Queer Little Family

Exploring the LGBTQ blogging community with Bread Skalka

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Bread Skalka is behind Queer Little Family, the blog that was recently ranked in the Top 10 UK LGBT+ Blogs in the UK. Writing about life as a parent as well as other topics spanning LGBT+ and mental health. We caught up with Bread to talk about the LGBTQ blogging community, the LGBT Action Plan and working on campaigns she believes in.

What makes your blog unique?
We believe in stories over stuff so there aren’t many reviews or product placement. We don’t do a lot of brand stuff. We prefer real life and can be painfully honest at times and I think that makes us a little different. I’m an old school blogger in an influencers world, which can be a little difficult but I make it work. I want to inform and entertain, which is always a hard line to walk, but I think I manage it.

What’s the LGBT+ blogging community like to be part of?
It’s small and we tend to make up parts of other communities, like parenting blog communities or writing groups, and find each other that way. I work hard to include as many LGBTQ bloggers and writers on my blog and social media as possible. I want to highlight my peers as well as myself.

What’s the biggest issue facing the LGBT+ community today?
Getting past tolerance and into true equality. At least in the UK. In many places, we’re tolerated but that’s not enough. You tolerate things that annoy you, and we’re not an annoyance. The recent Stonewall survey conducted last year (which I definitely took part in) really shows how far we still have to go to get the equality we deserve. I think we really need to work on the suicide and self-harm risk to our LGBTQ youth. I used to self-harm and have attempted suicide and I actually have been pretty privileged in terms of family acceptance and suffering, from microaggressions to blatant homophobia.

Where is the best Pride event?
My favourite was Pride on The Prom in Aberystwyth a few years ago, which I’m hoping will come back in the future. Cardiff Pride is pretty good. Because of my anxiety and social phobia, I tend to avoid large crowds but as my mental health improves I hope to attend more in the future with my family.

What do you make of Theresa May’s LGBT Action Plan?
I’ll believe it when I see it. Theresa May doesn’t have the best history when it comes to LGBTQ issues and neither do the Conservatives. If she makes conversion therapy illegal that would be a good start because I couldn’t believe how many LGBTQ people had been offered it and had to go through it. An action plan is nice but we need the action now.

What one thing should PRs know about you?
I’m not your typical blogger. I like working with smaller business, Welsh and LGBTQ ones in particular, and charities too. I’m also interested in things my son can experience as he is my main driving force for the blog and for my life.

Reach-the-right-influencers-with-the-Vuelio-media-database

What are the best campaigns or collaborations you’ve been part of?
I do some posts for the Woodland Trust that I enjoy because it’s something I really believe and definitely want to do more charity work/collaborations in the future.

Do bloggers need their own industry association?
I think so. Something that encompasses freelance blogging and influence marketing possibly. There are a lot of brands/PRs who will pay a pittance but get a great return. An association that could advocate for bloggers would be beneficial and stop things like influencers and business owners going viral for disagreeing over rates or reviews.

What other blogs do you read?
I read a few (a lot). A Moment With Franca, LesBeMums, Meet The Wildes (they have amazing pictures). Daddy and Dad is a great blog and Lydia Schoch is a wonderful writer. I also like Babi a Fi. I could go on and on. I’m not big on visual content but I read a lot. Also, Mombian is a great resource for LGBTQ families.

Bread and Queer Little Family are both listed on the Vuelio Influencer Database along with thousands of other bloggers, vloggers, journalists and opportunities.

Propeller Group

5 Pitch Tips from Ben Titchmarsh

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How’s your pitching? Are you reaching the most relevant media contacts in the right way? Or perhaps your relationships with journalists never seem to fully develop? One man who knows what a successful pitch looks like is Ben Titchmarsh, head of media and marketing at Propeller Group.

We spoke to Ben for our white paper – Media Relations in 2018 – and he revealed his top pitch tips for the modern PR.

1. Know your sector

Ben says: ‘Never underestimate the power of reading constantly and really immersing yourself in the sector you’re pitching to.’

There’s no point starting your pitch until you know your industry inside out. That means knowing the company you represent, its place in the market and any major trends that could affect the company or its clients. With a holistic view of the industry you’ll be able to provide rich and varied content to journalists who are, themselves, experts in the field.

2. Personalise your pitch

Ben says: ‘Always personalise your messaging because journalists can tell if you’ve mail merged. I tend to make a shorter media list and personalise every line of the message.’

This should be a given but it’s clear some PRs (surely­­ not readers of the Monday PR Club) are still aiming for quantity over quality. The short-term aim of your pitch may be to secure coverage, but you should really be focusing on the long-term goal of building a fruitful relationship.

Ben’s advice for anyone struggling to personalise a pitch is: ‘For subject lines, I would write ‘Hi [name], story for publication – [story title]’ and then in the first line I would reference another story they’ve done that was similar to my pitch.’

3. Write like a journalist

Ben says: ‘If you’re writing a press release, try to write it as a news story, which includes using the house style of the publication you’re pitching to.’

Journalists are overworked and understaffed; most don’t have time to take a template press release and turn it into a news story that fits their publication. If you write in the house style and lose unnecessary elements (for example LOCATION: DATE at the beginning of the release, and sales speak in the copy) it makes it much easier for the journalist to use your content.

4. Don’t hold the gold

Ben says: ‘I was once told that with an email pitch, you should imagine you have 100% of their attention for the first line, 50% for the second, 25% for the third, 12.5% for the fourth etc. That’s true, so don’t hold the gold; put what they need to know at the beginning.’

Your email may be more exciting if you tease a build up to what you’re sending but for a journalist, they may not read all the way to the pay-off. Again, they’re understaffed and overworked – don’t be too clever in the pitch, just make it clear why what you’re pitching is a great fit for them.

5. Make it exclusive

Ben says: ‘There’s also a benefit of scarcity with journalists – they love an exclusive. They will always google the story to see if it’s elsewhere, so if you say it’s an exclusive, mean it.’

If the same story is appearing in multiple publications then all you’re doing is making those outlets compete for audience share. And if the story has already appeared elsewhere, you’re making a publication play catch up. Obviously, it’s not always possible to make a story exclusive, but when you can – and when the audience is right – use it to your advantage.

 

Find out more about media relations in 2018, including relationship advice and how this affects the GDPR, by downloading our white paper here. 

 

Justine greening

Political Headlines – Justine Greening’s Referendum, Tory whipping, antisemitism and Boris Johnson

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Today’s Political Headlines includes Greening’s calls for a second referendum, Eurosceptic Tories planning a whipping, Labour’s antisemitism definition may breach the Equality Act and Boris Johnson’s attack. 

