Sure PR

Secrecy Cop Out On Bonuses

2009-06-16T23:24:00.005+01:00

Just seen a news report on ITN about Whitehall civil servants creaming off a total of £26 million from the tax payer in performance related bonuses.

It seems the same story is in today's Daily Mail, click here, which estimates the pay outs range from £6500 to £8500.

But that's small beer when you learn about what Lothian and Borders top cops are trousering. See my Police Box blog on how L and B are trying to hide behind Freedom of Information/Data Protection legislation to keep the exact payouts secret.

But as a rough guesstimate, if Chief Constable David Strang is on a salary of around £130k and he has been awarded the top level 15% bonus, then he is pocketing just shy of an extra £20 grand a year.

And his sidekick, Deputy Chief Freeloader Tom Halpin, on a salary of around £110,000 and based on the top bonus payable at 12.5%, will be helping himself to a nice little earner of about £13k. Nice work if you can get it fellas.

No wonder L and B cops rushed round mob-handed to Fred the Shred's hoose when his windows were tanned in - no doubt seeking advice on how to invest the windfall and how to face down a potential public outcry.

p.s by the way Tom, have you found that missing laptop yet?

Anon Tip

2009-06-05T11:04:00.002+01:00

Sorry for delay in response, might be worth a look. Nothing ventured - and keep in touch.

Cops Forced In To Apology

2009-05-12T19:09:00.004+01:00

Lothian and Borders Police ordered to apologise after taking 1 hour 38 minutes to respond to death call and then ignoring complaints of dead man's family.

Sound like a story to me and its been on two police websites with no-one catching on. Does this mean the press are so short staffed and under resourced that they don't have time to check out these websites or are the sites so dull they are ignored?

I don't know the answer but full details are over on my Police Box blog for any hack who wants to follow it up.

Press Trip

2009-04-26T18:45:00.001+01:00

So there I am, just off Union Street in Aberdeen with five high flying lawyers and Press and Journal snapper Kenny Elrick.

Legal eagles taking part in a charity run to raise funds for art organisations and I'd arranged for the briefs to be kitted out in their running gear for the P and J pic. I'd joked in the office I was only along to revel in their embarrassment.

So Kenny is setting up the shot and I'm trying to keep out of the way and thinking I'm being helpful I move his camera bag nearer to where he is working. Also a bit of a habit after working for years with photographers in areas where the locals wouldn't think twice of half-inching the gear given half a chance.

But I'm still in the way - and then it happened. As I moved, my foot got caught in the handle Kenny's camera bag. But this wasn't just a little tumble - the sort where you hope no-one notices and you just carry on as normal.

This was a full-blown Olympic medal winning heid-first dive in to the turf. No hands to save me - cos I'm carrying his damn bag. Sprawled full length, the tin flute is covered in mud and there is no way of recovering gracefully. As I pick myself up the lawyers are bent over double in hysterical laughter, as I would be if it was someone else who had gone for a burton.

And to add insult to injury, across the street there are a couple of geezers having a fag outside a social club and they are also poorless, gesturing that they have caught the episode on a camera phone.

It turns out the social club smokers were joking about getting my belly flop on camera so it won't be appearing on YouTube, thank God. As for the end result - the P and J used the words but not the pic. Welcome to the world of PR.

Tip

2009-04-23T22:59:00.002+01:00

To the anon comment poster timed 22.36 and started "Oh look . . "

Working on it. Keep 'em coming please.

Stephen Rafferty

Daily Record On The Boyle With Susan's First Record

2009-04-17T17:29:00.003+01:00

Daily Record features hack Laura Coventry is probably experiencing a bitter-sweet feeling today.

On the day her byline is splashed across the front page - with what can only be described as a good old fashioned exclusive - Coventry and her colleagues are in the midst of a 48 hour strike protesting at redundancies which have cut a swathe through the title's Glasgow news room and at regional offices in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee.

