The Press and ......

[asra]

The Press!

[Adrian S]

Llewella,Well said . As one of the ASRA investigators that has recently had to investigate the death of a gyro pilot who was part of a WA team taking part in a epic trip and has been hounded by the press on many other occasions since I volunteered to help the ASRA membership, I certaininly dont appreciate the sniping behind the scenes from our own members.Adrian >

[NiqueNaque]

Hmmm,I think the silence from here on will be deafening...So what is involved in the position of being a publicity officer??Cheers,Nick.

[GraemeMonro]

Thankyou Llewella.I support your post 100%.

[birdy]

This realy p1sses me off.Why do the bord members repeatedly have to explain them selves?As if they dont have enuff to do now.Ingratitude stinks, and if its in striken range, ill kick the offenders ass.I wouldnt bother with the explinations, coz if they had any balls at all, theyd be on the OFFICIAL Oz gyro website and sort it out ere.

[asra]

[birdy]

That counts me out then ay.

[Des Garvin]

yeh Davo being a Super Cow Grower, ya can"t do both ;D But then a gain they the press would have to find you to ask the questions wouldn"t they. Oh the advantage of the outback. 8)Well posted Llewella and thanks for the explanation of your press handling on our members behalf. Des Garvin

[Ken Watson]

I agree totally, you shouldn"t judge a person till you"ve walked a mile in their shoes.I have got real small feet and big shoes wont fit me, and Bird prefers double bungers.. I hope some middle ground can be found between board members. I think an attempt should be made to put the past in the past. When we have such bad incidents occurring we need a level of stability. We dont want the publics perception of us to get worse than it already is. It"s a shame the press neglects to follow up these tragedies at a later date, when more conclusive findings are available. Speculation is always just that. Ken

[asra]

Llewella,A suggestion. If you think ASRA is bad, you should try conducting media relations for the timber industry. I won"t go into gory details, but the timber industry developed a strategy of "Press Releases". At every event, a press release was sent to the media. Thats it. No further correspondence entered into. It"s a strategy we pinched from the Greens. The press are gunna print a story, so make it the story you want printed.The other thing that might be useful re your post above. This site used to be the premier site for gyros and gyro info in this country, and equal to anything the world had to offer IMO. When the site went dead a while back, a lot of people gravitated (gradually) to Geoffs site. Geoff provides a very good service, and most people have stuck with him at least partly out of gratitude for having "filled the gap". Plus he is a decent bloke and runs a good site. There is a dirth of news/info from the board so that people can read and become informed. I know the gyro news is for that, but it goes back to a previous time in the history of communication. Some of the news is 4 months old by the time we get to read it. This site is largely wasted as a communicative device between the board and the membership, as it should allow for hourly/weekly/frequent news/progress updates. People will then form their views based on the releases from the board, not just what "Bill heard down the pub", or what so and so said on the phone (I reckon the gyro movement might just be responsible for the whole of Telstra"s profit, this year ;D). A weekly/more often update as to what is happening etc will probably diffuse most situations before they start, and I doubt that it would take any more time than hosing down the flames once the smoke gets too thick.I know you blokes have got plenty to do, and I don"t believe in making suggestions/criticising/whatever without offering a solution. So, if it will help, I"ll put my hand up to write up a news update (for a while, people might want to share?) if thats acceptable. Obviously, anything put out would be based on board briefing, and be ticked off before posting. Sometimes things would need to be daily. But there should be an expectation of regular posts and updates weekly. But if things are left for long periods without comms, then people will get to thinking (which is a dangerous occupation for some of us)FWIWFred

[bones]

Ok i tried not to say this but i cant help meself,,,,,, F8ck i got a problem.Ok there is nothing that will stop any jerk going out and getting 1/4 of the training required to fly and then when someones back is turned jumping in and trying to fly the thing, it is just the way some people are.The whole thing is i got a beef with is the so calledI was sent a ‘transcript’ by one of the newspapers of what Willi Ewig had said, asking for confirmation. I forwarded it to Willi, as I obviously cannot confirm or deny what was said.As Fred said there should be ONE and ONE only response to the press period once and only once the facts are clear, it is better to be seen a fool than to open ones mouth and confirm this, which is the way the quote, rightly or wrongly from free Willy definately came across, it should be a typed response so if they try to change it you have documented proof ect ect.Frig im just a dumb ass but i never have said or done anything with the press with out documentation, and yes i have be involved in a few of their schemes before, not involving gyros though.Then if it was documented it would take away the problem that Llewella herself quoted in the part about saying they couldnt confirm or deny what he said, if it was in black and white, it is a matter of putting a copy of it up here for all members to read and then that is the end of it.As far as the press calling al the time asking for info, a few easy words to remember ,,NO COMMENT AT THIS TIME, then put the phone down, simple, as for them calling me at 6.45am they already missed me by about 2 hrs, so it not a problem for me HEHEHEENo i am not happy with a lot of thing going here at all, i was under the impression that this was a professionally run outfit, doesnt appear to me lately this is the case.

[Ken Watson]

Thats easy fixed Bones. Put your hand up. I"ll vote for you because I believe in giving everyone a fair go. Lets see how you can improve things. Thats a promise. Ken

[bones]

Thats easy fixed Bones. Put your hand up. I"ll vote for you because I believe in giving everyone a fair go. Lets see how you can improve things. Thats a promise. KenYou know Ken for someone who dont know me from a bar of soap, your really starting to annoy me, and that is not an easy thing to do, as a matter of fact i did try to get involved and couldnt get a start,

[bones]

[Tim]

Just to clarify one small point. The press did not work down the list on our home page and talk to the next person who answered!