Greening calls for second referendum
The Times reveals that Justine Greening has become the first senior Conservative to call for a second referendum, criticising the Prime Minister’s Brexit plan as the ‘worst of both worlds’. Greening suggests a vote with three options: remaining in the EU, the negotiated deal, or a clean break, with voters given first and second preference votes. Speaking yesterday, the paper adds, Theresa May said that her proposals were ‘a good deal for the UK’ and claimed that Donald Trump had told her to sue the EU instead of negotiating.

Eurosceptic Tories set up whipping operation
According to The Daily Telegraph, Eurosceptic Conservative MPs have established a ‘party within a party’, with a whipping operation being run by former Brexit minister Steve Baker. More than 100 Tory MPs are now in a WhatsApp group being run by Baker, who has urged them to vote for four amendments to the Taxation (Cross Border) Trade Bill today. The paper also claims that party chair Brandon Lewis threatened to cut funding for Andrea Jenkyns’ constituency after she called for Theresa May to quit.

Labour’s antisemitism definition may breach the Equality Act
The Guardian reports that the Jewish Labour Movement is to give the Labour Party advice which claims that its definition of antisemitism could breach the Equality Act. The advice states that because the definition does not follow the Macpherson principle (a racist incident is one which the victim perceives to be racist), it would result in Jews being treated less favourably than other groups.

Boris Johnson attacks ‘lack of self-confidence’ in Brexit
Writing in The Daily Telegraph, Boris Johnson has used his first article since resigning as Foreign Secretary to attack the ‘lack of self-confidence, in the current debate on the EU, about whether we can do things for ourselves’ and to call for Britons to use Brexit as a chance to ‘rediscover the spirit of dynamism’ of the Victorian period.

Rudd quit because civil servants let her down
The Daily Telegraph reports that an internal inquiry has found that Amber Rudd stepped down as Home Secretary because senior civil servants failed to tell her about targets to remove illegal immigrants. The paper adds that the two civil servants in question were moved out of their posts following the inquiry’s conclusion and that a summary of the report has been shown to the Commons Home Affairs Committee.

Utility firms deterred from investing because of Corbyn’s nationalisation plans
The Financial Times says that Paul Drechsler, the vice-president of the CBI, has warned that utility firms are being deterred from investing because of Jeremy Corbyn’s plans for renationalisation. He has called on the party ‘to be very clear about the scope of the policy’ and carry out ‘a high-quality fact-based assessment of the pros and cons’.

May to announce £300m for aerospace industry
The BBC reports that Theresa May is to use a speech at the Farnborough Airshow today to announce extra investment for the British aerospace industry. More than £300m will be made available for various projects, including more environmentally-friendly aircraft, two new spaceports and a commitment to build a new fighter aircraft.

Mordaunt tells Catholic Church to change teaching on contraception
According to The Daily Telegraph, International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt used a meeting with aides of Pope Francis to call for the Catholic Church to relax its ban on the use of contraception. She told the paper that she called on the church to ‘help us save lives, especially of young mothers’.

Not sure how referendums will affect you? Find out more about Vuelio Political Services, who can keep you informed.  

Five Things: BBC Pay, Facebook’s fine, Sky bids, Twitter purge an Build-A-Bear

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This week’s Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed includes BBC star pay, Facebook’s fine, the billion-pound tussle for Sky, the Twitter-follower purge and the Build-A-Bear promotion.

1. BBC salaries

BBC star pay

The BBC has released its annual list of star salaries, which is once again topped by white men. The top 12 on the list, all earning at least £400K, are now led by Gary Lineker who earns between £1.75m and £1.76m. Last year’s number one, Chris Evans, has seen his salary fall by nearly £600K as he longer presents Top Gear.

Claudia Winkleman is still the top woman, earning between £370,000 and £379,999. While a number of male presenters have seen their pay fall, including Graham Norton, Jeremy Vine and John Humphreys, Winkleman has fallen from 8th to 13th on the list due to the production arm, BBC Studios, being reclassified as a commercial entity. BBC Studios is responsible for most of the BBC’s entertainment, factual and drama programmes and doesn’t have to declare star pay.

There’s also an obvious lack of ethnic diversity on the list, though the BBC says the number of BAME stars is rising.

Director general Tony Hall said the BBC was ‘making progress’ but that ‘these things take time. Jane Garvey, who is one of eight women to join the list, said: ‘There needs to be a proper conversation about why in 2018 we are still fighting the same old battle on equal pay and why the work of women just isn’t valued in the same way as the work of men.’

 

2. Facebook’s fine

ICO fine

Facebook has been fined £500,000 for data breaches in the Cambridge Analytica scandal. This is the maximum allowable fine from the ICO, as the offences were committed before the GDPR came into force; if it had been after 25 May, the fine could have been billions. The fine is for two breaches of the Data Protection Act – Facebook failed to safeguard its users’ information and it failed to be transparent about how data was harvested by others.

Elizabeth Denham, the information commissioner, said: ‘Fines and prosecutions punish the bad actors, but my real goal is to effect change and restore trust and confidence in our democratic system.’

As reported by The Guardian, Facebook takes £500,000 in revenue every five and a half minutes.

 

3. The Sky’s the limit

Rupert Murdoch

Murdoch and Comcast both upped the stakes for the Sky takeover this week. Murdoch revised his offer for the remaining portion of Sky he doesn’t already own, bidding £24.5bn. This was approved by Sky’s independent committee, which recommended the deal to shareholders. However, just hours after Murdoch’s bid, Comcast increased their offer to £26bn – this was then approved by Sky’s independent committee who have recommended it to shareholders ahead of Murdoch’s bid.

In addition to all the bidding, the UK Government has given Murdoch clearance to take over Sky, removing a hurdle that has been in place for some 19 months. The announcement was made by new Culture Secretary, Jeremy Wright, who said he was just confirming undertakings his predecessor Matt Hancock had put in place.

If Murdoch wishes to continue his takeover of Sky, it is now only price that stands in his way.

 

4. Twitter purge

Twitter birds

Twitter has made changes to users’ follower counts, with ‘locked accounts’ no longer counting towards your follower numbers.

Twitter locks accounts when it detects changes in account behaviour – for example, tweeting a large volume of unsolicited replies or mentions, tweeting misleading links, or having large number of users block the account. Once Twitter locks an account, it emails the original user who can easily unlock it by following a few simple steps. There is some debate about how many of these locked accounts represent ‘fake’ accounts and how much are just old or abandoned accounts.

Locked accounts were already unable to tweet, retweet or like posts but until now they still showed in follower numbers. Since the purge, several high-profile accounts lost millions of followers, including Obama (down about three million), Rihanna (down over two million) and Trump (down by about 340,000).

The Kardashian/Jenner clan all lost a vast number of followers, though this doesn’t seem to have affected Kylie Jenner’s chances of becoming the world’s youngest ‘self-made’ billionaire.

Even Twitter itself lost 7.7million from its official @Twitter account.