The story is of course about the Britain's Got Talent and YouTube phenomenon Susan Boyle - the 47-year-old West Lothian wifie who has grown men (including me) reaching for the Kleenex. Coventry unearthed a 10-year-old recording of Susan singing Cry Me A River on a charity CD which was recorded at Whitburn Academy as part of the Millennium celebrations.

While US talk show giants Larry King and Oprah battle it out to be first to get the Blackburn Diva on their shows, the Record was out in the sticks, doing what they do best(most of the time) and digging up a cracker of a story which is bouncing all round the world as I type.

What's also interesting is how this great newspaper yarn can only work properly with the new media tools which many traditional journos are still getting to grips with and by uploading the audio track to their website the Record can watch online traffic to go through the roof.

On a more local level, and not to be outdone by the Record or the likes of CBS - who sent a film crew to Susan's local boozer - the West Lothian Courier were showing they have adapted to the new media world and sent along reporter Richard Mooney to record a video interview.

The Courier hack has a somewhat different style from the fawning US interviews I've seen aired and like a true pro he gets right to the crux of the matter and asks the all important question about how Pebbles (the cat) is handling his owner's new found fame. Susan, in her own inimitable style answers: "The usual cat way, she disnae bother".

Priceless.

NB: Shame on the petty and always-behind-the-story BBC Scotland. Their website claims Susan's Cry Me A River recording has "emerged on the internet". It goes on claim "West Lothian Council features a clip of the song on its website". Go to he WLC website and the link takes you back to the original Daily Record scoop.

Drumming Up Journos Survey Help

2009-03-26T09:16:00.005Z

The Drum magazine is asking journos to help with a survey they are carrying out - read on if you can help - and send your response to news editor Stephen Lepitak.

The Drum wishes to record the thoughts of various journalists through out the UK and see what they think of newspaper journalism at a time when working in the industry has never been so tumultuous.

We’d be grateful if you would be as candid as possible as we’d like this to reflect the thoughts of the UK industry.

Please be aware that we would like to attribute your name and current role to your comments too.

Do you think newspapers will be able to survive the growth of digital?

Would you be willing to work to take on multimedia reporting responsibilities?

How difficult do you foresee graduates getting their 1st job in journalism?

How difficult do you foresee moving to another journalistic role if you were to choose to do so? Is PR the logical choice?

Do you plan on staying with journalism for the rest of your career or would you consider moving into another career field one day?

Deadline for responses back to stephen@carnyx.com is Wednesday 1 April.

Thanks for your help

Stephen

Stephen Lepitak
News Editor, The Drum
4th Floor, Mercat Building
26 Gallowgate
Glasgow G1 5AB

Simon's Lament

2009-03-20T10:40:00.006Z

A great piece - here - by The Wire creator David Simon in the Washington Post and flagged up by Anthea Pitt via Twitter.

It wouldn't be the first time a Scottish police force has tried to get away with "half-truths, obfuscations and apparent deceit". Interesting point made by Simon that bloggers and "citizen journalists" will never be the real deal when it comes to digging out stories that people don't want told.

But sadly this piece also underlines how traditional newspapers have been screwed, with staff and resources cut to the bone, which allows a relentless creep in which public accountability goes out the window. Journos no longer have the time to ask awkward questions and get in the faces of those who are trying to play clever with information which is in the public interest. And as for getting out of the newsroom and building up real on-the-ground contacts who will give you the inside track - it's pretty much a thing of the past.

It's happened in Baltimore and it's heading this way too.

As It Says On The Tin

2009-03-10T08:01:00.001Z

New media-cop blog posting on Police Box here.

Snapper Henry Is Top of the Bill

2009-02-25T19:09:00.004Z

Wee Bill Henry is polishing up his lens for a few last pics at the Edinburgh Evening News.

Snapper Bill has handed in his ticket after almost 19 years at North Bridge and Holyrood Road and finishes up on Friday.(27 Feb)

I had the pleasure of working with Bill at the News and it was a delight - and often a relief - when you heard Bill had been assigned to your story and we were heading out together on a job.

Small in stature but always a big man on the job, Bill was the ideal partner for difficult snatches and stake outs, and you could always rely on him to back you up, especially when the going got rough.

