-07-30T07:23:00.002-07:002012-07-30T08:55:21.371-07:00Most effective ways to annoy a journalist - Part 1<br />
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<span style="font-family: Century, serif;">Ever asked yourself why reporters sometimes do not cover or publish news from your organisation?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Century, serif;">Is it because the reporters you contact are too proud of themselves? Do you think they don’t like you personally? Or they dislike your organisation?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Century, serif;">When I was with Zodiak Radio, sometimes, as Chief Reporter, I would be required to help assign reporters to cover events organised by different organisations or companies. We never covered events of every organisation that sent us an invitation. Of course covering every organisation around is just practically impossible. There are factors that influence decisions about who to cover.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Century, serif;">In this series, <i>Most effective ways to annoy a journalist</i>, I will be sharing with you my thoughts on how you can avoid some Media Relations blunders that drive the media away from you and your organisation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Century, serif;">So we go but before anything, let’s get three things clear here:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Century, serif;">1. A reporter can attend an event that you have organised and publish a news story from that. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Century, serif;">2. A reporter can attend your event but decide not to publish a story. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Century, serif;">3. A reporter can choose not to attend your event despite your invitation. The last two sound harsh, right? Realities of Media Relations.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Century, serif;">When you pitch a story to a reporter, know that there are scores of other PR people hunting the same journalist.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Century, serif;">So how do you convince that one journalist that of all the news pitches on their desk or in their inbox, yours deserves their attention? Obviously, one reporter cannot attend twenty news conferences or events at the same time. And no media house in Malawi, at least as of now, can afford to dispatch all its reporters to events. So there are bound to be ‘loser’ organisations, those whose pitches will end up in the editor’s or reporter’s dust bin.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Century, serif;">So a key question to consider before even entertaining the idea of which reporter or media house to contact for news coverage is: do we have news to tell?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Century, serif;">Don’t say it’s the job of journalists to find news. Make it easier for them to cover your organisation by taking the time to identify real news about what your organisation is doing, rather than simply telling a reporter ‘ we have a news conference’ or ‘ we are donating blankets to XYZ hospital.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Century, serif;">Instead of sending such empty pitches, dig into the news conference or the event that you have organised to find NEWS. What do you have that can excite a journalist?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Century, serif;">Let’s take the story about a donation of blankets to a hospital. Instead of focusing on the donation itself, why don’t you hook a reporter’s/an editor’s interest by highlighting how many patients don’t have blankets at the hospital and how that is a problem. That will lure a reporter into writing about the 20 blankets and your organisation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Century, serif;">Human interest stories touch lives. It is therefore usually difficult for a reporter to ignore such stories. Attaching some human interest to your news pitch leverages your chances of media coverage.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Century, serif;">The thing is: Though they know they can be used as channels for PR messages from organisations, journalists don’t like you to show that that’s your goal. Journalists feel good about you when you demonstrate that you have what they want – news! Interesting news!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Century, serif;">Remember, the relationship between PR practitioners and the media is mutually beneficial. It operates on a win-win basis – a journalist finds news, which helps him remain on the payroll, and you get media coverage – free publicity. Who loses when a journalist feels he just can’t write about a donation of 20 blankets? I hope you got it. It’s you and your organisation that are the loser. The journalist can find news elsewhere.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Century, serif;">When you are known to have the tendency of pitching stories with no news value, journalists stick a red label on your forehead so they can easily identify you next time even before they open your pitch. Let me know if you don't know what that means.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Century, serif;">If you care about your own reputation as a PR practitioner and the reputation of your organisation, try to work on the most basic aspect of Media Relations – have interesting news to tell before pitching. You will be amazed at the results. But if you are looking for the first tip on how to annoy a journalist, well, here I freely offer it: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Century, serif;"> <i> Send pitches with no news in them</i></span></div>
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In part 2 of the series <i>Most effective ways to annoy a journalist, </i>I will be discussing the best way to irritate a journalist even when you have real news.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13467798306010034496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5892445857159768862.post-60899950417040545902012-07-26T23:56:00.000-07:002012-07-28T19:04:29.894-07:00Defending the indefensible NOT best PR practice - A tip from Ambassador PanThere is something worth noting about the manner in which the Chinese Ambassador to Malawi recently reacted to accusations against Chinese nationals operating small businesses in rural areas in the southern african country.<br />
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According to recent media reports, small and medium scale traders in rural areas have been accusing their Chinese counterparts of ‘killing’ the locals’ businesses by flooding the market with cheap goods.<br />
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In response, the Malawi government gave an order: all Chinese traders in rural areas should relocate to urban areas or risk the revocation of their business licences.<br />
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The local media reported that Ambassador Pan Hejun agreed with the order and described the Chinese business people as ‘mere vendors/traders’, not investors. According to Zodiak Online, the ambassador further pointed out foreign traders are not supposed to operate in rural areas.<br />
