PR Spin

The story in the weekend edition of the west was that of Andrew 'twiggy Forrest the CEO Fortescue Metals, when he broke up a fight in Perth's CBD. For his troubles he received a punch to the chest form one of the two men fighting, the spokesman from Fortescue Metals said that Mr Forrest showed extreme bravery. The two men were both much larger than Mr Forrest, one being of Maori descent and the other an Australian Caucasian. I believe this story ended up on the third page in order to connect Mr Forrest and Fortescue Metals as 'hero' identity opposed to earlier on in the year where Mr Forrest was the spearhead in opposing the proposed Mining Tax by the labour government. In that occasion he was positioned by the government as a greedy miner, where as this new story shows Mr Forrest as a hero of Perth. I believe the PR practitioner will drum up as much publicizing about this story as he can.

The end is near

What have I learned? Good question well if we rewind 18 weeks and ask me to explain what and who stakeholders are you would have been looking at a blank, confused facial expression. If you were to ask me to make up a concept about a new out there social network I'd tell you thanks but no thanks, I'd have no clue. If you were to ask me now however I could answer those questions with some degree of confidence. Apart from the intellectually point of view, of learning I believe I’ve grown on a mental and emotional level, at the start of the year looking at all the assignments we had to do and in the time allowed the pressure was on. There were times when it was all just too hard, and I was about to throw in the towel luckily that instinctive "never say die" attitude kicked in (common attitude with short people like my self) and manage to rise to the challenge. From that incident I believe I grew just a bit, I became aware of that if I just keep going and never give up can achieve anything I put my mind to.

My final thoughts about studying PR is that its a very fun and interesting course to undertake, originally I though it was just about being a spin doctor but the course has opened my eyes to the real PR industry. Its an enthralling industry that holds your attention and keeps you busy, I believe in order to succeed in the industry you have got to be able to deal with the stress and rise to the challenges presented before you. If you’re able to accomplish that it looks like it can be a very rewarding experience, i would encourage other people to seriously look at PR as a live of work if there interest lie in communication.

I'm in for "opt-out"

Let me just say i fully support the new "opt-out" organ donor laws that Western Australia could pass. Its shown with reserch that countries with "opt-out" donor laws have a higher amount of donors opposed to countries with "opt-in" laws. Spain (34 donors per million inhabitants) and with Austria (21 donors per million inhabitants) have high donor rates with a "opt-out", than some countries like Germany (16 donors) or Greece (6 donors) with opt-in systems have lower rates. Spains 34 donors per million results in about 1564 donating each year each one of those can the pontenial to save another 10 lives resulting in 15,640 people being saved each year. If you put it into perspective the donor is dead so they no longer need them, and the organs could save another 10 people, in my opinon the good far out ways the negative. I can see the view of the family members but i belive that its all for the greater good, and i hope they would view it the same way.

lock outs will it work ?

I believe that the lock outs won’t really have all that much effect in what they hope it will, I mean what do they hope to achieve by have lock outs, it'll just mean that at a certain time you'll have to stop migrating from club to club. I don’t see how it will counter act anti social behavior, if you have a drunken boofhead at 10 what's the difference to having a dunking boofhead at 2? Nothing an egg is an egg anyway you look at it. I believe they have taking the complete wrong direction in this new lock out idea. Take another stupid idea for example the alcopops tax, it was only a small inconvenience, if it was a inconvenience they would just swap to cheap wine or sprits which is far worse than a fizzy premix. I can see the collection between the two it’s only going to be a small inconvenience, and it’s going to result in more just walking the streets in Northbridge where they have more chance of injuring they selves or others and causing an inconvenience to the police. My idea, isolate the individuals issue them with a ban of Northbridge for a certain number of weeks if they break the instruction, then they can be prosecutable. There encourages the trouble makers to buck there ideas up or they won’t be tolerated in Northbridge.