The purge is an ongoing process; when Twitter is finished it expects to have removed about 6% of total follower counts. While this may bruise some egos, it will increase the transparency of individuals’ ‘influence’ on Twitter – an issue every platform is currently trying to tackle.

 

5. Build-A-Bear

Build-A-Bear

Wimbledon, Ed Sheeran, Nigeria’s World Cup kit at Nike and now Build-A-Bear. What do they have in common? Unprecedented demand.

This week, the make-your-own-stuffed-teddy-bear shop held a promotion: ‘Pay your age’. The idea is simple, bears that cost between £12 and £50 would, for one day only, be available to anyone for the price of their age. Unfortunately, it seems like Build-A-Bear underestimated its own popularity with queues stretching miles – actually miles – as parents attempted to take advantage of the offer.

One customer told the BBC she queued from 09:10 until 12:40 to get into the shop and then spent another two hours in store due to ‘stuffing counter queues’. Police and security across the country struggled to control the crowds, with images of queues snaking around shopping centres, a common sight on Twitter.

Build-A-Bear eventually abandoned the promotion, and gave out vouchers to its members who were affected. Incidentally, members are already entitled to the promotion if their child is under 14 and it is their birth month, so needn’t have queued in the first place.

 

Did we miss something? Let us know on Twitter @Vuelio.

President Trump

Political Headlines – Trump, Brexit, Hammond and O’Mara

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Today’s Political Headlines includes Trump’s attack on UK politics, Eurosceptics threatening to vote against the Trade Bill, Hammond defending treatment of financial services and O’Mara quitting Labour.  

Trump says May’s Brexit plans would ‘kill’ US trade deal
In an interview with The Sun, US President Donald Trump makes the explosive claim that Theresa May’s new Brexit approach would ‘kill’ a proposed new trade deal between the two countries and criticises her for ignoring his negotiating advice. Trump, who is visiting the UK, also criticises Sadiq Khan for having ‘done a very bad job on terrorism’, claims that immigration is causing the UK to lose its culture and praises Boris Johnson.

Eurosceptics threaten to vote against Trade Bill in protest over Brexit plan
According to The Times, Eurosceptic Conservative MPs reacted with anger to the publication of Theresa May’s Brexit white paper yesterday, claiming that the proposed role for the European Court of Justice and movement of people breached red lines. As a result, they have threatened to vote against the Government’s Trade Bill next week.

Hammond defends treatment of financial services in Brexit white paper
Chancellor Philip Hammond has written in the Financial Times, defending the treatment of financial services in the Government’s Brexit white paper. He says that the proposals are a ‘pragmatic solution’ which would allow the sector ‘to flourish’. However, Catherine McGuinness, the City of London Corporation’s policy chair, described the white paper as ‘a real blow’ for financial and professional services.

O’Mara quits Labour
The Guardian reports that Labour MP Jared O’Mara has quit the party, despite only having the whip reinstated earlier this year following his suspension as a result of the discovery of a series of offensive posts online. He claims to have been made to ‘feel like a criminal’ and that he had felt unwelcome in the party as a ‘working-class, underprivileged disabled man’.

Ofcom head calls for online firms to be regulated
Writing in The Times, the head of Ofcom Sharon White calls for independent regulation of large online firms such as Facebook and Google in a bid to tackle fake news and harmful content. The firms would face penalties if they failed to act. The Government is due to set out its position in an internet safety white paper later this year.

Taxpayers could lose over £5bn over MoD property deal
The Guardian carries details of a report by the Commons Public Accounts Committee, which warns that taxpayers could lose more than £5bn as a result of a 1996 decision to sell off housing owned by the Ministry of Defence. This is an increase from an earlier estimate of £4.2bn because the committee expects rental costs to grow after a renegotiation in 2021, despite the Ministry of Defence predicting that they will fall.

Labour demands ‘hostile environment’ review
The BBC reports that, following the suspension of data-sharing aimed at identifying illegal immigrants, Labour has called on the Government to go further and conduct a detailed review of the ‘hostile environment’ policy. Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott warned that this was needed to avoid a repeat of the problems affecting the Windrush generation.

Charity Commission finds ‘serious failings’ at Presidents Club
The Financial Times says that the Charity Commission’s investigation into the Presidents Club following the paper’s exposé of its annual dinner has found serious failings on the part of the charity’s three trustees. Jo Swinson, deputy leader of the Lib Dems, welcomed the findings.

Don’t get trumped by big political news – get Vuelio Political Services. 

Daily Politics

Goodbye Daily Politics – changes to BBC political programming

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The BBC has announced a raft of changes to its political programming, including a new daily political programme to replace Daily Politics.

The new 45-minute programme is titled Politics Live and will be presented by Jo Coburn four days a week. These shorter episodes aim to provide viewers with a ‘fast-moving conversational show’ and include content that’s can be shared digitally – a method that has worked very well in recent years for talk-radio station, LBC.

Jo Coburn said: ‘With a conversational, unstuffy approach, we will keep viewers up to speed in fast-changing times and entertain them along the way.’

A special extended edition of Politics Live will run on Wednesdays and include PMQs. This will be presented by Andrew Neil, who said: ‘I’m excited by the programme’s ambition to engage younger and more diverse audiences – as well as our commitment to rigorous journalism and holding those in power to account. I’m looking forward to presenting the show on Wednesdays when PMQs will be centre-stage.’

It has also been announced that due to budget constraints, Sunday Politics will no longer be a UK-wide broadcast; it will be replaced by half hour stand-alone episodes for each of the nations and English regions. The final episode of the full UK programme will be 29 July.

Other changes announced by the BBC include a new team, to drive digital and social coverage of politics and parliament for younger audiences who get their news online. This will include podcasts.

Katy Searle, head of BBC Westminster, said: ‘The way people get their news is changing, and the nature of politics is changing as well – this is why we’re boosting what we do digitally to bring trusted political information to people, wherever they’re getting their news.’

In a separate cost-cutting measure, BBC Parliament will no longer make bespoke programmes nor broadcast during recess or at any other time the UK’s parliaments are not sitting. It will continue to show live streams and repeated content at all other times.

CIPR 2017

CIPR welcome 1,800 new members in record-breaking year for training

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Some 1,800 new members joined the CIPR in 2017, according to the Institute’s Integrated report published ahead of its AGM this evening. A record number of PR professionals (1,970) attended CIPR training last year, which 2017 President Jason MacKenzie said shows, ‘a passion for learning and a hunger for PR to be recognised as a strategic management function’.

In total, CIPR membership at the end of 2017 was made up of 9,750 PR professionals. Its retention rates rose to 83%.

The report also details the Top 10 CPD resources of 2017, which shows how keen the level of interest in GDPR is. The CIPR’s GDPR webinar: Reputation matters – new data protection act is top of the list. Other CPD resources that were popular in 2017 include content focusing on industry trends, such as open data, Brexit and ‘Making movies with iPhones and iPads’.