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There may be nothing spectacular about Ambassador Pan’s statement. However, his reaction offers an important PR tip to organisations, especially political parties, whose conduct sometimes courts public accusations or even legal action from some quarters: refrain from defending what is obviously not right, at least not as a PR tactic. It is as simple as that.<br />
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An organisation that is always on the defensive, including on issues to do with breach of laws, sends out one message: It cares less about its stakeholders. That is a big minus.<br />
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On the other hand, an organisation that refrains from this tendency earns respect from, and acceptance by, its key stakeholders. Such an organisation earns reputation (within the establishment or outside). It should be obvious to a PR practitioner that reputation is a key element that unlocks doors towards the attainment of many organisational goals, profit related or otherwise. <br />
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From a PR perspective, Ambassador Pan’s reaction is likely to contribute towards harnessing a favourable relationship with the Malawi government. Of course PR Space acknowledges there are numerous factors that help cultivate a good relationship between governments, not just one statement in the media.<br />
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One thing to bear in mind - in order for it to attain long term and tangible results with the ‘no unjustified defense’ policy towards complaints and accusations, an organisation has to be consistent in its approach. After all, unlike in advertising, some results from PR efforts are never instant.<br />
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Refraining from unnecessary and emotional defenses does not hurt an organisation. An organisation’s PR machinery just needs to craft a well-thought out response to accusations and complaints from its publics. There is more to be gained than to be lost<br />
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<i>For news on the Chinese ambassador's reaction, visit:</i><br />
<a href="http://www.mwnation.com/national-news-the-nation/7731-relocate-to-urban-areas-china-tells-nationals">http://www.mwnation.com/national-news-the-nation/7731-relocate-to-urban-areas-china-tells-nationals</a><br />
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<a href="http://zodiakmalawi.com/zbs%20malawi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5383:they-are-chinese-vendors-not-traders-ambassador-&catid=42:banner-stories&Itemid=102">http://zodiakmalawi.com/zbs%20malawi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5383:they-are-chinese-vendors-not-traders-ambassador-&catid=42:banner-stories&Itemid=102</a><br />
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13467798306010034496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5892445857159768862.post-47601500804537681262012-07-26T09:23:00.003-07:002012-07-29T18:37:32.526-07:00What additional media houses in Malawi bring to PR practice<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl37zL6LqbPEs1dV6YTA1QXu-BH6OPu929hpzKul4t4YFpuyVNR-FP2SdLmBrSDIOr9VF6rQ8W_631DEWBetRghe9xRKl1ijkWTM-gK6_h1Wd_HdkDxKF_01NWhQnoYlJOE5AOVxd1qiw/s1600/Microphone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl37zL6LqbPEs1dV6YTA1QXu-BH6OPu929hpzKul4t4YFpuyVNR-FP2SdLmBrSDIOr9VF6rQ8W_631DEWBetRghe9xRKl1ijkWTM-gK6_h1Wd_HdkDxKF_01NWhQnoYlJOE5AOVxd1qiw/s320/Microphone.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
I think the awarding of licences to fifteen more television and radio stations in Malawi as announced by the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority and Minister of Information, Moses Kunkuyu, creates both an opportunity and a professional challenge for PR practitioners.<br />
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For years, avenues through which organisations in Malawi convey messages to their mass publics have been limited by the small number of media houses that broadcast or publish news.<br />
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If journalists from the few media houses around were not interested in organisations’ news, such institutions were doomed in terms of taking their messages to their publics. It was therefore a big challenge for PR practitioners to help their organisations achieve their goals through communication.<br />
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However, with more media houses to appear on the scene, such a challenge is likely to be eased - there will be more mainstream journalists and more outlets for organisations’ messages. An unsuccessful news pitch with one journalist can still arouse the interest of another and compel him/her to cover the issue in the pitch.<br />
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On the other hand, the emergence of more media houses creates a performance related challenge for PR practitioners in Malawi.</div>
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Looking at the list of recipients of the new broadcasting licences, it is clear that the services of some of the new media houses will be limited to particular geographical regions. A PR practitioner seeking to use the mass media to communicate with his/her organisation’s publics will therefore need to answer a simple question before sending a news pitch to any journalist: Do the publics we would like to reach with this message fall within the geographical region to which this journalist’s media house broadcasts?</div>
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The thing is: What interests people in one region may not arouse the same levels of interest in people in other regions. Failure to carefully consider the basic question above will therefore have the potential to court PR disasters. Practitioners will be bothering some journalists with ‘boring’ news pitches. Boring not because the pitches are not newsworthy. Rather, just because the pitches may not be what the journalists assess as news for their audiences.<br />
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In news production, frequent pitches carrying issues that journalists find irrelevant to their audiences are a complete turn-off. A PR practitioner does not become effective in media relations by sending a pitch to every journalist around. A strategic practitioner avoids the label 'boring' by pitching news to journalists who are likely to cover a particular organisation or issue because their audiences will find such an issue interesting.<br />
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Let organisations as well as PR practitioners celebrate the awarding of the new broadcasting licences but at the same time get themselves prepared to practice well organised PR that will not leave journalists feeling irritated.<br />
