Whistleblowing

Last week's Economist highlights a site called Wikileaks, providing a safe haven for whistleblowers material. The process of whistle blowing actually raises a host of ethical issues explored by Clay Shiky. Is the growth of online increasing "our right to know" and encouraging the process of whistle blowing?

Internet censorship

The Economist last week has another example of censorship on the web. This time for putting up a Facebook page about the Crown Prince Moulay Rachid of Morocco. 27 year old Mr Mourtada from Casablanca was found guilty of identity theft and imprisoned for three years although by all accounts the Facebook page is fairly tame.

The French NGO, Reporters Sans Frontieres, highlights that there are now 63 cyber dissedents in prison worldwide for "using their right for free experession on the internet". The Group is calling for a day of action next Wednesday, 12th March against six countries which according to the NGO have the worst record against free speech online. These are: Burma, China, North Korea, Cuba, Egypt, Erithrea, Tunisia, Turkmenistan and Viêtnam.

I am personally interested in exploring the role of PR in defining the boundaries of organisations and of course countries. What is happening in the online environment is that the boundaries of organisations are getting blurred through increasingly networked and global relationships. This is challenging for both PR and for organisations and of course countries. Those which feel somewhat insecure are of course keen to highlight their boundaries or borders, even in the virtual environment, hence the consequences above. I will return to this subject later.

Citizen journalism

Steve Rubel provides a good link to Wall Street Journal and an article on Citizen Journalism or Citizen Paparazzi. An increasing number of pictures being used by the magazines and online media are coming from mobile phone snappers, not professional paparazzi. Apparently the paparazzi are finding that their designated spots at major celebrity events are being invaded by citizen paparazzi. The laws of supply and demand are having an effect on prices as well, apparently they are now coming down from the extraordinary prices which used to be achieved, as was highlighted in the inquest on Princess Diana.

Although hardly a great endorsement of the potential power of online media to enrich the public spere (Habermas); it does highlight this growing trend for collaboration between media and readers; of which the Financial Times social network is an interesting experiment. Do we think it will succeed as it is charging a £2000 fee to join?

US election and having a conversation

The Financial Times carries a major piece this week on Barack Obama and his use of online communicatons at the heart of his campaign. (Obama steals a march with technology.) The article highlights that while Hilary Clinton has made extensive use of online communications, it is in a fairly hierarchical and traditional model of communications. In contrast Obama's team has made extensive use of a riskier but potentially powerful model based on co-collaboration. Note how Richard Edelman has made extensive reference to this concept of collaboration, particularly in a Forrester presentation. The FT quotes "staff and volunteers have the autonomy to make their own decisions.

A National Conversation in Scotland

This week I was in Glasgow running a workshop on social media for the CIPR. Many of those attending were from the public sector and it was interesting to witness the strong interest from public sector organisations to develop their communications online. In particular, the Scottish Government, note now longer called the Scottish Executive, has started a National Conversation about the future of Scotland. The use of blogging by Ministers in Scotland and the strong blogging community around The Scotsman has undoubtedly influenced the way that public organisations are approaching the online environment and the need to broaden the channels of communications with their stakeholders. For example Strathclyde Police is planning to use/or is using online as part of a viral marketing campaign around underage driving and the dangers associated with this.

It would be interesting to trace the development of the idea of "Conversational Communications" as an overarching PR agenda for organisations. Richard Edelman has certainly used it in his blogs over the last few years and his presentation at Forrester is worth looking at in this respect.