Government scheme to buy media coverage set to spread its reach

0 Comments | Sunday Herald, The, Dec 14, 2008 | by Peter John Meiklem Media Correspondent

A CONTROVERSIAL marketing scheme in which the Scottish government pays newspapers and radio stations to produce content on social topics may be extended to a range of other quangos and public bodies.

Roger Williams, the Scottish government's head of marketing, said the scheme - which has previously only involved government health and safety campaigns - could be extended to a range of other public bodies such as national tourism agency VisitScotland, development quango Scottish Enterprise and all health boards north of the Border.

Many newspaper and radio executives view the scheme as an essential way to generate advertising revenue in an increasingly tough market. As market share continues to drift online, advertisers are in a position to demand more from traditional media forms, such as radio and print.

However, since the inception of the scheme in 2005 the "public information campaigns" have caused disquiet among some journalists and politicians who believe they are too close to "government PR". One briefi ng for an article from a PR company designed to boost turnout in the May 2007 Scottish parliament election - when the Labour-LibDem coalition was still in power - instructed journalists not to ask people quoted in the piece about negative topics, "such as the Iraq war".

The Scottish government currently spends GBP2 million per annum on the programme, or around 15per cent on the total marketing budget. The publications used are the Daily Record, The Big Issue in Scotland, Fresh (produced by the Sunday Herald's parent company Newsquest), 116 local newspapers, Forth and Clyde owner Bauer Radio and Guardian Media Group's Real Radio.

Williams said the "public information" scheme was a success and that he would consider offering it to other public bodies subject to encouragement and demand from newspaper groups.

He said: "It is something we are happy to talk to the other groups about. But as yet no public bodies have said they want to use it in any great quantity. It would be wrong to think they have been beating down our door."

He stressed that the scheme would not become available to other public sector groups without the "agreement of the media organisations".

Last week, the Scottish government announced widespread changes to the way it buys creative services such as PR, marketing, digital work, research, events organisation and design. It increased the number of government-approved creative agencies on its roster from 12 to 50 and also increased the number of public bodies that buy from the list to more than 60.

Williams said editorial public information campaigns weren't included on the creative roster, explaining: "It is not a service but a specific sponsorship designed to support the kind of campaigns we run and aimed at targeted audiences that we have identifi ed." The campaign deals are negotiated between the media organisations, the government and its advertising buying agency Mediacom.

THE way such campaigns work varies from title to title or station to station. However, they are often centred on a prominent health and safety advertising campaign, for example, the recent Kill Jill adverts by the Union advertising agency, which challenged audiences to consider organ donation by being asked if they would "kill" a young girl by withholding vital organs in the event of their death. Other campaigns have centred on subjects such as domestic abuse, alcoholism and the promotion of a government scheme to give money confiscated from criminals to youth groups.

Under the deal, a newspaper would run a column written by one of the Scottish government's creative agencies on the same topic. This column would be clearly branded as an advert.

However, under some deals - including those negotiated with 116 local papers across the country - editors are also expected to run a separate piece of editorial on the same topic as the campaign. Some journalists are uneasy about this as the articles do not not always carry any branding, or run in the same week to the original column, meaning readers or listeners are unlikely to know the government has paid for the article to appear.

Officially, there is no obligation on editors or producers to run a story on every campaign and they can decide their editorial line on any topic suggested by the government.

But the importance of such contracts to both national and local papers has increased as the advertising market has shrunk. And it has been suggested that government money for this kind of editorial is now a lifeline for some smaller titles.

On radio, the lifestyle issues are examined as part of specialist programmes and - provided the stations do not disagree with the messages provided by the government - echoed by some presenters. One radio expert, with knowledge of the deal, said it had come about because advertisers across the board wanted more for their money: "It's about added value - what more can you do for me?"

Simon Fairclough, director of local paper group the Scottish Newspaper Publishers Association, said the Scottish government contract "continues to prove highly successful for all involved".