I remember one particular snatch of a pervy teacher in a tenement in Stockbridge. With Bill partially hidden by my generously proportioned trenchcoat (trust me, it was trendy at the time)the poor sod hardly had the time to get the sleep out of his eyes when up pops Bill and blasts him - job done, don't think he knew what had hit him.

Before joining the News in 1990 Bill was a photographer with Leyland Trucks, looking after their PR needs, and moved in to newspapers after a phone call to then news editor Douglas Smith (now Scotsman subs). Two days later he got his first shift and has never, well hardly, looked back.

For the first few years he was the News' West Lothian photographer when there was a separate WL edition, working at various times alongside Scott Douglas, Jacqui Brown, Alison Dewar and Richard Neville (now deputy editor of the P&J).

With impending changes at Holyrood Road and the expected amalgamation of three picture desks Bill reckoned it was time to head for the hills, or at least Cumbernauld: "I thought it was time to bow out. Sometimes it has felt like an eternity but most of the time the years just went zoom. I'm no martyr but if my going saves the job of someone else who has a younger family, then great."

Pretty typical of the wee man.

Bill is having a leaving bash on Friday close to the office - former colleagues can get more details by giving him a call. Gutted I won't make it.

Scotsman's Rab McNeil On Cronin Watch

2009-02-19T12:42:00.009Z

For one day only I am pleased to welcome a guest blogger. Step forward Rab McNeil, Scotsman columnist and sketch writer, who contacted me following my recent post on sex offender John Cronin. Rab was himself on Cronin Watch on several occasions and I thought his email comments should be shared. So, with his kind permission:

"I remember being at Haddington Sheriff Court for him on one occasion, too. Afterwards, it was like one of those normally unrealistic Hollywood scenes you see, with reporters all barking questions at the same time.

He didn't answer any. Not even: "What's your favourite colour, ya muppet?" Or: "What do you think of the Barnett Formula?" Imagine if he'd stopped in his wee fat tracks and answered the latter: "Now, that's an interesting question. You're from the Local Government Chronicle, right? I recognise the picture by-line. Well, when you consider the spend ratio per capita, you find the north of England doing very poorly, while the quotient for the south-east is really rather generous. However, apart from that, I have a very small knob. A bit like an IKEA pencil. Look, I'll show you."

I remember, too, being part of the mob that gathered at Edinburgh Airport when he returned from Ireland(?). Except, they must have sneaked him in or put him on an earlier flight. Anyway, to paraphrase Churchill on Atlee arriving somewhere: "The plane pulled up and nobody got out."
Well, no Cronins at any rate. The poor folk off the Dublin(?)flight looked bemused at the sight of the hack-pack. We said: "We were rather hoping there would be a pervert on the plane."
Passenger: "Well, I like dressing up as a moustachioed nun while my wife reads to me from the collected speeches of Joachim von Ribbentrop, if that's any good to you. The pressure's been building up in me. I'm happy to talk."

Later that day, a bunch of us from the Hootsmon were stationed at various points around the city and beyond. It was in the days when the paper was going through a tabloidy phase (before it went that shape), I think under the redoubtable Martin Clarke. I had to stand outside a social work office in, I think, Nicolson Square.

The trendy liberals inside weren't best pleased. Bizarrely, when I tried to pretend I'd gone away, and stood somewhere off, there was a bloke came out that looked a wee bit like him. I thought it couldn't be, but then again he was a master of disguise, and that social workie anorak looked awfully cliched. I had also to consider that, if I were to let him slip through the net, Martin would punch me very hard in the face when I got back to the office.

So, I decided there was nothing to lose – if it wasn't him, it wasn't him – and, anyway, I was bored off my tits. So I ran after this bloke, shouting: "Mr Cronin! Mr Cronin!" The individual, a real social worker as it turned out, felt somewhat inclined to question my parentage, and acted on that inclination.

Back at Haddington Sheriff Court, I sat next to Louise Batchelor in the press box. She couldn't have been an environment corr then, unless she was after the lesser spotted pervert. The bugger was certainly difficult to spot at times."

