As the month progressed events planning was rigorous and it was media galore!
Planning for the Princess Margaret Hospital open day was underway and Telethon was also coming up so the nominations for the Telethon child were being done. The PR department had to submit the nominees but the final decision of who would be chosen would be made by Channel 7 so PR Officer Kim and PR Manager Melissa were busy interviewing people who had nominated children about why they thought those children were suitable for Telethon.
We met with one of the Neurologists in one of the wards and discussed the children she had nominated and why she felt they were suitable to be telethon child. She was asked to compare and contrast the children and assess things like their cuteness, shyness, how they'd handle questions by the media and appearance. It seemed a bit insensitive to discount children who were too handicapped to answer questions or were too shy to smile to camera, but it is how the media is, people skills are extremely important and it is all about delivery. Melissa asked the questions required in such a conversational and diplomatic way that the underlying task she was performing, weighing up which handicapped child would be better for media exposure, although quite sensitive, did not seem callous.
This was a great practical lesson in Public Relations and the interviewing and personality skills required to be a successful PR person.
We also met with the producer of 6PR radio station, they were going to be broadcasting live at the hospital in the days leading up to the Open Day and needed to run through what kind of interviews they needed to do and what kind of patients and families they needed to speak to. It was very matter of fact and not as glamorous as I had expected. I'm not sure what I expected but I suppose the behind the scenes planning of such things never is very exciting but on the day of the broadcast families were crowded around the broadcasters table and lined up for autographs, it was a completely different atmosphere and hugely successful! It is all the boring planning that ensured the success of the broadcast though which shows how important the boring stuff is.
The second time I was exposed to the media was when Channel 7's A Current Affair was shot at the hospital. Sandra Burns was doing a segment on the history of the hospital and promoting the Open Day. She interviewed several people including Marilyn, a lady who was the first open heart surgery patient at the hospital and was now working at PMH, it was so interesting to hear all the positive stories that make up PMH's history. It is an iconic institution in WA, and many families feel like it is part of their story, that was one of the days I was really glad I had the opportunity to do my placement at such a well established organisation.
The most exciting thing though was getting to appear on A Current Affair which I got to do briefly when they needed to capture a shot of Marilyn at her desk helping a patient, I was the patient walking into the office with some forms and appeared for about 10 seconds on channel 7 the following week but it was the best part of my entire internship!
The same week Channel 10 also did a segment on the History of PMH, this time they interviewed three nurses to get their perspectives on the nursing profession and how it had changed over time. It was interesting how the nursing profession started out with nurses living in the hospital quarters for three years before obtaining their diploma, which the older nurse confirmed made their education more practical and hands on. Today nurses do a three year University course with less practical hands on work to attain a degree. The older nurse also confirmed the uniform requirements in those days were more strict and the black slacks and shoes the nurses wear today would not have been heard of in those days. It was interesting to see the different uniforms that they kept samples of in the archives office.
A Sunday Times journalist was supposed to cover the launch of a book PMH was releasing that week as well but he ended up not coming. This journalist had called previously that day to ask which other papers would be covering the story, something Melissa could not confirm. The event ended up not being covered by any newspapers. The dilemma was whether to speculate and tell a journalist who else might be covering an event and risk losing their coverage because journalists are notorious for wanting to be the ones with the 'scoop'; or tell them it was not certain who was coming, as Melissa had done and have no one cover the event.
It was destined to be a lose/lose situation in my view. The relationship with the media can be a precarious thing at times and this was important to see first hand.
Jamira Thekiso PR 393 Curtin University, Bentley Perth WA
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