The Bulletin: Is Auckland ready for level two?

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Auckland drops down to alert level two, poor government communications create huge queues for testing, and eyebrows raised at US ambassador dodging quarantine facilities. Ready or not, the country’s largest city is as of this morning at alert level two. It’s fair enough to ask whether … Read more

The epic story of NZ’s communications-led fight against Covid-19

Jacinda Ardern, Ashley Bloomfield and thousands of anonymous comms workers just accomplished what we all would have thought impossible just weeks ago. Duncan Greive looks back at the historic lockdown, and how it was achieved. It came in the early evening of Wednesday March 25 – an angry, violent buzzing, all around the nation. The … Read more

NZ ranked first in world for Covid-19 response communications

A global survey of the public relations industry puts the Ardern government top of the pile. As New Zealand records its second consecutive day of zero new cases of Covid-19, moving cautiously closer towards the goal of “elimination”, the government has received another international plaudit for the response – this time from public relations practitioners. … Read more

Slack founder’s message to users: Stop using Slack all day

Is Slack really the force for productivity it claims to be, or just another form of social media in disguise? Jihee Junn talks to Slack co-founder and chief technology officer Cal Henderson on the right (and wrong) ways to use his messaging platform.  Every morning, Cal Henderson spends around 50 minutes walking to work, not … Read more

The evidence-based case for more PR in politics

A new book on facts, misinformation and communication could have the effect, intended or not, of rehabilitating public relations for the non-establishment left, writes journalist-turned-political-staffer-turned-PR-guy Ben Thomas. An essential stop on the carefully orchestrated tourist trips to North Korea is the imposing Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum. It curates Kim Il-sung’s almost singlehanded defeat of … Read more

Good comms, bad comms: assessing how Auckland Council spends its $45m communications budget

The Herald says communications spending at Auckland Council is out of control, but is that true? Simon Wilson looks at what council comms should be doing and why. The water went off in parts of Auckland yesterday. But Watercare didn’t post anything about it on its website and it put out no information on social … Read more