Rab McNeil

Cronin Cuts Loose

2009-02-16T17:09:00.004Z

Sex beast John Cronin is on the loose again. Seems this is his reason for being in life - when he is not conning old priests. For a time I had a direct line in to Cronin (although he didn't know that) and it led to many a splash as well as a High Court appearance for contempt.

I love the tale of when Cronin was lifted for robbing St Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh years back. He was questioned at length but refused to stray from his line that he was a bona fide Irish priest and there had been some kind of mix up. His accent, mannerisms, the whole shooting match was totally convincing, which impressed the seasoned cops grilling him but the interview was going nowhere.

So the DS called a halt and gave Cronin the ultimatum: "We're going to give you five minutes and come back in. If you persist with this priest shit we are going to kick **** out of you." He sang like a choirboy.

But if Cronin is rampaging through the country - or more likely in Ireland - it must mean it's time for Scottish Television to roll out that old footage of me and others in the hack pack chasing down the fruitcake as he legged it from Haddington Sheriff Court.

So for a laugh, here is the clip (timed 2.52). Others giving chase are Simon Houston, Stevie Smith (now reinvented as a lawyer) Nick Thorpe and the late Geoff Brown.

Valentine Present Gives The Horne

2009-02-15T15:44:00.009Z

Did you have an orgasmic Valentine's Day? I did – I got a sausage surprise. And even better, it was repeated on Sunday morning. My other half knows how to get straight to a man’s heart.

Her present to me was a batch of stunning sausages made by her IT guru Simon Kane. As well as being expert in all things byte related, Simon has perfected the recipe for breakfast bites.

Simon has a smallholding in rural Aberdeenshire and breeds his own porkers, raises hens and grows his own veg. I was promised these would be the best sausages I would ever taste and with a couple fresh eggs, (include a double yoker, but not including the hard boiled egg meant for one of Simon’s kids and which had got mixed in with ours) they lived up to the billing. What could possibly top this Valentine dish? A small pot of broon sauce made from the apples and plums collected from Simon’s parent’s garden. Mmmmmmmmm. Knee-tremblingly good and I just hope I don’t have to wait another year for a repeat performance.

Sticking with orgasms, I reckon there was a quite a few being achieved round about me on Friday night when we took our seats at the Witches of Eastwick at His Maj’s in Aberdeen.
Well, some strange phenomenon was taking place when Marti Pellow took to the stage as the lead Darryl van Horne.

Pellow was on top form and best bits for me were his Jack Nicholsonesque one liners such as (in reply to one of his New England conquests asking what he had ever done for her): “Let me give you a clue ladyee – it comes in multiples.”

With 98 per cent of the audience female I must have been half listening when I said yes, I would like to go to see this show. And casting my eye around the bar pre-performance it seemed most of the covens in Aberdeen had decided to make this occasion their annual night out. As for the wolf whistles from the stalls – they would put a building site to shame.

Scotty Puts PRs In A Tights Spot

2009-02-13T15:24:00.004Z

Shock, horror. It seems former colleague Scott Douglas has gone and put the Scottish PR world in to such a spin that they might ladder their shiny tights.

Scotty has stuck in a Freedom of Information request to find out the nitty gritty details of recent PR tenders by firms who will be working on behalf of the Scottish Government.

You can take the boy out of journalism but . . .

Looking forward to further revelatons on his blog when he gets the lowdown back from the FOI request. No doubt some of them will be embarrassed when it's made public how much dosh they are creaming out of the tax payer.

Nothing To See Here - Move Along Now

2009-02-11T13:42:00.003Z

Latest media horseshit from Lothian and Borders cops - check out Police Box blog http://police-box.blogspot.com/

Record Gives Fettes Press Office The Boot

2009-02-01T17:40:00.000Z

My old colleague Steve Smith would have been happy with his Daily Record splash on Thursday

Smithy, aka Big Sheep(he's 6ft plus and from Aberdeen, original or what?)revealed how Lothian and Borders traffic cops cocked up big time when they found missing nurse Magdeline Makola who had been missing for 11 days.