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<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century,serif;">For stories on the awarding of the licences, visit:</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century,serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.zodiakmalawi.com/zbs%20malawi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5398:zodiak-gets-tv-license&catid=42:banner-stories&Itemid=102">http://www.zodiakmalawi.com/zbs%20malawi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5398:zodiak-gets-tv-license&catid=42:banner-stories&Itemid=102</a>
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<a href="http://www.bnltimes.com/index.php/daily-times/headlines/national/11096-macra-licenses-15-broadcasters">http://www.bnltimes.com/index.php/daily-times/headlines/national/11096-macra-licenses-15-broadcasters</a>
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13467798306010034496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5892445857159768862.post-4704062612750806692012-07-22T07:22:00.000-07:002012-07-28T18:03:28.200-07:00My female friend’s menses in a restaurant<div>
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You are a man and you are with a female friend in public when you notice her pants have red spots indicating it’s that time of the month but she doesn’t seem to notice it. Just what would you do?<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
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One Sunday, a Chinese female friend of mine – I will call her Xiao Mei- and I had agreed to have lunch together. We had been friends for almost a year but had only met once. This afternoon would be the second time we would be meeting since knowing each other.<br />
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As we walked into a restaurant, one guy who was enjoying his cold beer outside the eating place beckoned me to his table. I hesitantly complied as there wasn’t much the two of us could talk about. I knew him as just another African in a foreign land. Then he told me: ‘Your friend (the girl) has her pants spoilt by some bloody spots.’ I knew what that meant. I didn’t want to believe him.Not that he was untrustworthy, but because I just couldn’t imagine the task he was assigning to me – to let my female friend know about it.<br />
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Meanwhile, Xiao Mei, had comfortably seated herself inside the restaurant, going through the menu, ready to order her dish on my return from outside.<br />
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Feeling heavy, I walked back into the restaurant, debating how I would deliver to Xiao Mei the observation by the guy outside.<br />
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I sat opposite her, still not sure of what to do or how to do it. Then I leaned towards her to try to whisper something into her ears. She didn’t seem to get what I was trying to communicate. I hated myself!<br />
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At the table just behind me were some English speaking foreigners. If I spoke ‘clearly’ in English, those guys would obviously get what I was talking about. If I spoke to her in Chinese, the locals enjoying their lunch at a table on our right hand side would also pick up the message. I didn’t want anyone to get to know what was going on.<br />
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So I decided to write my message on my mobile phone and showed it to Xiao Mei. You should have seen her face turn red in disbelief!<br />
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As she walked towards the Ladies for the obvious, I looked at her butt. I couldn’t help notice how bad the situation was. I felt more embarrassed than she might have been.<br />
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Well, I will not give a minute-by-minute account of what followed. I guess it’s enough to say, though, that later she managed to change into a dress, which, fortunately, she had in her bag as she was coming from another friend’s place where she had spent a few days.<br />
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When she came back, Xiao Mei was extravagantly apologetic, not for the situation she had found herself in but I think for having to be told about her situation by a man with whom she had no emotional attachment. I also think she felt embarrassed that this had happened on a ‘date'. It wasn’t actually a ‘date’, though. <br />
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Well, I assured her it was ok…I understood such things are bound to happen. However, I kept asking myself two questions: <br />
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1. Had I handled my communication in the best way possible to minimize the embarrassment she would suffer in my presence?</div>
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2. What would have been the best way out if she didn’t have any clothes in her bag? She obviously needed a fresh and clean pair of trousers.</div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">I wonder how other guys would you have handled the situation. Let me know what your approach could have been. And ladies, how best would
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> ______________________</span><span style="font-family: Century;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: 宋体;">
</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13467798306010034496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5892445857159768862.post-5695615354310932382012-07-20T03:04:00.000-07:002012-07-29T04:27:16.050-07:00DPP seriously needs communications barons<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgET6aiGdllosinuxM9hCf2iMWx2MbufVdTP9fpIanNA-UwAWyTyh35zHc8IAaS1CSLJ3tr8p2WNrOMV2uwk7jk3ruuS2IN4sOr4z7YbAB1ppDQ1-O4W04aJIpuf77dnKuz2yeN5DasdDo/s1600/Dausi.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgET6aiGdllosinuxM9hCf2iMWx2MbufVdTP9fpIanNA-UwAWyTyh35zHc8IAaS1CSLJ3tr8p2WNrOMV2uwk7jk3ruuS2IN4sOr4z7YbAB1ppDQ1-O4W04aJIpuf77dnKuz2yeN5DasdDo/s200/Dausi.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: blue;">DPP spokesperson, Nicholas Dausi</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century,serif; font-size: 12pt;">If
Malawi’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is serious about giving President
Joyce Banda and her ruling People’s Party a good run in the 2014 presidential
and parliamentary race, the former ruling party should seriously consider not only
to engage communications strategists but also to be willing to implement their recommendations.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century,serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
recent statement that DPP’s spokesperson Nicholas Dausi gave to the Daily Times
clearly signifies the party is not capable of mending its tattered public image
with regard to intolerance towards dissenting views.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<a name='more'></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century,serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
July 18<sup>th</sup> 2012 edition of the Daily Times reported that police
had the previous day arrested some DPP youths suspected of roaming the streets
of Blantyre brandishing pangas, chanting ‘war’ songs on July 19<sup>th</sup> 2011.