More people accessed CIPR news in 2017, another record, with articles attracting 64,019 views – an increase of 23% on 2016. The report highlights the success of Influence, which featured articles on George Osborne and Arianna Huffington, and acknowledges its respected reputation within the industry.

In the UK, there are more Chartered Public Relations Practitioners than before. Numbers have risen from just 46 in 2013 to 223 in 2017.

The report, which you can download here, follows the 2017 financial report, which showed a profit of £4.3m leading to the CIPR’s biggest surplus in five years.

Brexit cards

Political Headlines – Brexit, alt Brexit, Trump and Trains

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Today’s Political Headlines includes the Brexit White Paper, the alternative white paper, Trump’s arrival in the UK and rail boss fury in first class.  

Brexit White Paper published today
In an exclusive in The Sun, the Prime Minister tells readers that the Chequers plan will end free movement, allow trade deals around the world and end the jurisdiction of European courts. The Financial Times reports that Theresa May has abandoned plans for a tight relationship with the EU in financial services.

Tory Backbenchers to force the release of ditched white paper
The Guardian reports that backbench Tory Brexiteers will try to force the Prime Minister to publish a rival draft of the white paper drawn up by David Davis, which was later abandoned. Backbench MPs from the European Research Group will hope to win the backing of Labour frontbenchers who are keen to embarrass the Government.

Trump arrives in the UK today amid protests
According to The Independent, Trump will avoid London due to protests expected to take place. He will instead watch a special forces demonstration at a secret location in the English countryside. First Lady Melania Trump, on the other hand, is expected to attend meetings in the capital.

Rail boss ordering commuters out of first class seats sparks fury
The Daily Mail reports Govia operations manager Mark Boon has told passengers to stay out of the First Class carriage on a packed services, while he sat with two seats to himself. Government officials have warned Govia that the new timetable must improve services for passengers.

Trump stuns Theresa May and other NATO allies over defence targets
The Times has reported that Trump has called on NATO states to increase military spending from 2% to 4% of GDP in an address to 28 other NATO leaders. The Telegraph reports that Trump has accused Germany of being ‘totally controlled by Russia’ in regards to the country’s defence spending.

Want to what happens in politics when it happens? Find out more about Vuelio Political Services. 

World Cup

It’s coming home: England’s road to the final

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England’s first semi-final since 1990, with the opportunity for our first final since 1966. It’s coming home.

England’s road through Russia has been long and tough. But using the new Vuelio Canvas, it looks easy with match reports, news, tweets, posts, images, graphs and stats all in one place.

Check out the Canvas we’ve created for England’s Road to the World Cup Final > >

England World Cup

 

With our new and improved Canvas you can:

  • Showcase anything from news stories, social media activity, videos to charts, PDFs and reports – a visual presentation made in seconds
  • Share the content with your colleagues, stakeholders and the board with a single link, fully optimised for mobile
  • Create branded newsrooms with accessible, press-friendly content, easily embedded on your website
White paper

How to have good Media Relations in 2018

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Relationships and trust are at the heart of everything we do in PR and communications. Without the right relations with the media, PR and comms would not be able to function, and vice versa.

Before the internet and digital media, media relations seemed more straight forward – long ‘business’ lunches with the right people, a press release in a journalist’s hands and an understanding that coverage was secured.

Now journalists are under resourced, and have more work for more channels, 24-hours a day. That’s quite an ask, and it means long meetings are now out of the question.

Social media has also changed the way everyone communicates, including how we approach and stay in touch with journalists on a daily basis, from following our contacts on Twitter, connecting with them on LinkedIn or contacting them on WhatsApp.

And it’s not even just journalists any more, anyone with an internet connection can create a news site or blog and start accepting press materials. ‘Influencers’, though itself a term derided by many bloggers, vloggers and Instagrammers, are now recognised outlets for comms to use whether that’s leaking a news story or promoting a fashion item.

Our latest white paper – Media Relations in 2018 – explores all of these phenomena to help you better manage your media relations in 2018 and even includes a section on the GDPR so you know your relationships are Regulation compliant.

We spoke to journalists, bloggers and leading PR professionals: including top parenting blogger Jo Middleton of Slummy Single Mummy fame, Ben Titchmarsh, head of media and marketing at Propeller Group, and Anne-Marie Lacey, managing director of Filament PR, who both shared the secrets of their success and gave their top tips for improving media relations in 2018.

You can download the white paper here.

 

Find out more about our Media Database, which lists contact details for thousands of journalists, editors, bloggers, vloggers and ‘grammers waiting to build relationships with you.

Channel 5 News

People power the best broadcast pitches says Jack Leather at Channel 5 News

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Channel 5 News wants people at the heart of all of its stories says Jack Leather, digital editor, when asked what makes a good story and a good pitch to broadcasters.

He added, talking specifically about digital content, that he wanted people to feel an emotion – whether it was joy or anger, say – when watching a Channel 5 News video online.

Leather was talking at Good Broadcast’s event this morning about reaching ‘younger audiences’ with broadcast content and his colleague Jess Bulman, deputy editor of Channel 5 News said both people and case studies helped tell the story.

Bulman added that the key to success with a pitch was understanding the detail of your story: ‘No matter what your story is, understand what you are pitching. The detail of the story is important when pitching to us.’

Unfortunately, PRs pitching in to the Channel 5 team don’t always know the details of the story or are able to answer follow-up questions, she explained.

Chris Smith, presenter, BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat, joined them on the Good Broadcast panel and said the way to get your message across to younger listeners was simple: ‘You just have to be authentic!’ Younger listeners have a ‘very keen nose’ for anything that doesn’t ring true, he added.

His advice for pitching to journalists was for PRs to do their homework and know who they want to pitch to. ‘Know who you are picking up the phone and asking for when you call.’

Phil Caplin, director of Good Broadcast, stressed at the start of the event that the key to broadcast success was to focus on quality not quantity in terms of content and reach in campaigns.

 

For more on what constitutes good media relations, check out our white paper: Media Relations in 2018. 

Security

Political Headlines – Facebook’s fine, Tory resignations, troops to Afghanistan and Trump/BoJo

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Today’s Political Headlines includes Facebook’s fine, Tory resignations, more troops to Afghanistan and the Trump BoJo friendship. 

Facebook given maximum fine for Cambridge Analytica scandal
The Guardian reports that the Information Commissioner has announced that it will fine Facebook the maximum possible – £500,000 – for its role in the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Elizabeth Denham, the Commissioner, said if the penalties introduced by the GDPR had been in place, the fine could have been hundreds of millions of pounds. Facebook has said that it is ‘reviewing the report’ and will respond soon. An enforcement notice has been filed against Aggregate IQ, which the investigation found had ‘significant links’ to Cambridge Analytica.