Traffic officers from the Edinburgh force were dispatched to Airdrie where they discovered the woman tied up in the boot of a Vauxhall Astra.
But, according to Smithy's sources, the cops would not let paramedics treat the clearly distressed victim until CID arrived on the scene. It's hard to believe but the poor woman was left lying in the boot for some 20 more minutes until a DS with some common sense turned up and summoned the medics before she was whisked to hospital.

The story was bad enough for the Edinburgh force and no doubt their colleagues in Strathclyde, where the car and victim was discovered, were pissing themselves at the sheer incompetence of their east coast neighbours.

But I was curious as to why there was no comment from L and B or defence of their officers included in the story.

The Daily Record are more meticulous than most newspapers when it comes to bottoming out a story so I knew is was not a case of sloppy journalism, so why no input from the cops on such a serious matter?

It turns out the Record, like others in the media, no longer believe a word they are told by the Fettes press office, so they simply didn't bother contacting them.

It's a sad state of affairs but not entirely surprising. In the past year this media office, under the guidance of Dep Chief Constable Tom Halpin, has been transformed from one of the most able and respected in Scotland to a second rate operation which is tolerated rather than respected by the press.

The following day, the Fettes amateurs issued a statement to the media trying to play down the story but which added nothing, and in fact only underlined that the Record's tale was on the money.

The statement read: "Following the article on the front page of today's Daily Record, Lothian and Borders Police is issuing the following response:
A police spokeswoman said: "Lothian and Borders Police can confirm that Road Policing Officers discovered a woman in a vehicle in Meadowside Place, Airdrie on Boxing Day (December 26 2008). In this instance, the primary issue was the victim's care, not protection of a potential crime scene. Due to the level of her discomfort, it was considered absolutely essential that the attending paramedic and ambulance crew determined whether she was fit to be moved. Her health was the immediate priority."

Naturally, the rest of the media ignored this statement and I am sure the Record would have too if they did not have a follow up story on Magdeline's father "demanding answers on cop ordeal" and bunged in a few pars at the foot of Kevan Christie's story.

This £250,000 a year press office - they really earn their money, don't they?

Diddy's Guide To Finding Blogs

2009-01-27T09:50:00.004Z

I'm updating my Sure PR website and one change has been dropping the PR Life tab which brings people to this blog and my Police Box blog.

Apparently this has caused confusion with a couple of diddy readers who don't know how to find my blogs without going through the Sure PR website. Now there could be an argument that their level of diddyishness is such that I don't want them as readers but giving them the benefit of doubt, the blogs can be found at:

http://www.surepr.blogspot.com/

http://police-box.blogspot.com/

You can even bookmark these sites (amazing yes) and there are buttons on each blog which allow you to subscribe so that any time I post you get an email with said post or an RSS feed (probably lost them completely by now).

Anyway, hope that helps the diddies out there.

Press Interviews Easier Said Than Done

2009-01-19T17:11:00.008Z

Funny old weekend and interesting in that the boot was on the other foot in terms of my relationship with the media.

It all started on Thursday with a phone call from Sunday Herald media corr Peter John Mieklim who had picked up on my new Police Box blog after reading about it on Scott Douglas' Black and White and Read All Over.

He wanted to carry a piece in the SH media pages on 'former crime hack having a go at the polis through new media' type thing. During the subsequent interview I got a real insight in to what it must be like for my PR clients when their business/area of interest is being put under the microscope and I wasn't that comfortable.

I answered Pete's questions as best I could but was left with a number of lingering doubts - I shouldn't have said that, I could have put this better, I should have mentioned that and the $64 million question, is he going to stitch me up? Despite his assurances there was nothing to worry about I've been in his position many times and of course have carried out the stitching better than a career seamstress.

It was arranged the Sunday Herald pic desk would call me on Friday if they wanted to do pics but when I didn't hear anything I assumed they've dropped the story or just simply didn't need an image, which was fine. And then on Saturday lunchtime I got a call saying yes, they wanted pics and could I do them pronto.

