In my 19 years in the public relations industry I worked out pretty quickly that if you want to be truly effective at making change happen, then tell the truth.
There’s no doubt that public relations has a bad name. Most of the industry is professional, credible and competent. But some give it that bad name by doing what’s called “spin” . And they get the publicity. Of course there’s always grey areas. Because emotions and passionate beliefs often lie behind a campaign and an issue.
Today Matthew Hooton crossed out of a grey area into fabrication and is attempting to position the Labour Party on the issue of mobile termination rates. For those who don’t know, Matthew is a PR practitioner. He’s a commentator on National radio and he runs a company called Exceltium. He’s also strongly linked to the National Party.
What are mobile termination rates? When you call or text someone on a different network – or call them from your landline – their network charges yours a fee for receiving the call or text. It’s called the mobile termination rate (MTR), and it gets included in the price you pay.
Matthew Hooton is the PR guy behind a campaign to pressure the Government into dropping MTRs. It’s a consortium of organisations led by 2 Degrees, the new player in the mobile phone marketplace, which is agressively trying to make its mark. It’s a good campaign (note I used their website for a succinct definition of MTRs).
But what got my goat this morning was reading that Labour was somehow supporting their campaign. We’re not. Despite Hooton’s company Exceltium insistently contacting Labour MPs one by one to “explain” their campaign, we have made two public statements (to my knowledge) about the issue.
In this morning issue of Communications Day (telco industry newsletter) Hooton was reported as saying:
Hooton says the campaign is getting good support from Labour, the Greens and sections of the Maori Party. “We’ve spoken to members of the previous Labour government who feel they were bluffed by the ferocious corporate lobbyists working for the big telcos”.
Labour’s position is quite clear. It’s about principles, not about supporting one company against another. In the only media release we’ve issued on this I said:
Labour believes the conditions must be right to create a fair playing field to encourage new entrants into the mobile phone market.
A more competitive environment is healthy, and it’s got to be fair for the consumer and for businesses coming into the market. At the same time it must be fair for the existing operators.
Our comment after the Commerce Commission’s recommendation a week or so ago reflected this position.
I also made a comment on a post I did last week commenting on Steven Joyce’s attitude to regulation.
So just be careful Matthew Hooton with what you claim. I come from your industry and I know your tactics. I don’t think the companies paying your bill on this campaign will be pleased that you’ve overstated Labour’s position.
PS: Just corrected my spelling mistakes
Is this a simple case of miswording? If Hooton is contacting members of the Labor party one by one, then chances are, he’s getting good indications from members of the Labor party which, lets face it, is quite different from getting support from the Labor party.
So I guess, the right question to ask him would be, What has the Labor party done in support of the campaign in question?
Sounds like his spin is to justify his massive fees , having ‘contacted’ MPs he now needs to insinuate they have bought the spin doctors potions
This is a real missed opportunity Clare. 2 degrees is a great example of an unsung achievement of Labour – setting up Te Huarahi Tika Trust and allowing Maori to have a major role in Telecommunications.
Labour should be supporting a NZ OWNED telco rather than foreign companies like Voda and Telecom.
Imagine if Orcon and 2degrees merged? Then we’d have an almost full service NZ owned telco.
Maybe it doesn’t fit the ‘free-market model’ but sometimes we need to put “NZ Inc” first.
You need to get onboard cut the rate mate. It’s good for consumers and it’s good for NZ business – and it might help a little kiwi battler against the overseas owned telecom and voda
Does the PR industry have a code of ethics and a complaints process? Or is that just ‘spin’ too?
Clare – Like Kelly above I think Labour have an opportunity to make a policy which will have very widespread support. Termination rates are an anti-competitive practice and are allowing Telecom and Vodafone to abuse their monopoly position. This abuse is hurting the very people that Labour profess to support – those on low incomes. Abolition of termination charges will open up the market and people will have cheaper access to the future technology that will come with wireless technology. Normally I am against government interference in the free market – but at present we do not have an open and free market – but monopoly positions where the incumbants are doing all they can to prevent 2degrees getting established. Destruction of the monopoly abuse will be for the wide benefit of all New Zealanders.