That was aimed at scaring Malawians into refraining from anti-government
demonstrations that had been planned for the following day. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century,serif; font-size: 12pt;">Reacting
to the news, Mr Dausi told the paper the arrests were ‘politically motivated’. My
foot! I almost fainted upon reading this careless and unbridled overused
political cliché. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century,serif; font-size: 12pt;">As
a side bar - Of course the police have their own Public Relations problems to
grapple with when one considers the question: Why effect the arrests now, not
when the DPP was in power? However, that is a question that deserves a page of
its own.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century,serif; font-size: 12pt;">Communications
strategists would advise the DPP that a public or media statement reveals what the
originator of the message believes in, even if the revelation may not have been
intended. That’s the reality of communication.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century,serif; font-size: 12pt;">If
the DPP does not know, here is what its spokesperson’s condemnation of the
arrests of the panga-wielding party youths actually means: The party sees
nothing wrong with its membership using threats of violence against dissenting
voice. It means the DPP still believes there is room for intimidation in a
democracy. That scares!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century,serif; font-size: 12pt;">Public
Relations strategists would tell the DPP that if this is the type of message
that is sent to the masses, it will be so easy for potential voters to foresee
Malawi under fire much hotter than was experienced in the past
three years if the party is given power to govern again. The party knows very
well what that means in the ballot booth.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century,serif; font-size: 12pt;">DPP’s
governor for the South Mr Noel Masangwi’s confession – after Joyce Banda’s rise
to the presidency in April 2012 - that
the party had messed up big time when it was in power was an excellent starting
point for a renewed Public Relations effort to win back people’s confidence in
the former ruling party.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century,serif; font-size: 12pt;">Communications
strategists would advise the DPP that in order to be effective, a Public
Relations statement does not always have to defend just everything, including
lawlessness. Instead of being defensive, an organisation with a sound PR policy
in place creatively engages its publics in order to get out of any mess with
minimal injury.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century,serif; font-size: 12pt;">With
that in mind, the DPP would realise that as long as there are legal
grounds for arrests in connection with the panga wielding gaffe, there is not
even a single Public Relations point to be scored by defending the party’s
youths who conducted themselves with a ‘we-are-above-the-law’ attitude. Any sort
of defense in this regard is suicidal.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century,serif; font-size: 12pt;">The good news, though, is: an
organisation’s public image can change, so can the DPP’s, only if the party engages
an image overhauling strategy, now, not later. The DPP, however, should
realise it cannot afford to do without a team of Strategic Public
Relations barons who can help scrub the stains off the party's image.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century,serif; font-size: 12pt;"> _________________________</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century,serif; font-size: 12pt;">Source of report on the
arrest of the panga wielding youths:</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://bnltimes.com/index.php/daily-times/headlines/national/11001-6-more-dpp-cadets-arrested"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">http://bnltimes.com/index.php/daily-times/headlines/national/11001-6-more-dpp-cadets-arrested</i></a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13467798306010034496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5892445857159768862.post-71060922373282238332012-07-15T21:38:00.000-07:002012-07-28T18:16:45.232-07:00Something wrong with Malawi civil society's goal for July 20 protests commemorations<br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
Malawi Civil Society’s goal for the planned commemoration of the victims of the
July 20, 2011 police shootings during mass demonstrations over economic and
political governance issues suggests the organisers have no clear idea of what
they intend to achieve.</span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Zodiakonline
of July 15, 2012 is quoting Chairperson of the organizing team (of the
commemorations) Mr Moses Mkandawire as saying the main message at the event, to
be held in Mzuzu, is reconciliation and forgiveness. He further says victims and families of those that died in the July 20 shootings will be brought together so that they can 'reconcile'. Now, there emerges an indication of something not done right.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<a name='more'></a></div>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">In basic terms, reconciliation suggests two (or more) parties that had initially crossed paths
agreeing to leave their grudges against each other, misunderstanding, fighting
or hatred behind and move ahead to live in peace again. A reconciliation
effort, therefore, whether as a onetime event or as a process, cannot leave
out any key concerned party if that effort is to make sense and bear fruit.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">In
the July 20, 2011 deaths, there are several significant players but the key ones are the victims and their relations on one hand and the police, who carried out the shootings, on the
other. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Unlike
in an effort that takes the form of a process over a period, for example a month, a year or even years, in a onetime event
as has been planned by the Civil Society, both parties – the victims’ side and the
police - ought to be brought together so that they can talk to each other if
meaningful reconciliation is to be achieved. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
event at Katoto Freedom Park will only bring together the victims' side. No police representation. It is inconceivable,
therefore, that the Civil Society hope that there will be reconciliation when a
key player in the issue does not face the other party. With whom will the victims or their families be reconciling? Nobody! In short, there will be no reconciliation secured. While reconciliation and forgiveness is a good message, the idea of bringing only the injured party makes it obvious right before the event even takes place that it is bound to be a wasted effort.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">With
this in mind, I am inclined to argue that the organisers of the commemoration
have demonstrated a lapse in their planning: a weak conception of
the goal that they want to achieve.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
Civil Society must have first thought of what tactic – public commemoration –
to employ before they even decided what goal to achieve. The organisers’ goal, therefore, seems to be an afterthought for fear of being caught holding an
event without anything in mind. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">That is a sure way to failure. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">This
could have been avoided if the organisers had given their goal enough thought,
especially by focusing on what it would take to have that goal achieved i.e. the
participation of all key parties. That is how Public Relations would guide the planning of the event.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> ______________________</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><i>Source
of the report on the Civil Society’s planned July 20 commemorations: </i><a href="http://www.zodiakmalawi.com/ZBS%20Malawi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5334:civil-society-to-hold-720-protests-commemoration&catid=42:banner-stories&Itemid=102">http://www.zodiakmalawi.com/ZBS%20Malawi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5334:civil-society-to-hold-720-protests-commemoration&catid=42:banner-stories&Itemid=102</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13467798306010034496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5892445857159768862.post-43235620037011542472012-07-10T02:18:00.000-07:002012-07-28T18:17:36.412-07:00A Public Relations miscalculation by UNIMA council<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