I nipped back home, changed in to some decent threads and waited for the arrival of the snapper, who turned out to be none other than Karen Murray of Aberdeen agency FirstPix. A tad ironic in that I use Karen and partner Simon Price for any PR pics I need done in Aberdeen and I am usually calling the shots on what I need but of course it was Karen now doing the bossing about, albeit in a nice way.

About 80 minutes later, Karen had what she needed and again I felt a slight pang of sympathy for certain PR clients who positively bristle if they are asked to stand or pose for anything longer than 10 minutes.

The published piece was fine and Pete gave me a fair crack at the whip, it was pretty balanced with a quote from former Scotsman colleague and new media guru Stewart Kirkpatrick and even a blast from MSP David McLetchie for good measure.

Funniest thing about the whole episode was the feeble efforts of Lothian and Borders Police with their "source" quotes (ie press office boss Elayne Grimes).
The source said "Rafferty was well-known among police officers". Bang on the money because I know some of my most regular readers are not just the top brass but also the L and B press office who check this blog religiously. And if they are lucky enough to get a mention it's discussed upstairs at "morning prayers" when Grymes or her lackeys report daily to the Force executive.

With new arrival Susan Lumsden starting this week as number 2 in the press office on a £45k salary and Grymes own pay cheque tipping in at £70k, plus a legion of little helpers, I estimate the media office salaries must be between £200-£250k a year. For that kind of dosh you really expect a bit more instead of "it sounds like he's got a lot of spare time on his hands".

Really guys, if that's the best you can do, you should be taking a hard look at yourselves. It's embarrassing, I almost feel sorry for you.

ps thanks to Shaun Milne for his generous plug - he's nae bad for a Jambo.

Pattullo Recalls Dee-lights of San Siro

2009-01-14T17:05:00.002Z

The Canny Man's. An Edinburgh institution, the kind of pub you either love or hate. It's a hostelry where the landlord allegedly ups the prices at Christmas and any festive frivolities are positively discouraged.

If the bar staff like the cut of your jib you get a wee dish of mini sausage rolls with your pint or a handful of peanuts and if you are really part of the in-crowd you can reserve a table in the bar for your leisurely quaffing.

So I popped in the other night to meet Daily Record hack Lynn Davidson for an after work swifty. La Davidson used to live round the corner and the Canny's bar takings must have suffered after she moved away.

But it was the other journo in the bar who caught my eye, the affable and urbane Alan Pattullo, sports writer with The Scotsman. I've always liked big Alan because, despite being a Dundee supporter and quite proud to admit it, I've always got the impression he has a soft spot for the Hibs.

We got chatting on his way out and it turns out his follically-challenged and equally urbane drinking partner with the familiar face was Patrick Barclay, the Sunday Telegraph football columnist and fitba telly pundit.

Patrick was visiting Edinburgh for a few days as he runs down his time at the ST before taking up the Chief Football Commentator post at The Times. Being the nosey sort I wondered what the connection was and it turns out Patrick, who earns his crust following the cream of European football, is also a follower of The Dark Blues.

Mr Pattullo explains: "Patrick was born in Dundee, went to Dundee High and like me supports Dundee. Dundee were the only team in town in those days I guess.
It's funny how I got to know him which was because of an article he did for the Independent in 1987. It was headlined "Dundee's street of shared fame" and appeared on the morning of the Dundee United v Gothenburg UEFA Cup final second leg and has pride of place on the first page of my first Dundee scrapbook.

"Basically, in the article he tells United fans to stop crowing, cos our European history was just as illustrious at the time. I liked his style! I then introduced myself to him at an Inter Milan v Manchester United Champions League game at the San Siro in 1999 and that's how we became friends."

Alan could have stopped there but he felt the need to tell me The Dee suffer from almost as bad a Scottish Cup hoodoo as the Cabbage - they last won it in 1910 (us 1902).

And from dreaming of past glories at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, (cap 80,018) Pattullo was brought back down to earth on Wednesday when he took up his position on the press bench - at glorious Glebe Park (cap 3960) for the Brechin City v St Mirren Scottish Cup tie. That'll teach 'im.

