Shilpa Shetty, Bollywood actress and darling of reality TV, has caused a stir in India when a rally designed to raise AIDS awareness took an unconventional turn.

Sharing a platform with Richard Gere, the Hollywood actor kissed Shilpa several times, albeit jokingly.

This breaks a cultural taboo in India that sparked off chants of “death to Shilpa” and burning of effigies of Gere across the country; that honour is are usually reserved for the under performing national cricket team.

It all brings memories back of my international marketing module, which highlighted the difficulties that can happen because of cultural and linguist misunderstanding although the illustrations were a bit more lighthearted.

Journalism.co.uk has reported that there has been a blogging backlash against the NUJ vote boycotting Israeli products, with the overwhelming majority of blogs being critical of the decision.

I do not want to go on about the actual vote and its implications, my previous entries covered that ground. What I think it clearly demonstrates though is the power of blogging. The debate has been taken online, opinions aired, discussed and either challenged or supported. Nothing new it that, but it did strike me that the same exchange of views is probably not taking place to the same extent anywhere else, with the possible exception of the NUJ offices.

My last entry concerned the NUJ decision to boycott Israel, a subject that has stirred some passionate debate.

The majority of journalists, and members of the NUJ, whose blogs I have seen disagree with the decision on a number of points including:

• The arbitrary decision to boycott Israel and not apply the same “principles” to other countries of which there are many that are more deserving of a boycott: China, Russia, Sudan, North Korea to name a few.

• The ineffectual nature of the resolution.

• The NUJ should concentrate on the key issues, supporting journalists and their concerns and not be deflected from achieving these aims.

• The democratic nature of the decision; voted by a small number of delegates and not holding a vote of its 40,000 members to truly reflect the union’s beliefs on a point where many members would like a say.

Toby Harnden offers a brilliant critique of the vote in the context of recent events in the Israel and Lebanon. His experience of the region gives him a more balanced and objective view, something you would expect from any journalist worth their salt.

However, he states that the language used by the NUJ was, ” tendentious and politically-loaded propaganda that would be rightly edited out of any news story written in a newspaper that had any pretensions of fairness.”

That is true but there are newspapers such as The Independent that exactly use that type of language. One proponent is Independent journalist Robert Fisk. His coverage of the Israel Lebanon war was, to say it mildly, partisan. On October 28th 2006 he strongly suggested that Israel had used uranium based shells while the UN report was in still in progress. In fact in seemed at a matter of time before it was proven. Fisk’s story made the front page of the Independent.

On the 8th November, not even a fortnight later, the UN concluded no uranium was used although I don’t think the updated article made the lead somehow.

Robert Fisk is no stranger to controversy and even has his own term named after him; the term fisking, a point by point rebuttal that highlights factual errors and analysis in an article.

Robert Fisk’s book on the middle eastern history had such factual errors as getting the birthplace of Jesus wrong to being a couple of years out on the date of the assassination of Anwar Sadat.

What am I trying to prove? If a mainstream daily such as The Independent, which purports to be well independent and fair, is so biased then it is hardly surprising that such boycotts seem perfectly reasonable to so many.

The National Union of Journalists has voted at its annual delegates meeting to boycott Israeli goods. The motion was in response to last summer’s events and aimed to “condemn the savage, pre-planned attack on Lebanon” last summer and the “slaughter of civilians in Gaza.”

No mention was made of the Palestinian Government’s policy of supporting and organising suicide bombing against Israeli civilians. They also seemed to get their facts wrong about the war; was it not Hizbollah that launched an attack across the border, on Israeli territory, which resulted in the deaths of several soldiers and the capture of two? No mention was made of their whereabouts; are they still alive? The Red Cross nor any government has been able to verify if they are still alive as they have not been allowed access.

I do not want to make this blog political. But harking back to my old English teacher, Rory Delargy, “everything is political.” Alan Johnston, government minister, recently asking for YouTube to police content, for example, shows communications and politics are inextricably linked.