decision by the Council of the University of Malawi to force former President
of the Chancellor College Academic Staff Union, Dr Jessie Kabwila, and the
Attorney General to pay compensation to students who sued the Council during
the Academic Freedom Fight<u> </u>in 2011 is indicative of one thing: The
Council lacks Public Relations acumen.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<a name='more'></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Non
residential students at the college sued the Council because they were not
attending classes when lecturers were protesting the then Inspector General of
Police’s summoning of Dr Blessings Chinsinga over an example he cited in a Political
Science class. The protracted strike left students spending time and their other
resources in Zomba on nothing.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">According
to The Daily Times of July 9<sup>th</sup> 2012, the compensation in question amounts
to MK55, 404,800.00.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">When
it failed to resolve the academic freedom spat in 2011, the Council already got
its public image battered to deformity. Then, the Council appeared to have surrendered
its conflict resolution skills to a politician, late President Bingu wa
Mutharika.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">In
the present case, with proper Public Relations advice, the University Council would
have clearly seen the implications of the new spat with Dr Kabwila i.e. a
resurrected battle with Chancellor College lectures as they will predictably not
leave their former Union President alone in this fresh but unnecessary scuffle.
They will react, legally or otherwise. Of course it will not be surprising to
hear the lecturers have once again abandoned their students.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">This
will inevitably just trigger more problems than the Council should be solving
i.e. rebuilding its tattered image and restoring different publics’ trust that
the Council is capable of effectively managing UNIMA.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">A
Public Relations Specialist sitting at the Council’s table would help scan the
environment, make predictions of the consequences of this decision on Kabwila
and advise accordingly.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
compensation decision therefore begs two questions: Does the Council have a Public
Relations Adviser? If it does, was his/her counsel taken on board on this?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> _________</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Source of story on Council’s
decision: </span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">http://bnltimes.com/index.php/daily-times/headlines/national/7111-university-of-malawi-sues-kabwila-ag</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13467798306010034496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5892445857159768862.post-40234335523754281292012-06-07T22:51:00.002-07:002012-07-28T18:19:07.310-07:00Ken Lipenga- Government PR Gaffe with 2012/13 National Budget or a blessing for Malawi?<br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Malawi’s
Finance Minister Dr Ken Lipenga today, Friday, June 8<sup>th</sup>, presents to
parliament government’s financial plan for the year 2012/13, amid calls for his
resignation. This follows his own revelation that the former government led by
the DPP lied to the nation by presenting to parliament budget figures that were
aimed at deceiving the country that the former government’s 2011/12 Zero
Deficit Budget was a success.</span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
Ministry of Finance and the Malawi Revenue Authority conspired that the latter borrow
money from banks to make up for tax under collection and create the impression
that all was well with government coffers.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Ken
Lipenga was Minister of Finance, a post he still holds, when these transactions
were being effected but he claims all this was done behind his back, hence
cannot resign as demanded by some sectors.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">That
Ken Lipenga is guilty or innocent in this is not yet known. What is known and
cannot be disputed, though, is that his credibility as Minister of Finance has
been severely battered.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<a name='more'></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Today’s
budget’s statement in parliament therefore is likely to attract mixed reactions from Malawians, with hoards of
them hitting on the credibility of the man behind the figures government will
be proposing to work with for the next 12 months. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">By
maintaining Ken Lipenga as Finance Minister despite the MRA scandal, President
Joyce Banda has gravely compromised the acceptability of the figures that her
government will be laying before law makers in Lilongwe today. Government
should not cry foul when different sectors start questioning its credibility sooner
than they should have done.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">However,
from a different perspective, maintaining Lipenga as Finance Minister could be a
blessing in disguise.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Due
to the MRA scandal, parliamentarians are likely to rigorously scrutinize the
proposed financial plan. Any grey areas noted in the budget are likely to be
followed through and the minister forced to bring concrete and sensible explanations
to the house. And aware of the discontent with Ken for his role, real or perceived,
in the MRA scandal, government is likely to comply with demands for thorough
investigations into any allegations of suspicious transactions by the state or
any of its agencies.This
could be the end of an era when government gets away with anything with ease. Maintaining
Ken as Finance Minister could, therefore, be a blessing for Malawi as this
ushers the country into a new era in terms of government accountability and the
role of parliamentarians.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">However,
we will have to wait, probably until the end of the current parliament sitting,
to ascertain whether maintaining Ken as Finance Minister was good for Malawi.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13467798306010034496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5892445857159768862.post-6868155064815340392012-06-07T21:19:00.002-07:002012-07-28T18:20:32.139-07:00Late Mutharika's family on Commission of Inquiry - Misplaced shock<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">According
to www.zodiakonline.com the family of late Bingu wa Mutharika, Malawi's third
president, are frowning upon the Commission of Inquiry that his successor Joyce
Banda instituted to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of her
predecessor in April, 2012. </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">“We want
to put it on record that we the bereaved family did not at any point request
for a Commission of Inquiry and we will not be party to it. Why would we do
that when we know all the facts surrounding the death of our late beloved,” a
statement from the family reads in part as quoted by Zodiak.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Whether
the commission of inquiry is necessary or not I think late Mutharika's family
has got it wrong here. I don't think it has to take the family's request for
government to investigate anything to do with a former head of state. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<a name='more'></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Yes it
would be good </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">if
the idea of the inquiry originated from the family but this is not the same as
saying it is bad for government to institute the commission of inquiry. Both
are acceptable points from which the Inquiry could originate. It is therefore confounding
to see that the bereaved family is painting the president-instituted inquiry
'bad'. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">One
thing that the family and probably others seem to ignore on this is the fact
that government has a big stake in the death of any of the country’s president.
