The Lobbying Act has had a dampening impact on what charities have been able to campaign on during the election. It has succeeded in muzzling the sector from campaigning on anything which could be seen to influence how the electorate vote. Despite reassurance from industry bodies like the PRCA that campaigners should continue with business […]
February 3, 2015
The Lobbying Act is in full force and charities are apparently scaling back political comment in fear of being reprimanded by the Electoral Commission for being a non-party campaigner. But corporates are not so shy. Take Boots’ attack on Ed Miliband and the resulting argument with the Labour party. With the Lobbying Act limiting spending on regulated PR […]
January 20, 2015
The must-read annual Edelman Trust Barometer (see below for the full report) has just been published and its message is clear: If you want to build trust be social and be ethical. The Barometer finds that, globally, trust in charities, NGOs, business and media has declined across the board and the UK is ranked as […]
January 11, 2015
Want to sneak out a threat to freedom of speech in the UK? Worried about the backlash from charities and campaigners? Not to fear, Friday December 19th (or “fall-over Friday”) was a perfect time to bury some bad news. Or at least, this is presumably what was being discussed at the Charity Commission when deciding how to deal with […]
January 5, 2015
With the political parties kick-starting the longest General Election campaign in history this week, politics will clearly have a major impact on charity campaigns in 2015. But as PR Week reveals, it’s not the only issue campaigners and charity PRs will face in (early) 2015: 1. The Lobbying Act will continue to confuse charities and campaigners. Part 2 of the […]
September 19, 2014
Press conferences have had a good run. From calming public nerves in a crisis (or not if you are Malaysian Airlines) to launching campaigns and announcing mundane company results, press conferences have been at the heart of the PR’s repartee for decades. But while the media’s attention is focused on Scotland, the Lobbying Act came […]
August 22, 2014
It is not just the PR industry which has been asking difficult questions about the impact of regulations for non-party campaigners during the 2015 General Election. And unless any last ditch attempts to delay the introduction of the Lobbying Act are successful, there is less than a month to go until the law comes into force. So, here are five tips to ensure […]
August 13, 2014
The General Election may be eight months away, but there are just weeks to go until regulations for non-party campaigners during the 2015 General Election come into force. The fear is that ‘part two’ of the Lobbying Act (or Gagging Law) will restrain charities and grassroots organisations’ ability to campaign in the run up to […]
April 30, 2015
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