Newly appointed Chinese Health Minister, Chen Zhu, whilst concluding his media debut last week received a rare round of applause from the assembled journalists. Lauded as being part of a new generation of media-savvy Chinese leaders, the minister has received praise that includes his avoidance of using ‘no comment’. Instead, questions were met with a warm smile and a gentle persona.

For a journalist looking for a story, not necessarily a negative one, there is nothing more frustrating than hearing a ‘no comment’. For PR folks, it is equally disappointing when opportune moments present themselves for key messages to be delivered – only for them to be wasted. ‘Was not available for comment’ changes a story with the potential to be positive into one that leaves the negative image of a tall well-dressed faceless man, when confronted by a reporter armed with a voice recorder, swiftly making a bee-line for the revolving-door.

In fact, the voice recorder should be seen as an opportunity rather than a threat. I would bet that the faceless man’s external relations department knows this too. They will know, as PR professionals and experts in communications, that ‘no comment’ for the reader is akin to guilty as charged; the reader being led into believing there is something being hidden – when in fact, there isn’t. Even if there is, it’s up to the PR people to make sure that’s not the message in the newspapers the following day.

Common sense should prevail; common sense tells us that the faceless man won’t make a bee-line for the revolving door because he also knows what could appear the next day. He should, at least, ask them to contact the external relations department for a comment, as that is what the PR people have told him to do if this scenario was to arise. However the fact remains, he still makes that bee-line and declines to discuss anything.

Perhaps the reason for this is because, after all, the problem with common sense is that it isn’t too common. So the question is how to minimize the risk of your carefully articulated communications strategy from going down in smoke; there are no blemishes in this line of work where one mistake is often a disaster.

You need to get it right, and others not directly involved as members of the PR team, also need to get it right. For a successful PR department to do what everyone knows it should and can do, communication within the whole organization is paramount. From the CEO down, everyone identified as a possible media target (another discussion point) should be in the loop – and realise the importance of what’s being said in the loop. They need to be updated of new developments and be aware of how these developments might impact their day – particularly when they are making there way out of the office through the seamlessly empty lobby of their office building.

Although it sounds simple enough, in reality making sure this happens smoothly is a tough job and one that needs doing well and by the right people. After all, doing the easy things well is often the most difficult. I once heard: ‘PR isn’t rocket science, but it is’. Too true.

 Last night 10,000 ‘ordinary’ people gathered in Tiananmen Square to celebrate the one-year countdown to the Beijing Olympic Games. That’s according to government mouthpiece, Xinhua news agency. However if you listen to the BBC you will learn it wasn’t exactly a ‘Party in the Park’ atmosphere for the whole family to enjoy – all 10,000 are far from ordinary and were exclusively handpicked by the Chinese government; the average Zhou not even enjoying a distant glimpse of the fireworks through the thick blanket of smog.

However, the real event that took place yesterday and one that really split the media, was not the singing and dancing at Tiananmen, but the current visit by International Olympic Committee President, Jacques Rogge, who is in town to ‘plant trees’ (it’s a green Olympics after all), meet Olympic volunteers, and amongst other activities – answer questions from the media.

Everyone was trying to run in the same lane as Jacques yesterday. And it wasn’t just the old-school media – one particular laowai (foreigner) free Tibet activist camped out in Mr Rogge’s hotel lobby in her hunt for sound-bites of gold-medal proportions. She failed, but that trend wasn’t to continue as the day unfolded. Chinese and Western media both got exactly what they wanted – and both managed to shrug aside the comments that weren’t newsworthy, or in China’s case, could disturb the ‘harmonious’ society warming up for 2008.

In its main story this morning, quoting Mr Rogge, China’s English language newspaper and government mouthpiece – the China Daily – reported: “preparations for Beijing 2008 are truly impressive in every regard”. Dirty air isn’t mentioned directly, however tucked in with the other ‘challenges’ – such as the notorious Beijing habit of spitting with as much frequency as breathing – ‘clean-air’ is apparently not going to be a problem thanks to China’s top weather-control gurus – the newspaper proudly claiming, “Meteorologists began tests last month, firing rockets to disperse rain clouds, a move to guarantee sunshine. They’ve also fired rockets to induce rain to clean the air.” Indeed.