It is every government’s responsibility to ensure that it has credible
information about a country’s most important figures. Bingu remains one such
person in Malawi’s history.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #333333; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">I believe
whether the family disputes them or not, the inquiry's findings will be Malawi
government's official information regarding the death of the country's 3rd
president.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">And does
the family have to be party to the work of the Commission of Inquiry? Well, may
be.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">I would
have no problem if the family only said the Commission of Inquiry was not
necessary but to say they are 'shocked' makes me doubt the family's sincerity
on this issue. There should be more reasons against the inquiry than the family
has given in its statement. I can only guess one.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Instituting
the Commission of Inquiry, President Joyce Banda included in the commissioners’
Terms of Reference an investigation into aspects of the transfer of power to
the incumbent. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Following
Bingu’s death, there were cabinet meetings that are alleged to have been aimed
at blocking Mrs Joyce Banda, then Vice President, from ascending to the
presidency and have Peter, late Bingu wa Mutharika’s brother take over the country’s
leadership instead. Peter Mutharika is said to have been present at those
meetings. If he did not argue against the idea then it tells us he was in
agreement with the arrangement.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Now,
there have been calls for the prosecution of those that are alleged to have
been involved in this what is being referred to as a ‘coup attempt’. If the ‘suspects’
are rounded up, Peter will not be spared as he was part of the scheme. The
thought of this is certainly what makes the Mutharika family resent the idea of
the Inquiry. They would not welcome any one with the task to investigate the
coup attempt allegations.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">On
whether the Commission of Inquiry’s other Terms of Reference make sense or not is
a separate question. </span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13467798306010034496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5892445857159768862.post-36313976970796314072012-02-08T23:13:00.001-08:002012-07-28T18:24:12.340-07:00What do our parliamentarians believe in?<br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Something ridiculously disappointing about the conduct of our parliamentarians. It just seems they don't have any ideological campus at all.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">When
Dr Bingu wa Mutharika ditched the United Democratic Front, the party that
sponsored him to the presidency in 2004, with him marched a number of
parliamentarians into the then new party, DPP. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">With
Vice president Joyce Banda’s fall out with the DPP, we are again witnessing
change of political cloth by some DPP MPs who are now donning People’s Party’s,
Banda’s own child. Anita Kalinde, MP from Thyolo, and Jennifer Chilunga from
Zomba are examples. And according to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nyasatimes
</i>which monitored Capital Radio’s news talk programme in which Kalinde was
interviewed, the Thyolo MP hinted that more MPs from the DPP would soon defect
to the PP (</span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.nyasatimes.com/malawi/2011/12/17/more-mps-to-join-people%E2%80%99s-party-%E2%80%93kalinde/"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">http://www.nyasatimes.com/malawi/2011/12/17/more-mps-to-join-people%E2%80%99s-party-%E2%80%93kalinde/</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">). </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">This
simply summarises what invites me to think about what it is actually that our
parliamentarians represent and believe in.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Joyce
Banda broke up with the DPP for one reason: unlike many other DPP gurus, she
refused to endorse Professor Peter Mutharika as the party’s presidential
candidate for 2014. Following her expulsion from the party, the vice president
started pointing out the ills and failures of the DPP led government in the
areas of human rights, political governance and economic mismanagement, among
others. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Well,
that Malawi is currently undergoing one of the most painful economic periods and
other forms of pain is there for all to see. Some of the problems started
emerging right before VP Joyce Banda fell out with the DPP. However, I do not
remember to have heard the vice president criticizing the DPP led government
then, which, I believe, adequately suggests that her criticism of the DPP
government today is only rooted in her disapproval of the undemocratic manner
in which Professor Peter Mutharika is being prepared for the state presidency,
a decision that sponsored her exit from the DPP.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">With
the exception of a few courageous MPs like former Minister of Justice Henry
Phoya, other DPP legislators are part of the cause of some of the pain haunting
Malawi today: They have been in parliament, cheering the passing of some laws
loathed by many Malawians. They have been there refusing to speak against laws
that are not intended to serve the majority of Malawians. Now if MP Kalinde’s
claim that more DPP legislators are on their way to the PP comes to pass, we
have a more serious political challenge ahead of us and it is unlikely that some
of the avoidable governance and economic predicament we are in today will be