Birthday Boy Hacked Off

2009-01-13T10:41:00.002Z

What a difference five years makes. This week in 2004 I and other hacks assembled in a hotel for a surprise 40th birthday party for well known journalist pal.

A great night was had by all and included a never to be forgotten Tom Jones-style karaoke performance by a then leading political hack who went on to become a Government spin doctor.

Fast forward five years and said hack is dumbfounded when yesterday his wife and four children forget it’s his birthday. It wasn’t until 8.30pm and only following a tip off from his sister in law that an embarrassed wife and kids were alerted to their faux pais and trooped in with a home made birthday card, a Kit-Kat and bag of Smarties.

Happy Birthday mate – look on the bright side – they’ve got five years to plan your 50th.

Fairburn Repels Borders Reivers

2009-01-08T12:00:00.006Z

One unhappy bunny this morning is former Daily Record colleague Rob Fairburn of Borders Press Agency who was seething over his cornflakes at the actions of certain Scottish newspapers.

It's an old problem and I fully sympathise with Rob and other freelances who find themselves in this position from time to time.

A few weeks back Rob broke the story of 23-year-old Daniel Balfour who was having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl with the approval of the girl's mother. The story went national and was even one of the main talking points on Radio 2's Jeremy Vine Show.

Naturally Rob was in court yesterday to hear Balfour being sentenced and to report the outcome. He was mildly put out when a Press Association reporter pitched up as they don't often venture in to the hinterlands and would need satnav to find a Borders court room. But it was a minor quibble and Fairburn left the PA reporter in his wake, filing his copy a good two hours before the PA version hit the news desks.

Now for the benefit of those not in the meeja, many national newspaper groups pay PA a retainer for various news and sports services in return for free to use copy. So it was not a huge surprise that some cheapskate titles opted to use PA instead of coughing up to the local freelance who freezes his arse off on Borders sheriff court press benches week in week out when PA staff are safely ensconced in their city centre offices.

But what really got Robbo's goat was the cheek of one title in particular who phoned him up to obtain the sort of personal details and background info in the case which is not in the public domain of a court room (and which PA didn't have) and then chose to run the PA version.

A bit naughty you would have to agree and it fails to take in to account the value of having guys like Fairburn on the ground, building local contacts and unearthing this type of story which often sneaks through the justice system without a wider audience.

Hopefully his memo to news desks might strike a chord and news executives will think twice the next time it comes to bypassing the local freelance in favour of the cheaper option. But I'm not holding my breath.

OPERATIONAL NOTE – RE Duns Sheriff Court 7/1/9

IT is perhaps understandable that in these times of economic uncertainty some newspapers, in an attempt to save a few pounds, would prefer to use the services of the Press Association turning up at a Borders sheriff court for the first time in years rather than an established freelance agency when faced with the choice.
This is despite the fact copy from the above case involving a mother who allowed her daughter aged 14 to sleep with her 22-year-old boyfriend in the family home was filed by Borders Press Agency a couple of hours before the PA version arrived late in the day.
In addition, the story only came into the public domain in the first place due to this agency’s constant monitoring of sheriff courts in the area.
However, I fully accept it is a newspaper’s prerogative to prefer to wait for the PA version if they so desire.
But I take great exception to those newspapers who had every intention of using the PA version to then come onto the Borders Press Agency to ask about specialist knowledge of the case and looking for contact details etc.
This puts myself in an extremely awkward situation as I have always tried to be very helpful and provide a thorough and professional service from the Scottish Borders.
As a result, I am reviewing the service provided from this area to ensure that the newspapers who are loyal to the Borders Press Agency are given the priority they deserve.
The newspapers who thought they scored by saving a few pounds in this instance can spend the next few months playing catch up their rivals when it comes to breaking stories in this area but then again that is their “prerogative”.

Robert Fairburn
Borders Press Agency

Cop A Load Of This

2009-01-06T10:43:00.009Z

A Happy New Year to you all. I never keep to New Year resolutions but I have made one which I will do my best to adhere to in 2009.

