A: I made the move nearly eight years ago. My wife and I had just had our first child and renovated our house, so if that wasn’t pressure enough, I changed careers. I enjoyed my time at The Australian; 10 years working in three cities – Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra – but was losing interest in daily reporting.
Jackson Wells offered me the opportunity to experience two of my great loves, media and politics, from a different perspective. The company’s staff – a mix of high-achieving former journalists, political staffers and MPs – also attracted me to Jackson Wells.
The minority government in Canberra thoughts, comments?
The situation in Canberra hasn’t changed our usual starting point in government relations; you still need to talk to the government first. Labor controls the treasury benches, albeit with the support of the cross benchers. They make decisions, often without the need to pass legislation. You need to talk to them before anyone else.
What’s changed is relationship building. We emphasise to all our clients the importance of building relationships with government, not just knocking on their door when you need something. Speak with them regularly about what your company is doing; what insights you can provide that will help government formulate policy.
They’re more likely to listen to you if they know you and value the relationship.
With a hung parliament, its more important than ever to ensure you develop relationships with the cross benchers, Rob Oakeshott, Tony Windsor, Bob Katter, Andrew Wilkie and Adam Bandt. The same applies to the Opposition. Previously, talking to the Opposition, whether Labor or the Coalition, wasn’t as big a priority as it is now.
How do you see media changing in the years ahead?
Well that’s the million dollar question, isn’t it! We will see the continuing convergence of media platforms. Newspaper websites running video, their reporters doing pieces to camera; the ABC website running longer written reports to compliment their radio and TV coverage, while providing platforms for opinion like The Drum.
We see the increasing blurring of what is defined a television and what is defined a computer in the family living room or on the commuter’s lap on the way to work.
I watch ABC TV 24 on my iPad, can listen to virtually any radio station in the world through my iPhone, aggregate articles tweeted by people I follow on Twitter into a daily e-paper called the BenjaminHaslem Daily, which people can subscribe to.
I spend as much time using blogs as sources of information as any other media. Journalists and programs have their own followers on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. Audience feedback is instant.
It’s a regulatory headache for governments, as the current Federal Government’s Convergence Review demonstrates. It’s a huge challenge for media outlets, who are moving to the web but finding it increasingly difficult to monetise their efforts.
It’s an exciting time but also daunting. I think the thing to remember is that the vast bulk of people still get their information from traditional platforms – TV, radio and newspapers. Much of the content written and produced for those platforms finds its way into new media anyway.
I feel many people are panicked by Social Media and rush into utilising it without the ability to measure its success or even knowing what their objectives are.
Sadly, I think quality in-depth investigative journalism will become rare. Media outlets already lack the resources to commit to the kind of work we’ve seen from the Philip Knightleys and Bob Woodwards. That’s a big loss.
How do you see public affairs/lobbying changing in the years ahead?
We will still need to develop solid evidence-based advocacy, communicated face-to-face with stakeholders. That won’t change.
If we need to take a campaign to the media, obviously any strategy will need to examine using social media tools to communicate with certain stakeholders, many of whom will be consuming information from numerous, disparate, sources, which will make our task more complicated.
But that can’t come at the expense of focussing on traditional channels – TV, radio and newspapers.
I use Social Media as a networking tool as much as anything; to stay in contact with my former journalist colleagues, especially in the Press Gallery in Canberra, many of whom love to Tweet, it comes naturally.
The risk is that we stop using face-to-face communication. A lot’s been written about that. In our job, looking someone in the eyes – and not on Skype – is paramount.
What goals do you have for Jackson Wells?
We’ve got a great group of well-educated, articulate and most importantly inquisitive young consultants. I think combining that with a group of directors that is well-networked and highly experienced in politics, media and public relations, stands us in good stead.
We come from various political backgrounds, which makes for vigorous debate but also ensures each person’s ideas and views are often challenged. That benefits clients.
I have two main objectives:
To build on what we’ve achieved to date, a successful highly-strategic communications company, with a wide and varied base of over 500 clients;
To focus our energies on the professional development of our young consultants.
Keith Jackson and John Wells talk about the new generation at Jackson Wells. I’d like to guide that generation to greater things using the tools I’ve acquired in the nearly eight years working with Keith and John.
