For those of us who have actually sat in a newsroom within a TV station or newspaper, we know that the decisions about what runs in the newshour or daily edition can and do change with almost every hour.  The news is in constant flux which means staying on top of shifting priorites and facts is the occupational hazard of any writer or journalist. That's what makes working in the news addictive.  Well, in my case it was an addiction to coffee, such is the adrenaline high that everyone is working on!

Now picture this.  A committee of earnest, good people are sitting around a boardroom table  discussing how to get a worthy cause into the headlines.  As consumers of news they naturally assume they know their story is destined to be picked up and played to audiences around their city, province or country.  They also assume that good work should be rewarded with publicity and because they are perpetually fundraising, this publicity should be offered freely.  As well, they have a spokesperson with some profile who has assured the directors the cache of their name will almost certainly ensure media pick-up. 

Enter the marketing or media staffer.  Addressing these high expectations takes a lot of tact and diplomacy if one is really doing one's job, which is to keep it real. Added to this, the dread that having worked in a newsroom, one is going to be asked to use one's network of contacts to get the story into the news.  In major metropolitan media markets this is, of course, impossible.  The stories that get into the media are the hard stories of wars, corruption, political scandals, natural disasters and so on.  The softer stories about a campaign to clean up rivers or about a walk to raise funds for a hospice are destined to run in local papers and if there's any luck, maybe on a local television channel.  This means that those issues that many find uncomfortable, such as high suicide rates among young native men, or the personal cost of Alzheimer disease upon caregivers, or the erosion of the environment by human actions, don't really get into public consciousness. 

Why is this?  Back in the 1970s I left broadcasting to work in alternative media where we wrote about what was really happening in Latin and South America.  I interviewed one of the Mothers of May Square whose grandchild has been abducted and another woman imprisoned and tortured in Argentina for union activity in the factory where she worked.  I also saw photos of nun's being tortured in the Phillipines.  Back then this news rarely, if ever, made it to the networks or newspapers.  These days, of course, we see and learn about these atrocities on the nightly news, newspapers and the Internet.  I suppose we can thank the  journalism schools for turning out journalists who are interested in covering these painful stories.

What is a charity to do?  I think being a little less "pinkies in the air" about approaching the media is appropriate.  After all, it's these people who are the experts.  Surely, those on the front lines deserve more profile than a short blurb in a local paper? They need to find  their voices.  These issues shake us out of our apathy and make us appreciate what we have to offer others less fortunate through no fault of their own. 

Today on the 65th anniversary of the Dambusters, I watched archival footage of the Dambusters trials. The image of the round bomb bouncing across the surface of the water like a huge skipping stone had a ripple effect on my memory as my father’s stories about his involvement in this project came back to me. He was a young RAF photographer assigned to film the trials at Lake Derwent in Derbyshire, England.

I once asked him what it was like working on the Dambusters' team. His answer told me a lot about teamwork and the work ethic of his generation. The entire team as so closely knit together that even with the class system and hierarchy of rank and file, everyone pitched in to problem-solve the many engineering and logistical issues.

For example, the RAF photographers were all stills man. My father had trained at Kodak before the war in portraiture and like his colleagues had never operated a movie camera or learned how to print a film negative. At first they used still cameras positioned 10 feet apart along the entire length of the flight path. These photographs yielded the first sequence of images of the bomb in motion. The technique was based up the work of the 19th century photographer, Eadveard Muybridge who, commissioned by a wealthy horse owner, was the first to photograph in sequence, a horse in motion.

My father now goes into schools to tell his Dambusters' story to eager teenagers and schoolchildren. He gets very emotional when talking about his war experiences. After all, he was only twenty-one at the time of the Dambuster raids on the Rhur Valley’s dams that destroyed the Nazi war machine producing factories.

It’s because of the efforts and teamwork of these photographers that can see images of these trials, today. Their dedication and creativity was the hallmark of their teamwork. The story also speaks to the perpetuity of the truism that “the camera never lies.” Today we talk a lot about innovation and excellence in marketing products and services, but this story reminds us that hype and spin will never triumph over authenticity.

DeSmog is excellent blog authored by David Suzuki Foundation Chair, Jim Hoggan. DeSmog posts examples of green spin made by politicians, PR industry and think tanks. His aim is about “clearing the PR pollution that is clouding the science on climate change.”

Recent revelations that the Heartland Institute – a U.S. think tank had misrepresented 500 scientists supporting the denial of the human role in global warming made front page. The story gained even more traction when 5 New Zealand academics spoke out saying they were publicly distancing themselves from the Heartland statement because their science supports the claim of the human impact upon global warming.

DeSmog unravels the misinformation of this story and other examples of how politicians, corporate apologists and supporters within the media are twisting the language, using misinformation and distorting the truth in an effort to deflect responsibility for the environment.

This environmental issue surely has its skeptics, but Hoggan of DeSmog is a seasoned PR practitioner and knows green washing and spin when he sees it. The DeSmog blog is an ethical exercise designed to illumine us on the tactics and techniques that highlight how the PR industry can and does cause more harm.

This is a good example of how writers need to be vigilant about their sources for stories on the environment. It may be a good idea to check your research out at DeSmog before committing any more misrepresentation. It's always good to know who to trust!