So what did BBC news – blocked by the Great Firewall – get for its dissenting Chinese readers via proxy and of course the rest of the world keen to know what’s really going on – weather rockets aside. The BBC’s headline from yesterday reads: Pollution Risks for Olympic Events. CNN’s: Pollution fears cloud Olympic Gala. And it came straight from the man of the moment, in an interview with CNN Jacques yesterday stated, “Endurance sports like cycling are examples of competitions that might be postponed or delayed.” This of course set the scene for further discussion on human rights, press freedom, food safety and Tibet – with little room left to discuss the positive remarks he made.

But the fact is, there is truth in both reports: Beijing will be ready to welcome the world for a fantastic Olympic Games – but problems exist, Mr Rogge knows this too, yesterday’s combination of praise combined with a little kick up the back-side through CNN was of course a calculated move. It’s just a shame that both mainstream Chinese and Western Media have headlines to make, rather than reporting a balanced piece of what actually took place.

Two things are for certain: the Chinese media will never print in ink the words ‘postpone’ and ‘delay’. Also, the BBC isn’t going to start being nice to China any time soon; and as for the second, well, a weather rocket guaranteeing clean air and sunny days is the most ludicrous thing I read today, if not this year – any thoughts from the meteorologists out there?               

On Sunday the New York Times, beaten by a similar Washington Post article on July 14, reported that Ogilvy Public Relations has been enlisted to help the Chinese government spin positive messages to American and Chinese consumers following a tumultuous six months where cardboard filled baozi (steamed dumplings) to toxic-toothpaste have made more of an impression on their ears than in their mouths.

 With a heightened sense of economic realpolitik, consumers on both sides of the Pacific aren’t of course the only group the Chinese government wishes to influence: Every US product quality enforcement agency and their EU counterparts have been hot on the heels of the Chinese – so much so, it seems less adversarial responses have been replaced by a more open, communicative approach. The Washington Post reported that Edelman Public Relations and Capitol Hill lobbying groups are also assisting the Chinese government produce articulate, positive responses when dealing with the relentless product-quality scandals hitting China this year.

So how are the Western PR gurus advising their new, appreciative clients from the ‘wild, wild east’, as one American political commentator put it. Be open, honest and stage the press conferences to show the world you mean business is one recommendation the Chinese have taken on board. Blow your own trumpet, so to speak. And July was very loud indeed, almost deafening by previous Chinese standards. The government has trumpeted its offer of large rewards to citizens who report illegal practices in the food industry. China’s quality inspectors have also been more vocal about their promises to improve quarterly reports to the EU about consumer product safety. Only last week, the world learnt about how co-operation with the FBI led to the seizure of pirated Microsoft and Symantec software worth an estimated $500 million. The list goes on.

It was good to read the opinions of Dan Harris (he runs the popular China Law Blog) in the Washington Post article – he believes, ‘the problem is so massive and so deep-seated that I think it’s going to take huge amounts of money and a very long time for it to be cleaned up’. And he is probably right. The other thing of course is that for these clean-up acts to work, having your new communications strategy in your pack is one thing, but sticking to it – and to keep your PR ace card working for you – you have to be consistent and persistent with your message. Let’s see what happens in the second half of 2007, it’s going to be a fascinating game of cards folks.

As I waded through my regular news portals covering the latest flood reports from the UK – and China – it was interesting to see how the respective leaders from both countries are getting their feet wet and supporting the relief efforts. Even more interesting is their attire.

First there is Gordon Brown – whether it’s riding the storm in PMQ’s;

 Serving aces past 13 year-old secondary school students;

 Or indeed visiting flooded homes in Gloucestershire;

the customary tailored dark suit, white shirt and polished black shoes seems to be the only way for Gordon to step outside onto Downing Street’s July puddles  (to give him some credit, a pink tie was once bravely worn as opposed to his favoured blue). A search on Google images reveals just two occasions when he was clad in anything else: a picture with his wife, Sarah, and their newly born daughter; and a visit to British troops serving in Iraq – I assume too hot even for his all-purpose-all-weather suit in the midday desert heat. A white shirt, top-button open, was his attire on both those occasions by the way.