Tory vice-chairs quit over Brexit plans
The Daily Telegraph says that two vice-chairmen of the Conservative Party have resigned over Theresa May’s Brexit plans. MPs Maria Caulfield and Ben Bradley described the Chequers agreement as the ‘worst of all worlds’ and warned that it would lead to ‘Prime Minister Corbyn’. A cabinet minister has told The Times that he expects the compromise to be voted down by the House of Commons in the autumn.

May to announce that 440 more troops will be sent to Afghanistan
According to the BBC, Theresa May will use the NATO summit to announce that the UK is to send 440 more troops to Afghanistan, taking total UK troop numbers to 1,090. May said that the deployment will help to deliver ‘stability and security’. The Times adds that the Prime Minister is not expected to produce a funded plan for the military at the summit, despite pressure from Donald Trump.

Trump hints at meeting with Johnson during UK trip
The Times reports that Donald Trump has hinted that he would like to speak to his ‘friend’ Boris Johnson during his trip to the UK later this week, describing him as ‘very supportive’. The US President also claimed that the UK was in ‘turmoil’ and suggested that his meeting with Vladimir Putin might be easier than that with Theresa May.

Labour appoints anti-Semitism row MP as shadow equalities minister
The BBC says that Labour has made Naz Shah a shadow equalities minister, despite her having previously made anti-Semitic comments. Shah lost the parliamentary whip in 2016 after posts by her on social media which she admitted were anti-Semitic were discovered.

Hancock received £32,000 from thinktank that proposes scrapping the NHS
The Daily Mirror reports that the new Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock accepted donations totalling £32,000 from Neil Record, chair of the Institute of Economic Affairs whose head of health and welfare wants the NHS to be privatised. He also received a £5,000 donation from Gurdev Dadral, director of a private nursing agency.

Government draws up plans to stockpile food for ‘no deal’ Brexit
In an exclusive, The Sun reveals that ministers have drawn up secret plans to stockpile processed food and medicine in a bid to convince the EU that the UK is prepared for a ‘no deal’ Brexit. The paper adds that the Government will start to announce its contingency measures in the coming week.

MPs to debate ‘sanctioning’ McVey
The Daily Mirror says that Labour is to lead a debate on ‘sanctioning’ Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey by cutting her salary to zero for a month. The move forms part of a motion of censure in the House of Commons following McVey’s admission that she misrepresented a report on universal credit by the National Audit Office.

Political news too chaotic to follow? Find out how the Vuelio Political Services team can make your life easy. 

CEO Vuelio

AI will be a key ally for PRs and communicators says Joanna Arnold CEO of Access Intelligence

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We know one of the greatest challenges for PRs and communicators is getting an up-to-date and informed 360 degree view and perception of the brands they work on. Artificial Intelligence (AI) will help with this, but it will also do so much more for communicators, writes Joanna Arnold, CEO of Access Intelligence, the parent company of Vuelio.

How do you cope with all the external and internal information available to build this picture? In real time?

You need as much relevant data as possible but too much unfiltered, or uncontextualised, information hinders good – and timely – decision making. Particularly when you are at the centre of a media storm.

Imagine being at the centre of the turmoil surrounding TSB at the moment. A severe IT failure – and ongoing problems – has angered UK consumers and investors, and left TSB CEO Paul Pester facing some difficult questions. How can he and his advisers manage the bank’s reputation, and his own, by keeping on top of the latest news as the story continues to unfold?

This is not just a consumer story, of course. What are the 8,500 or so UK staff at TSB thinking and feeling, let alone saying, on social media? There are the views of regulators and the Government to consider too.

To plan for, react to and predict the right way to deal with stories like this, you need to know which influencers are receptive to your messaging and content. And those who are hostile. Or likely to be. And are those influencers capable of affecting your, or your client’s, reputation with your key audiences and stakeholders?

You also need to filter out the wrong information – from irrelevant stories to fake news – and all of this should be available as quickly as possible through a single accessible platform.

Ultimately, you need actionable intelligence to be effective.

And this is where AI comes in. AI sits at the heart of the solution as a powerful way of contextualising and filtering excessive unstructured data.

It can help you react fast to existing issues, find key stakeholders aligning with strategic topics quickly and can help you identify emerging topics and future opportunities and challenges through correlating events and patterns.

Media monitoring is a great example of this. It’s a crucial tool in the communicator’s armoury requiring the consumption, analysis and contextualisation of information from virtually everywhere – not just the media. At Vuelio, monitoring covers all the activity from the UK Parliaments, Government departments and the wider stakeholder community. AI has a massive role to play here – what’s more, it is only just starting to fulfil its potential.

But, of course, AI can help further. It will take on the burden of contact management – whether you are talking about stakeholders, journalists or clients – and boost relationship management in almost every dimension.

Just think about the benefits of true integration, as profiles are enriched by information and feedback from the rest of the platform, your ongoing activity and its impact on key audiences. All of this will give communicators actionable, real-time intelligence based on a filter of the world’s millions of news sources and publications.

In short, AI – particularly machine learning – will help us not only react to what has just happened, or been published, Tweeted or Instagrammed, it will help us plan what we should be doing next.

Ultimately, this should enable more effective strategic decision-making and gives us the potential to create truly predictive PR and stakeholder strategies.

It’s all about intelligence, and not just the artificial kind. If your relationship management platform is hyper-targeted and contextualised, you will start to get real-time global intelligence at scale and enhance your role. Think of the power and opportunity you will then have at your fingertips.

If we don’t allow the exciting possibilities of AI to help us – as communicators – keep on top of a rapidly changing world, how will we ever keep up with the present, let alone enter the future with confidence?

The CIPR is doing a great job presenting the power of the possibilities new technology offers, but, to realise them fully, more of us need to learn to love AI.

 

Joanna Arnold is the CEO of Access Intelligence, which owns Vuelio, the leading provider of software for communications, public affairs and stakeholder engagement, and owner of the annual Vuelio Blog Awards, which takes place on November 30 2018. Joanna joined Access Intelligence in December 2008 and has completed three acquisitions and two funding rounds with the business.

This is an edited version of Joanna’s blog post on AI and PR which was first published on Steve Waddington’s blog.

 

Diversity in Comms

Webinar: Diversity in Comms

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The PR and communications industry is not diverse enough – we lack professionals from a Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) background at every level in every area of the country. How can we tell stories to the public if we don’t truly represent them?

The PRCA Census 2018 revealed that while 86,000 people are working in the PR and communications industry, 78% of those (nearly 68,000) are white British, and 89% are white. No other ethnic grouping makes up more than 1% of the industry. these statistics are surprising considering a majority of the industry is based in London, which is around 60% white.