Interesting comments. Yes PRINZ has a code of ethics which is published on our website – there is also a complaints process.
Hi Clare, we’ve read your comments with interest. We were really pleased with your recent press release about “making consumers the priority”, because we saw this as totally in line with Drop the Rate, Mate’s message of giving consumers better value in the mobile phone market. Also, our members have met with a large number of Labour MPs who have been very supportive of what we’ve been saying.
Be assured, we would never presume to speak on behalf of the Labour Party, and it’s unfortunate that any misunderstanding has occurred.
Cheers,
Matthew Hooton
http://www.droptherate.org.nz
Who says “it must be fair for existing operators”? MTR are basically a price fixing arrangement between large companies in a near monopoly situation. The only monopoly I support is public ownership of telecommunications, power generation and supply and large parts of transport.
Your comment link doesn’t work. I take it you mean: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1002/S00306.htm
I’m not sure why you’re fence sitting. Who is right? Ross Patterson:”I do not consider that the differential is sufficiently material to warrant rejection of the final undertakings (by Telecom and Vodafone), having regard to my conclusion that the MTRs in the final undertakings will allow a small entrant to compete with the average retail on-net prices of Telecom and Vodafone.”
Or Anita Mazzoleni: “…some unique features have developed in the NZ mobile market that mean there will continue to be a barrier to competition where MTRs remain above (Total Service Long Run Incremental Cost) at the level permitted by the final undertaking.”
@ Matthew Hooton
Thanks for responding. I think there’s a difference between what individuals may say in a meeting about an issue they don’t know much about and what translates into a public position. I acknowledged Drop the rate mate’s campaign. It’s good. Labour tends to respond on a principle basis though. The issue is basically, is there a case for regulation? We think there may well be. And are interested to know Steven Joyce’s position.
Happy to keep talking to you though.
Clare
[...] Clare Curran at Red Alert has blogged that Labour is not supporting the Drop the Rate Mate campaign, about mobile termination rates, and is annoyed at a statement from Matthew Hooton which implies they are. [...]
The whole point of termination rates is that they’re the rates the telco pays not the customer. Clare, you say they’re included in the price of the call you make. This isn’t entirely true. They’re the price the other company pays, not the customer. Of course, ultimately all spend gets billed back to the customer – but you might as well regulate their horrendous marketing budgets as termination rates. You’d get the same result.
The drop the rate campaign is a thinly disguised attempt by Two Degrees to get yet more of a leg up from the people of New Zealand. It’s high time they got on and just competed in the market. They don’t need yet more hand outs and more regulation is never the answer.
Here’s what the PR industry has done to society. Hooton just carries on the sick traditions.
I remember reading an email from Peter Keenan to another of Brash’s advisors in The Hollow Men where a consensus was reached that “Matthew Hooton is an idiot”.
Clare, our organisation is a strong supporter of “Drop the Rate.” I’m sorry this has happened and I’m glad that Matthew has responded on the blog. The Campaign message is really important for New Zealand – we need a third network to break the duopoly pricing and as we have seen, we are very exposed if a network goes down. While I agree absolutely with your comments about truth I think you, Matthew and I all know the fine line we walk in the media where just one ill-considered and unscripted word can bring everything crashing. Please stay listening to the messages – TUANZ will have more to say about the evils of mobile termination rates over the next few days.
Surely the clever politics in this would be for Labour to support the ‘Drop the Rate’ campaign and let the government worry about how to make it happen? Let the government sit on its hands and support ‘the rip-off duopoly’ while ordinary Kiwis are gouged by the minute.
[...] it appeared, Clare Curran wrote Hooton’s PR style bites him at the Labour Party’s Red Alert blog saying Hooton overstated Labour’s [...]