Who is the President of China? Yes, that’s right. Hu is the President of China. And it is obvious that Mr Hu – and his red army of advisors – are more aware than Gordon of conveying the right image, and thus message, to the people of the now very wet land. I also assume and hope his sense of humour is better than mine.

We know George Bush likes a wisecrack or two, and often makes a few gaffes to the delight of the hovering media – but he knows, like Hu, that with the top-job comes one half of a spacey wardrobe that should be utilised in front of the lens. There was no tailored suit and American flag pin badge when he visited a flooded Pennsylvania in 2004.

If there is one message I want to say to the Browns at Number 10 it has to be this: Time to start sharing the coat hangers Sarah.

The Times (London) writes: “Web censorship is failing, says Chinese official”. Understood. I’ll now flap my wings and fly to Neverland. Are we really supposed to believe the vice-minister at the Chinese State Information Office even alluded to a failed Government policy to censor the Internet? Granted, he did say that “blocking bad news” is becoming more difficult given the wide use of new information technologies (i.e. the Internet). But he made the comments in reference to blocking information in a crisis situation (highlighted by the recent brick kiln scandal) – making reference to so some key crisis management skills that should be utilised in the future: communicate early, frequently and actively engage the media. His comments are actually quite encouraging. We ask our clients to think of one positive story from the Western media here in Beijing – needless to say, they are few and far between. It was an obvious headline for the Times’ Beijing correspondent – but the fact is, the vice-minister never said that.

For a more balanced take you can check out what I wrote, as seen below. Cheers.  

Yesterday, an interesting article appeared above the fold on the second page of China’s English language newspaper – the China Daily – regarding urges made by the vice-minister of the State Council Information Office for local governments to be more open and transparent. According to the vice-minister, attempts to block media coverage of negative incidents was “too naïve” and that “blocking bad news” was becoming more difficult, given the wide use of new information technologies and also the central government’s commitment to information transparency.

The reason why a senior official came out with this is of course due to the headline-grabbing brick kiln slave scandal; children were abducted and sold to brickyards in several counties in Shanxi (a province west of Beijing) then forced to labour 14 hours a day without sufficient food. 

Although the local government began taking action in April, officials stayed tight-lipped until it was too late – and headlines such as “Brick Kilns: Where were the authorities?” started grabbing above and below the fold coverage in the national newspapers throughout June, and indeed still are. In terms of the media reaction, the crisis was exacerbated by the fact that the scandal first came to the media’s attention through the parents of the abducted children. Utilizing these ‘new information technologies’ (i.e. the Internet), parents garnered public support by telling their horrific stories and appealed for netizens to sign their online petition. Subsequently, the story was first picked up by local media – the snowball effect (and for good reason) doing the rest.

There is little doubt that even if the local government had been open and transparent from the very beginning back in April national newspapers still would have ordered extra ink by the barrel to cover the story. However, as the vice-minister said, “Had the government kept the media and the public informed, we would have seen a different result on discussion of officials’ accountability.”

This on-going scandal is highlighting the need for Chinese government officials – at all levels – to be media savvy and have the skills to deal with the media in a crisis. It’s encouraging that the vice-minister alluded to some key crisis management skills (communicate early, frequently and actively engage the media) that should be utilized in the future. Furthermore, his admission that ‘bad news’ is becoming harder to control, could lead to more openness and transparency of government top to bottom.

However, no matter how fluffy this all sounds, talk of open and transparent government will have no effect on how the ‘sensitive’ issues are discussed. Well, they aren’t discussed at all actually.  There is nothing transparent about the events of ’89; the Government’s subsequent silence is why nearly 18 years on it is still hotly talked about in Western media. Perhaps the vice-minister could take some advice from his own words: “It has been repeatedly proved ‘information blockage’ is like walking into a dead end.” Somehow, I don’t think that one’s going to make it out of the pipeline – blocked, or unblocked.