The PRCA’s charity of the year, the Taylor Bennett Foundation, is trying to improve diversity in our industry, making it a more viable option for BAME graduates and creating opportunities with its training and mentoring programmes. We are delighted that for our next webinar, Diversity in Comms, we will be joined by Foundation alumnus Kuldeep Mehmi, who will tell us his own story of encouraging diversity in the industry and what we can all do to improve it.

Kuldeep, a director at FTI Consulting, has been working with other alumni after his graduation from the Foundation to improve diversity for the benefit of all.

The webinar takes place on Wednesday 18 July at 11am (BST). Sign up here, to hear how Kuldeep has worked his way to the top and learn:

  • How diverse our industry truly is and why diversity matters
  • What the Taylor Bennett Foundation is doing to promote diversity and how you can help
  • How we can change attitudes to improve the PR and comms industry

If you’d like to ask a question before the webinar, you can tweet us directly @Vuelio and we’ll get through as many as we can! 

Access Intelligence chairman

Christopher Satterthwaite appointed Chairman of Access Intelligence plc

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Access Intelligence plc, a leading supplier of Software-as-a-Service solutions for communications and reputation management, and owner of Vuelio, has appointed Christopher Satterthwaite, the former Chime plc chief executive, non-executive Chairman. He takes over from Michael Jackson, who will remain on the board as a non-executive director, on 1 September 2018.

Satterthwaite spent 15 years as chief executive at Chime where he remains a non-executive director. During Satterthwaite’s tenure as chief executive, Chime grew operating income from £54m (in 2003) to £246m in 2016. In 2015, he oversaw the sale of a majority stake in the business to Providence Equity Partners for £374 million.

He was also the senior non-executive director at Centaur Media plc and former Chairman of the Marketing Society and The Roundhouse. He became a CBE in 2017 for services to the arts.

Satterthwaite said: ‘I’m delighted to be joining a market-leading company in this sector at such a dynamic time in media, politics and communications. Reputation management is more important to business success than ever and technology is transforming how communications are monitored and managed.

‘Vuelio, the group’s flagship reputation management and comms platform, is supporting public relations and communications professionals through this disruption and helping them take advantage of these changes.’

Joanna Arnold, CEO, commented: ‘We are tremendously excited about Chris joining us and bringing his extensive media and communications experience to the team. He could not be better placed to help us steer the Vuelio business as we look to capitalise on further disruption in the communications and reputation management market and take advantage of numerous new opportunities.’

Bojo

Political Headlines – BoJo out, May’s new cabinet, Williamson blaming Russia and Farage’s earnings

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Today’s Political Headlines includes Johnson’s resignation, the first meeting of the revamped cabinet, Williamson blaming Russia for Dawn Sturgess’ death and Farage’s high earnings. 

Johnson resigns, launching attack on May’s Brexit proposals
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson’s resignation dominates today’s papers. The Times carries details of his resignation letter, in which he asserts that the Brexit ‘dream is dying’ and that the UK is ‘truly headed for the status of colony’. The paper adds that the Prime Minister has vowed to fight a confidence vote if MPs demand her replacement. The Daily Mail adds that Johnson has faced criticism for staging photos of himself signing the letter. Lib Dem MP Layla Moran described Johnson as a ‘poundshop Churchill impressionist’ and Labour MP David Lammy accused him of being a ‘self-obsessed, vain egomaniac devoid of substance’.

May holds first meeting of revamped Cabinet
The BBC reports that Theresa May is to hold the first meeting of her new Cabinet this morning. Following the departures of David Davis and Boris Johnson, May has appointed Dominic Raab as Brexit Secretary and Jeremy Hunt as Foreign Secretary. Matt Hancock has succeeded Hunt as Health and Social Care Secretary, Jeremy Wright has taken Hunt’s role as Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Secretary, and Geoffrey Cox follows Wright as Attorney General. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has accused May of presiding over a ‘sinking ship’.

Williamson blames Russia for death of British woman
The Financial Times says that Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has blamed Russia for the death of Dawn Sturgess, the British woman poisoned by a nerve agent in Salisbury. He told MPs that it was ‘the simple reality’ that her death was the result of the Russian attack on the Skripals earlier this year. According to the paper, Government officials have said that Williamson went too far in his claims.

Farage has highest outside earnings of any UK MEP
The Guardian claims that Nigel Farage has the highest earnings outside the European Parliament of any of the UK’s 73 MEPs, making between £524,000 and £700,000 from television and radio work in the last four years. The claim is made in a Transparency International report, which also shows that Farage has the seventh highest earnings overall.

Williamson establishes team to consider amnesty from prosecution for veterans
The Daily Mail reports that Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has set up a team that is considering ways of preventing former soldiers from being prosecuted for historical allegations. Williamson told the Commons that the issue had gone on for ‘far too long’.

Commission recommends Government backs just one new nuclear power station
The Guardian says that the National Infrastructure Commission has recommended that the Government only backs one new power station after Hinckley Point C, suggesting that renewable energy sources would be a safer investment. The Commission recommends that by 2030 a minimum of 50% of power should be generated from renewable sources.

Gauke to announce in-cell phones for prisoners
According to The Daily Telegraph, Justice Secretary David Gauke will today announce the introduction of in-cell telephones to prisons in England and Wales at a cost of £7m. The Government says that queues for public phones in prisons are a factor in violence and fuel demand for illicit mobile phones, while improving inmates’ family relationships is a key factor in reducing reoffending rates.

New anti-terrorism laws could criminalise the ‘inquisitive’
The Guardian reports that the Joint Committee on Human Rights has warned that proposed counter-terrorism legislation would put academics, journalists and people with ‘inquisitive and foolish minds’ at risk of prosecution and receiving a prison sentence of up to 15 years.

Political news too chaotic to follow? Find out how the Vuelio Political Services team can make your life easy. 

You Could Travel

Interview with You Could Travel’s Cory Varga

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Cory and Gergely Varga are the married couple behind You Could Travel, the travel blog that was recently ranked in the Top 10 UK Travel Blogs for the first time. Specialising in soft adventure, You Could Travel presents travels for everyone, no matter what your background or means. We caught up with Cory who told us about the travel blogging communities, adventures around the world and working as marketers with PRs.

What makes your blog unique?
You Could Travel is a soft adventure travel website aimed at couples. We know and understand that not everyone can travel all the time, so we want to help others tailor their travel itinerary to ensure their holiday is perfect. We make mistakes so our audience doesn’t have to. We are honest and transparent and we love recommending ways to help our audience become more eco-friendly.

How has travel blogging changed since you started?
We started blogging two years ago. Blogging hasn’t change much if I’m perfectly honest. Perhaps what happened is, with time, we became more aware of our competition and over time we understood what it is like to have your blog as a business. When we started, there were very few people focusing on our niche, but now, everyone talks about ‘off the beaten track’, for example. As with every industry, it’s important to make the right predictions and stay well ahead.

