The traditional bastions of serious news have been accused of turning
lightweight
Geoff Mulgan; Demos
‘I think the price war had the effect of putting more emphasis on
titillating home news as well as features. And the broadsheets are
competing for a younger, more TV and computer-based audience which
thinks it can’t cope with heavy news. But if you look at British
broadsheets what is extraordinary is the sheer amount of comment and
analysis. It’s there to the extent it was ten years ago, but it’s
perhaps more buried away. One thing that has disappeared a little, and
will disappear even more, is investigative reporting.’
Alan Rusbridger; The Guardian
‘Some have, some haven’t. I don’t think the Guardian has. We do all the
things that broadsheet newspapers always did. The Neil Hamilton verdict
is the result of two years of investigative journalism by five
journalists. We have as much space dedicated to foreign news and
analysis as ever. G2 gives the opportunity for more serious feature
writing than was ever the case when I joined the Guardian in 1979. But
generally, people are right to be concerned.’
Rodney Brooke; Association of Metropolitan Authorities
‘One of the sad things about the papers is that there has been a
tremendous reduction in the specialist reporters. The knowledge of
issues like local government has been very badly eroded. And that
affects the depth of the reporting.’
John Lloyd; New Statesman’
‘The Mail, the Telegraph and the Times are all fighting to increase
their share of the middle market. A greater emphasis is being put on
people and lifestyle and things you can relate to, and there is a
downgrading of stories on people whose names we can’t pronounce and
countries we know little about. Foreign coverage has suffered in
everything except the FT. The Guardian has played both sides
brilliantly, keeping its upmarket liberal readership while boosting its
lifestyle features, while the Independent is targeting the metropolitan
market with opinion because it’s cheaper than news.’
Neil Churchill; Policy Studies Institute
‘There is a lot of quality journalism about but they’re not always
asking the hard questions. Often the big issues are being shunted out of
the news pages into special sections or left out altogether to be
tackled by elite channels like the Economist, the New Statesman and
Newsnight. There is a need to entertain and perhaps amuse and often the
important detail is being subordinated to these two desires.’
..HL.-
PRW # 06:12:96
CAMPAIGNS: AUCTION PUBLICITY; Success for sale of the century
..BL.-
By ROBERT GRAY
..XP.-<>
Page_08
Photograph (omitted)
Client: Christie’s International
PR Team: In-house and Hobsbawm Macaulay Communications
Campaign: Mauerbach Benefit Sale
Timescale: December 1995 - November 1996
Cost: Undisclosed
The Mauerbach Benefit Sale, held in Vienna on 29-30 October 1996, was
unquestionably one of the most emotionally charged auctions ever to take
place. The 8,000 lots on offer had been plundered from Austria’s Jewish
community by the Nazis immediately before and during the Second World
War.
In 1995 the Austrian Government transferred ownership of these items to
the Federation of Austrian Jewish Communities which arranged to put them
on sale through Christie’s International. Christie’s worked on a non-
profit basis and proceeds from the auction are being used to help
victims of the Holocaust and their families.
It was the first restitution art sale of its kind in the world and as
such was of international significance in terms of historical, political
and cultural issues.
Objectives
To raise the profile of the auction worldwide and thereby boost sales.
To communicate the art-specific and broader historical/human interest
stories arising from the auction.
Tactics
Hobsbawm Macaulay developed the communications strategy for the
Mauerbach sale. The campaign was run out of London, New York and Vienna,
with support from Christie’s offices in other countries where
appropriate.
Israel and the German-speaking countries were given pre-eminence. And,
reflecting the international nature of the campaign, material was
published in five languages (English, German, Hebrew, French and
Italian).
In all, the team targeted 3,000 media contacts but, because of the
sensitivity of the sale, made sure the Jewish press was given
information first. An International Honorary Committee was established
to encourage bidding from Jewish organisations and 1,000 key opinion
formers around the world were sent information at the same time as the
media.
Art correspondents were given personal briefings and Christie’s
organised a series of small talks and events relating to Mauerbach. A
VNR was produced in June - the fragile nature of some of the lots and
the cramped conditions in which they were stored made it unwise to offer
every film crew access to the works prior to the sale.
Christie’s published the ‘largest ever sale catalogue of its kind’ -
with photographs of over 95 per cent of the lots on sale - which was
launched at three press conferences held on separate days in New York,
London and Vienna.
Throughout, the team had to take pains not to offend either Holocaust
survivors and their families or the Austrian government. On the eve of
the sale the Jewish community of Vienna hosted a reception for VIPs and
the media.
Results
The first day of the sale was attended by 1,000 members of the media.
Two additional overflow rooms had to be provided and access was limited
to ten film crews who supplied other broadcasters with pooled footage.
Coverage was obtained in print and broadcast media around the world,
including front page stories in the Times and FT. There was further
publicity the week after the sale when the Sunday Times ran a story on
Greta Fattal, a Holocaust survivor who saw the sale catalogue and
recognised (and reclaimed) two paintings belonging to her father.
Verdict
Evening Standard features writer Mark Honigsbaum attended the sale. He
says: ‘I don’t think PR often coincides so effortlessly with a good
journalistic subject. I don’t want to detract from the logistics, but it
wasn’t hard to sell this story.’
The sale received a huge amount of publicity, in the process storing up
a great deal of goodwill for Christie’s. Moreover, every lot found a
buyer. The sale raised over pounds 9 million - five times its original
estimate.