Anyway, the actions of the NUJ seem very one sided. We should be looking to apply equally or not at all if the NUJ are going to solve all the world’s ills. I suggest the following to start with:

• Sudan for murdering 400,000 in Darfur since February 2003
• Iran for oppressive treatment and torture of dissident views as well as threatening genocide
• China for massive human rights abuses and illegal occupation and suppression of Tibet
• North Korea for suppression of human rights and experimentation on those viewed as politically unreliable
• Saudi for human rights abuses and torture
• Zimbabwe for too many things to list
• Australia for treatment of the Aborigines
• USA for Iraq

Much of the world has cases to answer. The NUJ surely has the interests of its members to answer as Craig McGinty points out in his blog.

I think Telegraph journalist Toby Harnden puts things into perspective and has experience in the middle east. Maybe the NUJ should have read this before delegates acted on a proposal that many members probably do not want.

I am getting back to communications, as politics free as possible, tomorrow.

The Good: Once again Knut, Berlin Zoo’s media star makes it into the feature.

The media savvy bear has attracted 300,000 visitors to the zoo over the Easter weekend, the usual is 30,000. The zoo’s shares have also rocketed, doubling in a week owing to the interest the bear has generated and resulting in the zoo registering Knut as a trademark. What the bear’s cut of the profits is has not been made public.

The zoo’s PR has been clever. Even though Knut will not be interested in going out with lady polar bears until he is 4, the search for a mate has “begun.” Or at least it will keep the media interested as he loses a little of his appeal as he becomes a big bear.

A rather different story of how a zoo animal boosted visitor numbers comes from China. A man eating crocodile bit off a vet’s arm after he thought it had been anaesthetised. The vet with a regrettable sense of judgment has had his arm sewn back on. The result: curious visitors want to see the crocodile involved. Was it all a staged publicity stunt? What dedication to your employer.

The Bad: James Beresford. He is Britain’s highest paid lawyer. He made an incredible £16.8 million profit in one year by processing miners’ claims for compensation for chronic respiratory diseases and a disabling hand condition called vibration white finger.

While Mr Beresford was making over £45,000 per day his “clients” had their claims settled for less than £2,000, with some miners receiving less than £200. Some even got less as, against government wishes, Beresford’s firm subtracted from the amount awarded. He apparently handed back hundred of thousands of pounds after receiving substantial criticism.

Many claims - Beresford handled 90,000 - were handed to the practise by the Union of Democratic Miners. They are under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office.

The Ugly: Ever thought of organising a party on MYSpace? No? Well, a 17 year old girl in County Durham apparently did. Instead of 50 people turning up 200 arrived, many of whom had traveled hundred of miles to get there according to police.

Her parents house was trashed, money and jewelry stolen. The girl in question is believed to be staying with friends.

Business Connections, the business magazine for North Manchester, is to stop producing future issues. It is very doubtful if the material gathered for what would have been the February / March issue will be published.

The decision to stop the magazine seems to be strategic, with Roma Publications deciding to focus on its’ construction titles.

It looks as though no jobs will be lost editorially, which after recent redundancies at other publications is brilliant.

I would like to thank the editor, Lesley, for her help and for publishing my clients’ articles.

With Business Connections gone I cannot think of any publications, except membership magazines and the Manchester Evening News and a Stockport business title, which are dedicated to reporting on Manchester business. Surely there is a gap in the market or perhaps Business Connections being re-launched.

Rupert Murdoch paid £296 million for MySpace last year.

Did you think, “he must be able to see something we all don’t to pay so much?”

It all seemed a little too reminiscent of the dotcom crash, hence the reservations. Where is the substance?

But what has Rupert seen? You could say members, a captive audience. Or has he? It all depends on whether you can say that the members are a “resource” that will be with you for a long time, a loyal following, a market. Surely that is where the value is.

The power in a social networking site is the members and not the owners of the site.

Well, Tila Tequila (pictured; it is a typical picture and that is why she has so many friends I suppose) is testing Rupert Murdoch’s MySpace on this point.

The MySpace devotee with 1.7 million online “friends” has launched an appeal to MySpace owners News Corporation “don’t sell on us now” (her words) after she was not allowed to sell her music through her pages on the site.

To be fair to News Corporation the terms of use state that there can be no “unauthorised commercial transactions.”

However, the power that a social networking site has is not really in the hands of the owners, other than the owner of the site has the power to work with and influence the members. It cannot order them and keep them unless the offering is really attractive with few alternatives.

If the owner alienates members or the site simply does not hold the attention of the members and users it will stagnate, decline and finish.