Reach-the-right-influencers-with-the-Vuelio-media-database

What’s the community of travel blogs like to be part of?
It depends as with every industry. We are part of some seriously tight blogging communities where we all help each other. We made so many friends all around the world who we continue to meet during our travels. Of course, there are other communities that are driven by rivalry. We prefer to exit those as quickly as possible as we believe there is enough room for everyone in the blogging sphere.

What’s the best travel experience in the world?
Spending a few months in Japan. Our time in Japan changed our lives and drove us to become bloggers. That country is unique and beautiful. We can’t imagine anything better than living in Tokyo and enjoying a never-ending travelling adventure.

What’s the best mode of transport you’ve ever experienced?
We flew, of course, we took the ferry, the bus, the train…I think so far, we love driving the most. It’s easy and convenient and a little more eco-friendly than flying (it might sound unbelievable, but it’s true!). Our dream is to buy a Tesla and travel the world by electric car.

What’s your scariest experience while travelling?
Luckily, we don’t have many scary experiences while travelling. We tend to be overly cautious if anything. I guess the scariest thing was when we got lost in the mountains in Tenerife and we almost missed our last bus back to the city. We had no food or water with us so we weren’t exactly prepared to camp under the stars. Looking back, it was an adventure of a lifetime.

What should PRs know about you?
We take our time to craft the perfect marketing campaign to fit their client. We always deliver the highest quality marketing material on time, no exceptions.

We have a 100% satisfaction rate and positive feedback from all our clients. We are not just bloggers, we are marketers. We worked in the digital industry as creative and technical directors for over ten years. Together, we worked with hundreds of companies in over 20 countries, so we really do know the ins and outs of the industry.

Varga

What are the best campaigns you’ve worked on?
We love working with tourism boards as the sky is the limit. Together, we usually come up with some explosive marketing ideas that actually work, especially because we understand how to properly target the right audience. In the past, we loved working with Beauty of Japan, a Japan-based company that specialises in activities for foreigners. It was the time we dressed up as an Oiran and Samurai for a day and it was incredible.

Do bloggers need their own industry association?
We’ve been talking about it for so long. I think it would be great if the industry would be better regulated. I would say yes, we do need an industry association.

 

You Could Travel, as well as Cory and Gergely, is listed on the Vuelio Influencer Database along with thousands of other bloggers, vloggers, journalists and opportunities.

Prime Minister

Can Theresa May survive another comms crisis?

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David Davis has resigned from the Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU). There is no denying this is a crisis for Theresa May, but is it a comms crisis that can be managed, or an irreparable rift in the Government?

At first look, the Government’s lead negotiator resigning just months before a final agreement is due to be voted on by the EU seems like a catastrophe for May. Davis’ resignation letter explained ‘the current trend of policy and tactics’ was making it ‘look less likely’ that the UK would leave the customs union and single market.

On Radio 4’s Today programme, which we know is hugely popular among MPs, Davis gave his first interview and said he did not believe the latest Brexit policy agreed at Chequers on Friday was workable. He added: ‘The best person to do this is someone who really believes in it, not me.’

Again, this looks terrible. But how much difference will it actually make?

David Davis has spent just four hours in negotiations with Michel Barnier this year, that’s less time than most people have spent with their kettles. In the background, civil servants have been working on the negotiations with their European counterparts but mostly there’s very little to negotiate because the Government hadn’t agree its position.

On the first point, May can appoint a new Brexit Minister swiftly – which is what she’s now done in the form of Brexiteer Dominic Raab – without any serious problems with continuity. Friday’s agreement means there is also a new position from which to negotiate, so Raab won’t really be caught up in legacy talks.

The second comms win for May was Davis’ timing. As he announced his resignation just before midnight, the front pages of today’s newspapers were already decided and the majority now won’t be able to cover the story in full until tomorrow. That means Raab has a chance to change the conversation. It also means that today’s story of Davis’ resignation is shaped by the (generally) less partisan broadcast media.

Davis may have missed the papers deliberately, which would suggest a kindness towards May and her position. Or perhaps his timing shows how fragile the Government is. Davis said on the Today programme that he did not intend his resignation as a means to bring down May, as the optimum time for that would have been after the previous election. He also said a leadership contest would be the wrong thing to do.

So, is Theresa May out of the woods?

No. While she has done everything right from a comms perspective, which is not surprising considering her track record, ultimately the Conservative party will decide her future. The 1922 Committee meets later today, and it is there it will be decided if May has had one crisis too many or if the Party can’t afford the chaos of a leadership challenge and, potentially, another general election.

Thanks to ComRes, we now know where the Tories get their news, which means we know the sources that may help to influence the party members’ decision on May’s future. The Conservatives favour Sky News, Guido Fawkes, Andrew Neil, Quentin Letts, Matthew Parris, Daniel Finkelstein and Fraser Nelson. Keep your eyes peeled.

David Davis departs

Political Headlines – David Davis, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Carillion and electric cars

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Today’s Political Headlines includes David Davis’ departure, Jacob Rees-Mogg’s warning, the Carillion report and new homes to feature electric car chargers. 

David Davis quits, leaving Cabinet ‘in crisis’
The Times says that the Cabinet is ‘in crisis’ following the resignation of Brexit Secretary David Davis late last night. In a letter to the Prime Minister, Davis said that ‘the current trend of policy and tactics’ was making it less likely that the ‘mandate of the referendum’ and manifesto promises to leave the customs union and the single market could be delivered. Friend of Davis tell the paper that he has also felt ‘ignored’ by May.

Jacob Rees-Mogg warns that he’ll vote against May’s proposed deal
Writing in The Daily Telegraph, Jacob Rees-Mogg has warned that he and other Eurosceptic Conservative MPs will vote against Theresa May’s proposed deal with the EU. He accuses the plan of ‘defeatism’ and ‘managing decline’ rather than focusing ‘on the world of opportunity outside the EU’. Theresa May has also written for the paper, claiming that her new strategy is ‘necessary to move the negotiations forward’.

Report into Carillion warns of flaws in Government outsourcing
The Guardian carries the findings of a report by the Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee into the collapse of Carillion. The report concludes that the Government’s ‘aggressive approach to risk transfer’ has led to companies taking on unacceptable financial risk. It also finds that the Government often does not understand risk levels and fails to recognise the level of quality being offered by different bidders.

New homes to feature chargers for electric cars
The Times reports that new homes and all new streetlights will have to feature chargers for electric cars under the Government’s plan to ban the sale of new diesel and petrol cars by 2040. Transport Secretary Chris Grayling is to claim that the plan will be ‘the biggest overhaul in road transport technology’ since the motorcar was developed, although the paper adds that environmentalists are likely to criticise the plan for being unambitious.