PR think of the possibilities

Public Relations, I you look around right now nearly everything can be traced back to public relations one way or another it affects most things in today’s modern society and the industry is only going to get larger. The sheer diversity in terms of jobs in the PR industry is staggering; you can be working for anything form a mutli billion dollar mining company to being a PR officer in the Australian army, or even a personal PR agent to celebrities and major sporting stars. The opportunities and diversity are all there all you have to do is be willing to reach out and grab it. If you’re more concerned about serving a cause public relations can help you achieve that, saving the environment by working for a non-for profit charity or help shape Australia by working for the government. What it all comes down to is, ask not what you can do for PR, but what can PR do for you.

A Hot Bowl of Rice

I apologise in advance for the lateness of the blog and the slackness, but without further a due my opinion.

Boy, did Stephanie Rice really slip up. I mean what was she thinking when she posted that comment on twitter, she must of known that twitter being a social networking site would automatically mean that whatever she posts is going to be noticed. If she just posted something along the lines of "carn the wallabies" she would of shown the same message she intended to mean without the offensive and demeaning language. I believe Rice was wrong in using such language on a social networking site and in general, but I believe that the dumping of her at the hands of Jaguar was somewhat uncalled for. I can see where Jaguar is coming from in not wanting to be portrayed in such a negative light, but at the press conference she held I believe she did appear truly remorseful. I believe the slamming of the comment and Rice was called for but the termination of the Jaguar contract was a step too far, for a single spur of the moment stupidity.

This, That and Everything in Between

I originally signed up for this course to get me into University, to study sport science, but now that I've been in this course I'm actually quite interested in Public Relations. I believe that I've changed quite a bit, since joining this course, especially in comparison to my high school days, I'm definitely more organised and committed to doing the work. I believe that I will be able to complete this course and i hope to do the Diploma course next year. My only concerns is that i have my doubts about actually going into the industry, i personally find it very hard to sit still, I'm actually struggling right now. From what I've done in the course so far it dose involve a lot of sitting a writing, but i do enjoy the communication side, and the hands work for Karrinyup. I believe that though this course i will develop my public speaking. I look forward to term 2 and the execution of the Go Red for Women campaign.

6 word story

Summer sun drinking mates loving beach.

Glass in clubs, Whats the point ?

As a relative newcomer to the night life spectacle of clubbing, luckily i haven't been expose to all that much violence that's associated with not only Northbridge, but clubbing in general. In saying that i can not allow myself to become oblivious to others that are unfortunately being exposed to and in some cases targeted with violence.

In particular glassing is on the rise,which is potentially fatal. The most recent victim of a glassing attack Sean, from Kingsley was struck in face with a glass object.From what he can remember, Sean believes he was walking towards the toilet when he was hit on the left side of his head. This senseless and unprovoked attack resulted in between 80 and 100 stitches to repair the cut to his face and neck the glassing severed veins and arteries in his neck, as well as some nerves in his face.

I believe that the introduction of plastic cups to clubs is vitally needed to curb this anti-social behaviour. There has been some opposition to the introduction of plastic cups, i personally cant see any difference between drinking from a glass opposed to drinking from a plastic. It would not only eliminate glassing cases but also save the clubs money for plastic is far cheaper than glass.

Sooner the plastic the better clubbing will be.

The election 2010 so far ......

If you were to ask me who i was going to vote for i would have to reply, i don't know. Every one of the parties has there good idea's and there down right stupid ones as well, so i cant really choose one at the moment i am leaning towards probably the greens just because they can mediate the two big groups and there stupid policies wont get through.

The Liberal put up a good fight for my vote i mean, they have proven in the past that they are good economical manages and they will get tough on refugees, and crime at a local level. The one major problems i have with the liberals is the workchoices which is the stupidest and perhaps the most greedy policy of all time.

Labour, for just doesn't cut it the entire last term they just had no back bone and where unable to commit i mean take the whaling in the southern ocean they did nothing basically to repremand Japan's slaughter of our innocent whales. There stance on refugees, i mean did they even have a stance because it sure didn't look like it. The shear way that there leader, Ms Gillard got to power was a cruel unaustralian stab in the back. I definitely not voting for Labour.

The greens as stated at the top is my preferred party because they can mediate the major parties and there stupid policies wont get in for example there policy to ban meat, i mean come on seriously just a bit radical.