News Corporation it seems, as noted by the Guardian, is to use MySpace as a vehicle to sell music. That could spell the demise of MySpace although it might take some time.

Alternative social networking sites such as Last FM are providing the option to buy music online and with apparently better streaming and sound quality.

If bands and music lovers switch and others are turned off by RupertSpace that £296 million is going look like a flashback to the dotcom crash.

Surely the democratic approach is the only approach that works for social media.

The Apprentice is once more again on our screens.

Does it tell us anything about business and why Sir Alan Sugar is a success?

Well, if you watch it it ain’t going to make you wealthy; I doubt if any entrepreneurs are going to credit their success to tips that they picked up on the show.

It is not the point anyway. It is show business. Reality TV. Good free publicity for Sir Alan although I think it can have an adverse affect.

In fact, Sir Alan is philanthropist and a clever man who has worked his way up from nothing. Is the uncouth and dictatorial image real? Does it do him any good? What is he trying to achieve? I think the publicity he gets is bountiful but not as beneficial as he thinks. He is becoming a parody of himself; is that good business?

Anyway, do not waste time on the real thing the parody is more fun.

I think this clip or this one from Jon Culshaw is better viewing.

The Guardian today brought up the fact that blogging is 10 years old this month -sorry about the dancing bear but it was the best available illustration at hand.

There is a lot of debate if blogging is worthwhile. The article by Bobby Johnson presents both sides of the argument although it doesn’t seem to provide a comprehensive answer or enough depth. To be fair a page is probably, (and most of it is images), not enough space to give the subject justice.

It is true that many of the 70 million blogs Technorati estimate that are around are according to Andrew Keen, dotcom entrepreneur and author, are the result of “digital narcissism.” He further says he does “see a social benefit.”

Nevertheless he concedes that political bloggers have demonstrated bravery and have a role to play as they fight for freedom.

And that is it, when used with care and thought the blog can be powerful and influential. And even if it is not, if it does have a small circle of readers as the piece says it can still bring enjoyment and inform.

You get the feeling Michael Moore hates PR professional and who would blame him based on these two clips.

Michael uses what you could say is guerrilla PR against organisations to achieve results. You might have seen Bowling for Columbine and the way that he got the gigantic retailer, Wal-Mart, to stop selling bullets. Ironically, I am sure Wal Mart did not see it, they banned certain offensive records, books and films as part of their social responsibility and if you wanted to go out and shoot someone because you had seen a horror film from so other store Wal Mart could help.

While one can admire Michael for his effective, and often black humoured way of achieving results, you cannot help but think how some highly paid PRs have made it there.

The first clip concerns BMW. BMW, like most German industry used slave labourers to make massive profits and significantly contribute to the Nazi war economy. Even though BMW’s revenues are outstanding (49 billion Euros for 2006) they could not bring themselves to compensate their wartime victims for 50 years. Michael had a go and they agreed to give them compensation although several thousand dollars is not exactly generous.

But it is their PR approach that also amazes. First they send the CEO’s driver to talk to the survivor and the “debt collector” stating the CEO was unavailable!

The PR Jack Pitney, currently Vice President, Marketing for BMW US tries to say that both the slaves and BMW were both victims! And historically the PR falsely states that German industry was forced to take slaves. He further says they had received no claims, which he had no time to check out by the look of the film and is also wrong. What got me was the glib statement “there are no winners here.”

Still a week later a miserly compensation fund stopped the PR backlash and the generosity must have come from the threat of legal action.

The clip can be seen here.

The second clip is really dark humour and got a great result.

Humana, the health insurers refused to honour a policy because it covered diabetes
but not pancreatic problems. The policy holder a needed a pancreas transplant because of his diabetes. Despite turning over $21.4 billion in 2006 they would not fork out several thousand dollars to save the patients life.

Well, Michael ensured that they did by inviting Humana employees to the policy holder’s funeral. If he was going to die why not do it with him there so he could enjoy it before it really happened?

Enjoy the clip here.

And be amazed by the Head of Worldwide Public Relations Greg Donaldson: confrontational, condescending, glib and seemingly unconcerned at times. Michael and the policy holder are just a pain that will go away if you come with some standard phrases.

PR often comes down to a little respect; how these guys got jobs worth, who knows, $100,000, $200,000 or more makes me wonder.