Report highlights role of defence in the UK economy
The Guardian says Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has published a report by former defence minister Philip Dunne which claims the military has ‘played an integral role in British prosperity’. Meanwhile, the BBC covers a new report by the Centre for Entrepreneurs that calls for use of veterans’ knowledge and experience to improve defence innovation.

Ofsted head to warn against minority groups dictating school policy
The Daily Telegraph previews a speech to be given to Police Exchange by Amanda Spielman, Ofsted’s Chief Executive, today. She will warn that schools must not permit minority groups with a ‘sense of religious or cultural entitlement’ to influence policies on uniform or the curriculum, and say that schools should teach children about being a British citizen.

NHS needs £18bn just to fill ‘gaps’
According to analysis by NHS Providers featured in The Times, the NHS needs to spend £18bn over the next three years just to meet targets, deal with backlogged maintenance and improve staffing levels and finances. The organisation, which represents NHS trusts, said that ‘filling the gaps’ would take up ‘much if not most of the new money’.

Fallon tables amendment to prevent prosecution of Troubles veterans
In an exclusive, The Sun reveals that former Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon is to table an amendment to the Northern Ireland Budget Bill today to prevent money from being spent on prosecuting British military veterans who served in Northern Ireland during the Troubles and are accused of murder, manslaughter or homicide during their service.

Are you notified of the biggest political news as it happens? Find out more about Vuelio Political Services. 

Five Things: MPs and the media, Eddie Mair, Pride, Copyright and It’s Coming Home…

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This week’s Five Things includes a top story from ComRes about where MPs get their news, Eddie Mair leaving the BBC for LBC, Pride in London, Copyright law rejected in the EU (for now) and football, which is, I believe the saying goes, coming home.

1. Where do MPs get their news?

PollsterComRes has asked 151 MPs for their favourite news sources to see where our leaders are getting their news. The BBC News Channel is the most popular news ‘programme’, followed by BBC Radio 4 and BBC 6 O’Clock News/BBC News at Ten. For Labour MPs, BBC News is the most popular but for Conservatives it is Sky News.

The Evening Standard is the most popular daily print newspaper, read at least twice a week by 45% of MPs, followed by The Times (36%), The Daily Telegraph (27%), Daily Mail (22%) and The Guardian (21%).

Online it’s a different story, The Times is the most popular site, followed by The Guardian, Mail Online and The Daily Telegraph.

In terms of blogs, it will perhaps come as no surprise that Guido Fawkes is the most popular political blogger – read by 28% of all MPs. It is far more popular among Conservatives – 50% read it – than Labour – only 5%. HuffPost is the second most popular ‘blog’, but only read by 7% of MPs (11% of Labour but no Conservatives). The rest of the list breaks down along party lines as you’d expect.

For favourite broadcast journalists – Andrew Neil is the most popular, listed by 21% of MPs as a favourite (though again, party lines means that’s 36% of Conservatives and only 5% of Labour). BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg is second on 17%, and the rest (from Peston through to Crick) all manage less than 4%.

And finally, for favourite print journalists, there’s less of a distinction among favourites; Quentin Letts tops the list being chosen by 5% of MPs, then Matthew Parris, Daniel Finkelstein and Fraser Nelson on 4%. Party lines split as you’d imagine.

 

2. Eddie Mair leaves the BBC

LBC

It’s the end of an era, you might say. Eddie Mair, long-time presenter of Radio 4’s PM programme, has announced he is leaving the BBC after 30 years. In a statement, Mair said: ‘I thought this was the appropriate moment to step out and give someone else a chance, before I’m so old my sentences make no lasagne.’

Shortly after the announcement, LBC confirmed Mair would be joining the station to host a new show from September. The talk-radio broadcaster continues to grow in popularity, with its highest ever listening figures recorded in May.

Despite suggestions to the contrary, Mair has explained the decision is not motivated by money, or anything to do with the BBC’s ongoing pay issues. The veteran presenter had even offered, in writing, to take a pay cut from his salary of £300,000-£350,000 a year.

 

3. Everybody Say Love

Pride

Tomorrow is Pride in London and to celebrate, Vuelio has published the Top 10 LGBT+ Ranking. We also spoke to a number of leading bloggers, including top spot Justin Myers, of the Guyliner, Kate Everall, one half of LesBeMums, and Jamie Beaglehole, one half of Daddy & Dad.

Also, this week, Theresa May announced an LGBT Action Plan to ‘end anti-LGBT hatred’. While it goes some way to tackle issues facing the LGBT+ community, our bloggers feel it leaves a little to be desired – Kate said: ‘It doesn’t take much research to see Theresa May’s voting history when it comes to LGBT+ rights’, and Justin said: ‘Some of these action points are just previous pledges rehashed’.

Pride was also celebrated this week with the first LGBT STEM Day, an international day celebrating LGBTQ+ people in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

London magazine Shortlist has this week published its Pride issue, which required every advertiser to support Pride and have their adverts framed by a rainbow border. Other brands to get involved include for Pride include the RSPB, the Royal Mail, Senate House, Lloyds Bank, Crufts, Great Western Rail, Southbank, Lorraine and Skittles (by no means an exhaustive list).

And one final mention for DublinBus and its tear-jerker Proud Dads campaign:

 

4. Copyright law rejected

YouTuber

EU lawmakers have voted to reject changes to copyright law that would have meant tech companies had to share more of their revenues, and memes may have become extinct. The vote was 318 against and 278 for, so the battle for ‘internet freedom’ is by no means over, with a second vote due in September.

There are a number of articles in the law that have caused concern, including a ‘link tax’ where the likes of Google and Facebook would have to pay for showing extracts and snippets of publishers’ content in search results and on feeds; and the ‘meme law’ where platforms would be liable for content uploaded by users that infringed on copyright. The second one was seen, among other things, as the potential death of memes, which are often made from copyright protected material. There are a number of notable names on both sides of this argument, so expect September’s vote to start it all up again.

In a second piece of copyright-law-online news this week, YouTuber Paul Davids has been called out for breaching copyright on YouTube. Bizarrely, it’s his own content that he’s infringed, and someone else who stole his music is seen as the original creator. Paul has very magnanimously allowed the other musician to continue using his track – and thanks to this BBC article – everyone now knows the truth.

 

5. It’s coming home

It's coming home

In the UK, 23.6 million people watched England’s penalty shootout against Colombia (spoiler: England won – the first time it has won a World Cup shootout ever), making it the most-watched five minutes of television since the Olympics.

Whether you believe goalkeeper Jordan Pickford had all six infinity stones in his glove, or were just there for Gareth Southgate being a decent human being (check out #GarethSouthgateWould), one thing has been inescapable this week.

It’s coming home.

Did we miss something? Let us know on Twitter @Vuelio.