I've decided I will no longer post items on Lothian and Borders Police on this blog. Let's be honest, last year it was like shooting fish in a barrel and some of it made Grim reading.

This blog was supposed to be about PR, journalism and other stuff which took my fancy but I found so much info was coming my way about L and B that it tended to take over.

Now I know a lot of cops read this blog and never one to cause disappointment I've launched a new blog which will deal with police related news and gossip - and you can visit The Police Box here.

Jacko Unmasks Dirty Doc Ewan Crawford

2008-12-19T13:35:00.008Z

It was only a matter of time. I was absolutely sure my Dirty Doc story would come round again, so to speak. Back in July I tried to get a couple of red tops to run with a story on a seedy Edinburgh GP who was using his medical practice to take "interesting" photographs of himself which he then posted on to internet swinger sites.
My first port of call had been the Daily Record and Edinburgh based hack Jack Mathieson was given the task of running the pervy practioner to ground. Unfortunately it was the same time as Max Mosley was taking the News of the Screws to task over invasion of privacy claims and the Record and subsequently two other titles bottled out of it for fear that, er, exposing a doctor who was misusing NHS premises was somehow not in the public interest. Strange, but there you go.
Anway, Jacko is nothing if not dogged and his patience and determination paid off as you can see with today's front page and page 9 Daily Record expose on Dr Ewan Crawford of Murrayfield Medical Centre.
Dr Crawford or "BigCchris" as he liked to call himself on sex websites likes to get things out in the open so congratulations to Jack for obliging with this full frontal assault which will surely end Crawford's career.
The Record's Edinburgh team are out on the lash tonight and I hope Jack has a Christmas drink on me.

Edinburgh Rocks As New Gallery breezes In To Jenners

2008-12-19T09:38:00.003Z

Still looking for that elusive but exclusive Christmas present for your loved one? (shameless client plug alert) How about a signed Bob Dylan print from his recently launched Drawn Blank series. Entrepreneur and art gallery owner Bob Corsie has sourced some of these extremely hard to get works and they are on sale from today at his new gallery on the third floor of the grand old lady of Prince Street, Jenners.
If you pop in to breeze at Jenners make sure you tell Bob I sent you - it means I can bump up his fee.
Jenners Rocks With Opening of New Art Gallery

Cops Issue 'Slightly Unsettling' Press Release

2008-12-15T18:35:00.007Z

'Tis the season of good will and all that but that's not going to stop me having a pop at my old mates in the Lothian and Borders Police press office. This is a couple of weeks old but it's too good to pass up, so here goes.

The famed media office issued a press release on December 1 appealing for witnesses to an alleged assault on two women walking home in the early hours of the morning in Duke Street, Leith.

The victims were verbally assaulted and two MONGS* threw some gravel at them before running off towards Leith Links.
A police spokesman said: “While neither woman was injured, this was an unpleasant incident which left them both slightly unsettled. We ask that anyone who was on Duke Street at the time of the incident and has any information that can help with our enquiries to contact police immediately."

Now, any person of any gender should be able to walk the streets safely without the threat of being accosted by the great unwashed and this was no doubt a frightening experience but let's go over that again - the women were not injured but "slightly unsettled".

And to help track down these ruthless criminals who have "slightly unsettled" the complainers a press officer has been tasked with compiling and distributing a press release to the nation's media.

Am I missing something? Oh yes, I forgot to mention the verbal abuse was "of a homophobic nature" according to the press release.

So, the next time an OAP's cat is abused by yobs or a gardener has his prized shrubs pulled up by neighbourhood neds can we expect a flurry of activity from the press office? Eh, probably not, unless the OAP (or cat) is gay or the gardener is of the uphill variety.

This PC-gone-mad police force will bend over backwards to mollycoddle every minority group but don't expect them to find a deid body lying in a garden or track down a rapist bogus taxi driver who then legs it to Africa.

*MONGS - police slang for Muirhouse or Niddrie Guffies