Bill Thompson has written an interesting piece on the BBC website about how blogging has changed the very nature of traditional journalism.

Bill asserts that it is not bloggers that are leading to the loss of faith in traditional journalists. It is the decline of traditional journalism that is the problem. Journalists, Bill surmises, need to re-connect with the readers. Instead of the old approach of one way communication, journalists need to interact with readers and not shun blogs.

This leads very nicely to the next entry. As Oscar Wilde quipped “the truth is rarely pure and never simple” and the Bloggers - Guardians of Truth piece I wrote seems to be a case of this.

So please get back for the next entry because it promises to be quite a revelation -
I am quite serious on this point.

Chalky Stein (1989-2007) has passed away at 17 years.

Chalky was the companion of Rick Stein the seafood chef who was well known for his television work.

Chalky became a media star in his own right and often upstaged Rick. I must confess that I would not watch Rick if Chalky did not feature.

He was an unlikely star: aggressive, irascible, disobedient and stubborn. But he was loved. And he achieved his profile without a media degree or ambition.

Chalky fans can read Rick’s tribute here.

I am not sure if Jade Goody has been reading this blog or taken the hints given to her last night in the Big Brother diary room, but she might come out of this better than anyone could have expected a day ago.

She has apologised and made up with Shilpa. Shilpa accepted her assertion that she is not racist. And I do not know why but she accepted a conciliatory hug.

Jade shocked at her behavior and outbursts when played back to her when she left the house offered a complete apology:

“I do not approve of any of my actions and I do not approve of the words that came out of my mouth….I look like a complete and utter nasty small person - the sort of person I don’t like myself.

I am not a racist and I sincerely, with my hand on my heart, apologise to anyone I have offended out there.”

I am sure she will do further interviews with the broadcast media as well as the newspapers. If she reiterates her comments she might get out of this with the damage greatly limited. Indeed in the her first Big Brother she threatened to “deck” another contestant much to the ire of the press. She was voted 4th in Channel 4’s 100 worst Britons, “beating” Alex Ferguson, Edwina Curry, Catherine Zeta Jones and Naomi Campbell. This hasn’t harmed her career at all.

So she might be back sooner than you think but not perhaps on a Channel 4 “reality” TV show.

I hope this the last entry on Big Brother; time to move on.

The situation in the Big Brother household continues to grasp and hold our attention, even those of us that do watch the programme know what is happening. It is more than a reality TV programme now, it has re-opened a very sensitive issue: is racism ingrained in our society? And is bullying endemic and tolerated?

It is hard to spot a national paper that did not have the issue of racism and bullying on the front cover this morning. The Daily Express led with “How a reality TV show has shamed our country in the eyes of the world.”

I am sure many of us feel uncomfortable and identify with that sentiment.

Indeed, broadcasting watchdog Ofcom has received over 30,000 complaints and Channel 4 10,000. The former is a record for Ofcom and the latter must for Channel 4 unless something drastic happens on Countdown.

Things are happening so fast that the Keep Shilpa In website states that there were 14,500 complaints to Ofcom - dated Wednesday - and has not updated the continuing surge of outrage.

This website has gone from a small site little visited innocuous site supporting Shilpa in her bid to win the contest to one that attracts over 250,000 visitors a day.

So as the situation unravels it is becoming clearer to see the winners and losers and what PR do they need to do to come out of this debacle well:

Jade Goody, Jo O’Meara and Danielle Lloyd have lost their “careers.” The only way to redress this would be to apologize unreservedly for their behavior when they come out. It would be partially successful I feel if they agreed to it, which I doubt. We might not have seen the worst of the diatribes yet and how would they excuse their behaviour and build a reason for the public accepting their contrition?. I only think Jo O’Meara, owing to being more peripheral, might have the attention deflected off her sufficiently to not feel the force of the reaction that is pent up and ready to go as they leave the house. They are all in for a shock.

Channel 4 is beginning to feel the backlash, but their broadcast media gut reaction is that it is all publicity and ride the storm. They might reap the whirlwind.

Losing the sponsorship of a brand such as Carphone Warehouse must make them think again. Government looking at broadcast licenses must make them think again. But CEO Andy Duncan’s intransigence and what could be taken for arrogance in a recent interview is not helping. Unless they change tack things will get hotter. If they review, act, they can come out of this well and with the viewing figures they crave. I hope they are getting good PR advice: a start would be tackling the bullies in the interview room about their behaviour in a forthright manner. But trading off the sensationalism is too much for them to even reconsider.

Shilpa - her career is made. She has shown dignity and character. It will be rewarded beyond her dreams.

Britain - Gordon Brown had the misfortune to be in India and his showcase tour is ruined. I think it will spark a debate and that is healthy especially as so many politicans and the public have shown their disgust. There will be a short uncomfortable period, but it will disappear. Relations with India will not suffer, especially if the politicans and public contimue to voice their concern and sympathy with Shilpa and the unacceptibility of the actions of the three.

Only the other day I posted a piece on the PR successes and disasters for 2006; it seems as though 2007’s will be strongly featured here.