over any time soon.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
DPP MPs sympathizing with PP now, or are yet to, abhor their party not because
it has failed to satisfy our expectations of a government in terms of the
economy and on other fronts, but because their beloved, Vice president Joyce
Banda, will not ascend to the presidency via the DPP route. The message that
such MPs are putting across is simple: everything is fine in the DPP led
government except that it was offended and felt insulted by Joyce Banda’s
decision to say no to Professor Peter Mutharika as DPP’s presidential
candidate.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">I
am convinced that the DPP MPs joining PP will not be doing so for the love of
our country but for other reasons, with selfishness on top of the list. So far,
the MPs have not demonstrated to the nation that, should PP which they intend
to join form the next government and should the party’s led government embark
on the development and passing of unpopular laws, they will stand to oppose
that. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">It
seems easy, therefore, to believe that representing the aspirations of
Malawians<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>is not our
parliamentarians’ objective as they embark on their political careers. They have
had numerous opportunities to do so but have not seized them. The MPs’ goal is
not to see the lives of Malawians improve. They are only intoxicated with lust
for power, fame and financial gains which they are assured of, only if they
support their beloved political bosses, regardless of the type of service that
Malawians get from their government. The MPs’ sympathy for PP, therefore, is
only motivated by their desire to position themselves strategically so that
they can secure themselves comfortable and warm places in the PP led
government, in the event that the party triumphs in the 2014 polls.</span></div>
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____________________</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13467798306010034496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5892445857159768862.post-12857041447946447022012-01-28T08:05:00.000-08:002012-07-28T17:18:12.481-07:00Some reflections on education for foreigners in China<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">In China
if you meet
a foreign student
pursuing a programme
taught in Chinese and ask them about their studies, the likely response you will get is one that tells you theirs is a sad story
worth listening to. You will be
told of the frustration and the stress
that the students suffer due to their failure to understand lectures,
not because of the difficulty of the concepts presented – well they could be –
but because the students’ competence
in Chinese language
is too basic
for university studies. Why is this so? </span></div>
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<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Foreign students
admitted into programmes
taught in Chinese
are put on
a one academic year
Chinese language training
programme before they
start their respective specialties.
Theoretically, this is aimed at preparing the students for their various
degree programmes. However, at a practical level, it is irrefutable that
this training does
not achieve much
beyond equipping the
students with language skills for
communication on the
street. At the
end of the one year,
the students’ language skills
– listening, speaking,
reading and writing
- are just
too weak to handle
academic tasks and
demands. Consequently, the
students go for lectures simply to register their presence, not necessarily to
get the content presented by the professors.
</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Post graduate
students are better
off – they
already acquired independent study and
research skills when they did
their first degrees. Such skills sustain them.
However, undergraduates, fresh from high school, therefore with no
such skills, are a
cause for worry
as most of
them literary have
no idea of
how to study independently and meaningfully. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">In
order to survive academically, most foreign
students ask their professors to
give them soft copies
of the lecturers’
teaching notes which,
using online translators, the students later translate into languages
they are competent in so as to get a sense of the ground covered in class. This
gives them some direction on what they can read in English books for some
in-depth study. That process in itself can be tedious, cumbersome and
a headache but
at least it
keeps alive the
students’ hopes of getting
their degrees. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
students are not always that lucky, though.
Some lecturers refuse to give students their lecture notes. The
professors are not obliged to do so anyway. Others deliver their
material without any
soft copies, which
only complicates matters for
the foreign students.
However, at the end of their stipulated study period, the
students return to
their respective countries
with papers– they
are university graduates. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Examined critically,
this raises a
serious question about
the quality of
graduates the foreign students
turn out to
be as they
return to their
countries. One can theorise, without
fear of contradiction, that such graduates return to their countries ill
equipped for the professional
challenges that their
studies are supposedly
meant to prepare them
for. Or they
are equipped, but
not as fully
as their Chinese
classmates. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">In
quantitative terms, the countries
where such students
come from experience
an increase in the
number of graduates
in different fields.