My final opinion is that all the politician we have at the moment are out of date and out of touch and certainly past there use by date. In my opinion a major shake up of the parliament is needed, for example new blood and fresh ideas.

The Special Moment that Lasted 10 Days

This special moment happened this year actually about June time, but before i tell you about the moment or moments let me give you the back story. About mid way though last year (2009) i was wondering what i should do next year, i decided that putting my name into the ballot for the STS Young Endeavor youth program would be fun but the chances of getting pick were slim at best, but as fate would have it early this year i received a call saying they would like to offer me a spot on the Newcastle to Brisbane voyage. Needless to say i was a bit apprehensive of going on a boat that rocked in the waves with a bunch of strangers that i had never met before in a state far away from my home. Eventually i agreed to go on the adventure.

It all began in the port city of Newcastle on the north eastern coast of New South Wales, previously there had been a mini tornado a few kilometers up the coast the day before needless to say but there was torrential rain, and the waves out side the bay looked a bit like a washing machine. After we had spent the first day in port learning the basics, we headed out into the unknown and the storm. it was in that storm that my physical and mental boundaries would be pushed. The first of them was the seasickness, i have never felt so bad and doubt i ever will it was like shear death. Which made all the other things i did with the sickness all the more challenging like mid storm when my watch had guts watch which is from midnight to four in the morning (the worst of all the watches) we were ordered to untie one of the main squaresail. Now i am not one for heights, being a shortie my self but this really pushed my comfort zone 30 meters up, wind and rain blasting you, and the boat rocking violently, all this while your standing on a thin bit of rope, undoing the sail. Mind you the biggest motivation was that i wasn't alone up there, my whole watch was up there with me, so i had the feeling i couldn't let them down. That is perhaps my most memorable moment and then arriving at Jail Bay to a beautiful red dawn, magical. The best cure for sea sickness is hugging a tree and that's just what i did.

How Blogging is PR

Public Relations is its most basic form is connecting a company, corporation, or high profile figure to the public, and establishing trustworthy relationships with them. How does blogging help this ? It helps by allowing the public to follow a company, corporation, or high profile figure though there day to day working's. this helps establish that there not just a name there are people behind the name, that has a personality and a history. This is especially useful when your a company or a high profile figure that relies on the public to support them or buy there consumables and products.

The blogging aspect also is conducted on the Internet to which in Australia/Oceania 61.3% of the population is connected to. This allows mass communication across the country and global region. I also believe that due to the nature of blogging it is a medium that focus towards connecting to the techno savvy youth of today, by sharing similarities with popular social networking sites like facebook, myspace and twitter.

That is my personal view of why blogging is useful in Public Relations.

And It Begins

Well so this is the first of what i assume will be many a more blogs. I believe i will blog it up, one would say i am the blogage. Is "blogage" a real word ?? In any case it should be, its nearly as awesome as "spewin". My friends are of the opinion that i over use it, where as i am of the opposite i under use it. Also another thing is that i am a terrible at spelling even the simplest of words thats why spellcheck is my god. Without further adue i will introduce my self to the bloging community.

name: Hartley Benjamin Akhurst (yes my first name is Hartley it's legit)
DOB: 14/03/1992
home: i was born in Perth, i have lived my entire life in Perth.
about me: i like to have fun like most other normal people, my weekends are spent either working for the man at Target Innaloo, getting pissed or playing football (soccer).

ummmmm................ what next?

I am part kiwi and part english but as stated above aussie born and proud of it.I've done a fair bit of traveling around the world such places include London, Hong Kong, bulk Australian cities and bulk New Zealand cities too. You could say New Zealand is my second home, i will elaborate on it in a later blog. My fav movies are Star Wars, Law Abiding Citizen (so good), all the movies by Judd Apatow (fav producer? i think he's the producer or director), The Hang Over ( AWESOME!), Black Hawk Down, Band of Brothers ( not really a movie but a mini series), the old Adam Sandler movies e.g. Mr Deeds, Happy Gilmore, Waterboy and so on .....

Saw toy story 3 the other day that was pretty good as well aye.

I suppose thats about it.