Is the treatment of Shilpa Shetty racist or just plain nasty; a bad case of jealousy and nothing else?

And is this the biggest PR coup Channel 4 have ever produced?

Channel 4 viewing figures are up: 4.5 million viewers for the main highlights programme, up from 3.5 million on Monday and 3.9 million on Tuesday last week. And the number of column inches in the nationals must be making this the story of the week.

But is this the biggest PR own goal that Channel 4 have scored?

The issue of the Big Brother and accusations of racism has been raised in Parliament by Keith Vaz MP and the Indian government is awaiting a report and will bring up the matter with the British government. Gordon Brown also had to defend Britain’s reputation for “fairness and tolerance.”

It has also made the lead story in the Indian papers although the programme is not shown in India and the reaction is understandably angry in some quarters, resigned to the fact that the world has bigots in other quarters and occasionally nonchalant in a few places.

Does Channel 4 care about this? Probably not. What coverage! better than they could have hoped for.

But Ofcom has registered a phenomenal 19,300 complaints. Hertfordshire Police has forwarded 40 complaints to the Channel 4. There must be many more people that have not complained that feel strongly about the issue. And what about the Indian community?

Has this damaged Channel 4? They have been accused of not acting on racist behaviour on the programme. After watching Big Brother there is a bad taste that remains. And it might stay for quite some time if the issue is not resolved.

And as the campaign for action gathers pace the attention and anger might turn form the bullies who cannot be contacted to Channel 4 for not tackling the issue to the satisfaction of the public.

Any PR crisis should not be tackled by ignoring it and hoping it goes away a la Ken Livingstone.

Time will tell if it is a PR goal or own goal. I think Channel 4 are playing a dangerous game and unless they do not tackle the issue and interact with the audience and public it could be out of their control very quickly; this might only be the start of their problems.

It is great to see Seb Ramsay write the lead for the Manchester Evening News today.

Seb wrote extensively for the Manchester Evening News technology business pages. As I recall at least a page was devoted to technology companies in Manchester; it was double page spreads at times if my memory serves me well.

Unfortunately, the weekly feature was cut around two years ago.

It was for me a real highlight of the business pages.

Yes Ernest Rutherford conducted ground breaking work on the atom here and yes much early pioneering computer work was performed here by Alan Turing at the university. Many would say that is enough to justify reinstating the feature, but the reason should be that Manchester still holds its own in pioneering technological work and it is a hotbed of technology companies.

How do I know this?: the technology pages showed the entrepreneurship and innovation in the city. The technology pages had some of the most impressive stories in the whole paper. I cannot believe that the technology sector has not declined in two years.

Manchester still has something to say and we need reminding of the technological expertise in the city.

Yes, the Manchester Evening News is under pressure as are all papers in terms of journalistic resources. And yes it must understandably have more important priorities that I do not appreciate. But the technology pages were always interesting and reflected an important part of the city and its identity.

I only hope that one day they return.

Today’s quote highlights George Bush bringing up green issues a little ahead of his time. Forget Kyoto, has anyone thought of the environmental impact of the Internet?

If that’s what he meant.

Answers on an e-mail about what he meant.

“Will the highways on the Internet become more few?”
George Bush

Concord New Hampshire January 29 2000

The New York Times published a feature on new phrases that appeared over the year.

It is very American but that is to be expected (no value judgement intended); reminiscent of the glossary found in Douglas Coupland’s Generation X. Still, here are a few that you might find amusing or indeed useful over 2007 or perhaps not:

Hubby sitter: a man hired to keep a woman’s husband out of trouble.

Internet courage: boldness of character that comes from anonymity and distance inherent in Internet communication.

Katrina Brain: forgetfulness, lack of concentration and failure to follow through on activities, characteristic of the post-traumatic stress of Hurricane Katrina.

Sneeze: a television advertisement shorter than 15 seconds.

Spaghetti bowl: the interconnected and tangled economic relationships of a group of nations.

Vice Mail: voice-mail messages disguised as confidential stock tips left on the wrong answering machine.

Zeteophobia: a fear of career-planning. Coined by John Krumboltz, a Standford University professor.

I had a couple of visitors to the blog from India yesterday and it has reminded me of some thoughts I have had about PR between borders.

Manufacturers in the UK and the occidental countries often source products or switch manufacturing to China, India and other developing nations. But as these countries become stronger, or indeed today, they will take the initiative and seek out new markets in the West.

China, India and associates can beat us hands down at production when it comes to cost but they will always struggle to perform the marketing and sales in markets that are foreign to them.

With greater communcations offered by the Internet (including blogs) will PR and marketing agencies be receiving requests to have the marketing from the east outsourced?

A Mandarin version of this blog is under consideration.

Perhaps it goes through established routes. I just thought one day I could be receiving an e-mail from an Indian or Chinese manufacturer asking me to promote them - outsourced PR

Today is Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday and is a holiday in the USA.

Only Christopher Columbus Abraham Lincoln and Jesus have their birthdays celebrated as national holidays in the States in addition to Dr Martin Luther King Jr.

For a chance to see to see one of the greatest and most moving pieces of oratory click here

With a voice it is possible to change the world.