In qualitative terms,
however, it is
doubtful that the
numbers have significant
value in terms
of the graduates’ productivity
as their countries’
human capital. Put simply, such graduates cannot be assets
for the development of their countries. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Of
course understanding all lectures does not automatically guarantee high quality
graduates but it makes a difference in terms of how much knowledge the student
acquires at the end of his or her studies. The foreign students’ potential
failure to deliver in their countries has implications that should not be
ignored. If not checked, the situation could tempt countries that send their
students to China to have not-so-positive a view about Chinese education. I
believe that this calls for
a well thought-through action
by those responsible
for the admission of foreign students into university programmes
taught in Chinese. There is need for a proper analysis of the problem and find
solutions. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">One
obvious area is the duration of the Chinese language training programme. In
view of the complexity of Chinese language, two or three years of extensive
language training seem a realistic solution to equip the students with adequate
linguistic skills for university studies. The
first year could
help the students
acquire skills for
every day communication. Then language courses designed
to equip the students with specialised language for their areas of studies
could follow. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Obviously, this
implies a prolonged
stay in university
for the students
but when examined against the
long term returns, it is worth it. By
offering to provide education to people from other nations, especially those
from the third world,
China demonstrates its
commitment to sharing
development with the rest
of the world,
hence the need
for a deliberate
action to ensure
that foreign students get the most from their studies in order to
graduate as valuable assets for their countries. Maybe it is time for heads to
roll. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAxUaXtEDT3LQqJaYSrWmku5ZBlf-akyDrUVu3yOX1qPcWG_OdrXmObf9-wgBfIhptlgEO6iVIHFk4KlDFJl6NE8iLIKxj4yMTupraGWGUbLVV2mpsNDpFJcLK5AHpBlGXT46tNnjO51s/s1600/DSC01553.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAxUaXtEDT3LQqJaYSrWmku5ZBlf-akyDrUVu3yOX1qPcWG_OdrXmObf9-wgBfIhptlgEO6iVIHFk4KlDFJl6NE8iLIKxj4yMTupraGWGUbLVV2mpsNDpFJcLK5AHpBlGXT46tNnjO51s/s400/DSC01553.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Some international students on their graduation at a University in China</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13467798306010034496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5892445857159768862.post-5556482127854761972012-01-28T07:47:00.000-08:002012-07-28T19:00:31.521-07:00The tool with which I hit a taxi driver<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif;">I am a
black African man, with a black skin, studying in China. I have been in this
beautiful country since 2009. Well, being black in China causes a mixture of
attitudes and feelings among Chinese. You see some staring at you with awe, not
believing that what their eyes are seeing is a black person.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif;">You see others, especially
girls, with seemingly exaggerated excitement on their faces. Sometimes such
girls, most of them pretty, will ask if they could take a photo with you. It is
a request I grant most times, after which they giggle away, celebrating the
just ended ‘life-time’ opportunity of seeing a black person in flesh. And as I
wrote this article in MacDonald’s over a chicken burger and a coke, some three
teen-age girls passing by beckoned one another’s attention to look at me,
murmured things I couldn’t pick and chuckled away like some kindergarten kids.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<a name='more'></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Then there are some Chinese, mostly girls, who have once expressed shock, real shock, at seeing me. On many occasions, they have stayed out of my way, literally screaming and shivering upon seeing a ‘ghost’. Blacks are real ghosts in China such that even the Chinese have an expression to describe them – <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">hei gui</i>, meaning ‘black ghost’. I must admit, this is a very derogatory expression. The way it sounds in Chinese is even much worse than the English translation. However, I personally don’t mind derogatory mannerisms and descriptions of blacks in China, as long as my business at a particular moment does not get affected by the same. I don’t even pay attention when such things are directed at me.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">On January 7, 2012 I was in Chang Sha city, Hunan Province for some personal business. I was looking for a taxi to get me to the high speed train station where I would get a train to my base, Wuhan, Hubei Province. One taxi driver, a man in his late 30’s, was trying to get me take his taxi. But in his ‘advertising’ effort he miscalculated. Assuming I could neither speak nor understand Chinese, he could only shout ‘taxi’ to me. I also guessed, with 100 percent certainty, that he could neither speak nor understand English. Not strange in China, anyway.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">After hurling his oral adverts of ‘taxi’ to me several times but not getting the response he was looking for, with a fake smile on his face, but convinced that I couldn’t understand Chinese, he shouted ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">hei gui, taxi!’ </i>to me. For the first time in my life I stopped and paid attention to a derogatory remark. Not because I was annoyed but because of the circumstances. I found it as an opportunity to offer a free lesson.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">I looked at the driver in his eyes for half a minute without saying anything. He and another taxi driver looked at me too, probably wondering what I was up to. Then I pulled out a sharp tool that surprised this opponent of mine and pierced his heart. In fluent Mandarin Chinese I asked him to repeat what he had just called me. My Chinese inflicted so much excruciating pain on him that I could see him wishing the earth could swallow and hide him. He said nothing. In a version different from the first I repeated my request. He was so sharp that he discerned the free advice I was offering there – that Chinese should not underrate foreigners’ abilities in the world’s third most difficult language. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Century, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Restraining indications of guilt on his face, the driver denied that he had said anything derogatory to me. He claimed to have called me <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">‘lao wai’</i>, (foreigner). I told him I understood every single word he had said. He obviously didn’t want to lose his face so he stuck to his <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">‘lao wai’ </i>version. I kept looking into his eyes, deriving great pleasure from the free entertainment that his embarrassed look was offering me. After another half a minute, I left, satisfied with my less -than three minute lecture for this driver.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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___________________________</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13467798306010034496noreply@blogger.com0