I reckon that at least 50% of what we do is (directly or indirectly) still tied up in getting media coverage for our clients – the good old-fashioned sort that people you know might actually see on telly or the stuff that gets your fingers all inky. That’s why despite all this social hoopla people like me bang on about, books like Chris Roycroft-Davis’ King Of The Media Jungle are still very valid. Chris is a highly amusing bloke who spent 30 years at the coal-face of the British national press, most famously as chief leader writer for the Sun. Given this background it’s not surprising his book is funny, punny and to the point. Very worth a read for the refresher on where journalists are really coming from and not least for his collection of old media quotes, some of which I reproduce here:
· “I’ve always said there’s a place for the press, but they haven’t dug it yet.” Tommy Docherty
· “A lie is halfway round the world before the truth has got it’s trousers on.” Winston Churchill
· “An interview is the opposite of sex – the climax should come at the front.” Michael Dodd
· “You should always believe everything you read in newspapers. It makes them much more interesting.” Rose MacCauley
· “Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets.” Napolean Bonaparte
· “Journalism – A profession whose business it is to explain to others what it personally doesn’t understand.” Lord Northcliffe
· “If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read: President Can’t Swim.” Lyndon B Johnson
[tags] Chris Roycroft-Davis [/tags]
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