Media Clippings and Orangutan Rehabilitation Program

The utmost basic task of any PR trainee in any organisation is media clippings, now as PR students we learn what is the purpose of media clippings and where do we need to source out these media clippings. Now what I do everyday as soon as I reach my desk, I start by going to the pantry to get coffee or make instant oats for a pick-me-up. Then I go to the pigeon-hole of the communication department to get the newspaper of the day or the weekends if the day was Monday. For some it is tedious or even tiresome, but for me I thought of it is like a treasure hunt on getting valuable loot. Why do I say that? Well if there is no news it can be a very mundane day as though the tourism and hospitality industry is not buzzing with news which is quite surprising for Sabah as it is one of the main incomes of the state.

I remembered my first day of being in the office, my supervisor was out on inspections and had to wait for him until later in the day, the first thing I did as soon as I was in the office for the first day was newspaper clippings. I was reading the newspapers that were stacked up high in the pigeon hole due to the fact that the holiday season had just past and the whole population of the communications department were only four people. When I was done with clipping the article and my supervisor is back in the office, I gave him the clippings I have done which he went and check on the contents, at the end of the day most of the clippings were not accepted since it wasn't so much affecting the resort. On that day onward, I learn that the media clippings be it traditional or digital it should be news that can affect the specific business values of your organisation and not the general idea of the industry.

Now in the title of this entry mention about Orangutans, believe it or not Rasa Ria Resort have an Orangutan rehabilitation program that works together with the local wildlife department for 20 years. This program is one of the unique selling point of the resort where guest and locals can visit the sanctuary with a price and learn about the Orangutans. But in recent years, the program has caught on the attention of a few NGOs regards to the program making profit out of the program and the local authorities are cooperating about the matter. This was basically my closest encounter of a crisis management issue in my internship, but what I think the communications department did at the end of the day was excellent.

Here is what happened to the whole crisis. First the newspapers that we had given the media release regarding to the program with the headline saying that the 20 year program is coming to a successful end have been printed out. The general manager's statement about the program has educated hundreds of students and guests over the past 20 years was a good approach to summarize the whole matter. The day the media release came out, every department were briefed on the matter and poster of the press release was poster on the notice board of the staff board. As for me, I was given the job of media monitoring of the press release on traditional and digital media. The furthest the news have reach was to eco-travel news portal in Australia, as for the calls for about the press release it was not hectic as the staff from the sales department were well informed and had responses provided by the communications department to talk to tour agents, guest and even reporters.

Overall, the experience of media monitoring as well as media clippings are important to keeping tabs of the external forces of the organisation and the reactions of these external forces towards the organisation.

Once again thank you and until next time.

Regards,

Lorraine Disimond.

16863147/7E3A1585

Curtin University Sarawak.

Preparing for a crisis

Hello everyone J

This week was definitely a big one for the in-house marketing/PR team at the company* I am currently completing my internship with. The main goal for this week was to discuss and create a crisis communication plan for the organisation in case something were to ever happen. Whilst this was a tricky task, it has been my favourite to date and I was able to use a wide range of PR skills that I have learnt from completing my university degree.

Firstly to prepare I was instructed by my supervisor to read a case study from our organisation’s biggest competitor. This involved understanding how the competitor company successfully dealt with a major crisis with the assistance of a PR consultancy. I was then invited to attend and act as scribe for a three hour workshop/meeting for crisis communication planning. The main objectives for creating the crisis communications plan were to ensure that in the event of a major crisis within the organisation, customers would not be critically impacted and that the brand reputation remains intact with the key stakeholder groups. Attending the workshop was an amazing opportunity for me as I was able to learn a wealth of information.

During the crisis communication meeting, we went over a long list of potential crises that could seriously damage the reputation of our organisation if not dealt with properly. We then decided on a list of key messages which would need to be communicated to stakeholders during a crisis. It was interesting to discover just how much thought and debate goes into constructing the best possible key message for a selected target audience. I also learnt the importance of choosing the right words and sentence structure for a spokesperson representing a company during a crisis. In a crisis situation, an organisation is dependent on the PR team which is why a high-quality crisis communications plan is crucial to have.

This week I was also able to learn a range of different administration skills necessary for PR professionals. This included making spreadsheets with specific information related to customers/clients, creating labels for important mail outs and updating our organisation’s online survey and website. In addition to this, I was also asked to research and compare quotes which I found to be particularly useful. Although these tasks sound quite basic, I had never had an occasion where I needed to do them before and I am appreciative of the fact that I now know how to do them if I ever need to in the future.

Before wrapping up today’s blog post I would like to offer some advice to my fellow students. Firstly, never be afraid to contribute in a team meeting. If you are aware that what you have to say could be valuable to the company then don’t hesitate to raise your hand and say it. Secondly, I find it helps to do some additional research related to your company outside of internship hours. It never hurts to be over prepared and knowledgeable!

Thanks for reading.

- Sarah

* Please note due to a confidentiality agreement I am unable to publish the company’s name