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PR Media Blog, when it comes to religion, is at the very least agnostic and certainly non-denominational.

But when the venerable institution of BBC Radio 4’s Thought for the Day talks social media, quotes Mark Zuckerberg and namechecks YouTube, we simply have to listen.

There’s no doubt that TFTD has divided opinion, with Christians championing the need for religious broadcasting while humanists and atheists urging the broadcaster to do less, if any, God at all.

But, sometimes, the chosen TFTD speaker manages to harness the zeitgeist and build a meaningful connection between faith and a modern, technological world, seemingly indifferent to the church.

Read here or listen to here what the Rev Dr David Wilkinson says about social media and the importance of relationships.

Could social media be the saviour of religion or, ultimately, become its replacement? To paraphrase Karl Marx, could social media be the new opium of the people?

With 24 hour news channels we have instant access to the latest information when incidents like the Haiti earthquake happen. Within hours broadcasters have teams reporting from the front line.

But what we don’t often think about is how many people broadcasters like the BBC, Sky and others are committing to the story and how they are able to sustain themselves while all around there appears to be hardship and suffering. 

This was the subject tackled on Newswatch, a 15 minute weekly segment on News 24, where the public get to ask questions about the BBC’s news coverage.

It was interesting to learn from John Williams, BBC World news editor, that a team of 20 people including reporters, engineers and cameramen were providing coverage across the BBC news outlets. ITV News has 22 and Channel 4 News 14 while the figure from Sky is unknown. That is just from the UK and other news organisations from around the world are also on the ground in Haiti. 

Is there really a need for 56 people from different organisations to provide the UK with news about the earthquake and its aftermath?

You just wonder if in unprecedented circumstances like this if the news organisations should not have an agreement where they can pool resources, much as they do in conflict zones. I am sure there would still be opportunities for them to get their own ‘take’ on the story.  

What John Williams also revealed was that the supplies they need in terms of water and ration packs are brought in so not as burden the emergency aid. They had also been able to locate a hotel which was still standing after the earthquake to use as their base.

It cannot be denied, however, that their pictures have played a key part in driving public donations to the charity appeals.

Update: Efforts to rebuild trust are clearly striking a chord with businesses by the look of this PR Week case study.

If business leaders breathed a sigh of relief that they weren’t politicians when the UK Parliamentary expenses scandal blew up, they should beware of feeling smug.

A recent poll by Ipsos Mori revealed the public’s distrust is not reserved for our political class, but business people too.

Net trust in business leaders - according to the poll - has fallen to its lowest level since the research began in 1983 and placed business fourth from bottom among 16 groups in terms of truthfulness.

In that context, it seems strange that the leading business organisations were unwilling to mount a defence of commerce and industry, with the Confederation of British Industry telling The Observer:  ”We are just not going to comment on the survey” and the Institute of Directors not replying. Why the reluctance to fight business’ corner? After all, not everyone in business works in banking.

In last week’s conference staged by the Public Relations Consultants Association (PRCA) entitled, “Emerging from recession”, the issue of trust was very much on the agenda, with the BBC’s director of communications, Ed Williams, running a session on rebuilding trust and posing the question: “How do we restore public confidence in organisations and rebuild reputations to emerge stronger in the future?”

Among the Tweets from the conference quoting Williams, helpfully supplied by Orchid Communications, the Mori poll’s point was reiterated: people trust companies a lot less than they did a year ago. And, thanks to David McNamara’s tweet, we learned what Ed Williams feels is the best strategy to deliver trust: ”openness”.

The credit crunch, the banking crisis, the fall of Lehmann Bros and Fred Goodwin’s pension package have done little to warm the cockles of the public’s heart towards business people. And that’s terribly sad, as those enterprises which go about their business providing employment, behaving ethically and responsibly, creating things of value for their customers and occupying a meaningful place in their communities have nothing to be ashamed of. Yet they are lumped in with the rest of them in a skip marked “untrustworthy”.

And that’s where business needs to come out fighting. If public opinion has decided business is unprincipled, it’s not going to change on its own; it needs to be persuaded otherwise. And that’s where openness comes in. It’s not about revealing your competitive advantage or the details of boardroom arguments, but being able to communicate effectively across the landscape of what you do and why it’s important. That means recognising it’s not always possible to tell a happy story each time your organisation speaks. In fact, it could include having to apologise when your business has messed up. But being proud and vocal about your achievements - while maintaining transparency about your shortcomings - is all part of building trust.

A more recent, and critical, development in this problem for business is the advent of social media: online, peer-to-peer sharing of knowledge, information and opinions about a myriad of subjects. And that could include your business. Chris Brogan, a veteran of using social media for business, warns how communications around a company are no longer within the organisation’s exclusive control. But social media presents an opportunity also, to show greater transparency and enhance reputation and trust. 

I’m pleased to say Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce has been willing to participate in the debate and its deputy chief executive, Chris Fletcher, told PR Media Blog:

“It’s natural for the public to be suspicious of large corporations and this can be a positive thing in ensuring that businesses are held accountable for their actions. However, I think a big problem is that business leaders equate to bankers in most people’s minds and this carries connotations of huge profits, big bonuses and inflated salaries. Actually, the vast majority of UK businesses are small to medium and are struggling in the current climate. These businesses play a huge part in driving us out of a recession and need all the support they can get. It’s the Chamber’s role to provide this support and to fight their corner by taking their concerns to the right people for action.”

Whether the present government succeeds in winning a further term in office, or not, it is right to ensure that public trust in politicians of any hue is clawed back by drawing a line under the expenses debacle. And even MPs unscathed by the scandal will have to justify their party political peers on the doorsteps come election time.

And the same goes for business. You might be doing great things and be great people; just don’t assume that anyone beyond the factory gates or the web portal believes you are.

The BBC’s move to Salford’s Media City will “reinvent the BBC for the north” and be an opportunity for regional, creative businesses to work hand-in-hand with the organisation.

This was the unequivocal message from two of the most senior members of the corporation’s Marketing, Communications and Audiences Organisation (MC&A) at BBC Manchester last night.

Sharon Baylay, BBC executive board member with responsibility for MC&A  said: “Brands attract brands and we will be building Manchester and Salford as destinations for the creative industries, especially the digital and online sector which are so integrated with what the BBC is doing moving forward.”

The MC&A’s Jacky Brandreth, director of brand and planning, added: “The vision for the BBC is connecting better with audiences across the north and having creative talent living and breathing in the region.”

It was, undoubtedly, a promising sign for the audience of north west agencies and media companies that the BBC is taking its relationship with local business seriously enough to field such senior executives for a face-to-face Q&A session.

And among the 30 staff MC&A North will employ in the region, more than 20 of those will be newly-created positions.

The BBC’s Media City operation will host children’s programming, entertainment, FiveLive, BBC Sport, alongside regional and local programmes, among others. Even the Match of the Day studio will be in spitting distance of Manchester United’s Old Trafford stadium.

Brandreth said: “This is about opening up the conversation and creating an ongoing dialogue with people and organisations here.”

With the furore of press coverage the story achieved, it was hard to miss the fact that some of the BBC’s “top talent” are facing drastic pay cuts. It was reported that a gathering of stars were invited to a less than extravagant affair held at Television Centre to be told that anyone earning over £100,000 a year would face a massive pay cut, with some deals being halved.

Brucie is now contemplating his future as host on Strictly Come Dancing as his considerable £900,000 earnings could be slashed to a mere £500,000.

Terry Wogan, who’s Radio 2 breakfast show Wake up to Wogan averages 7.8 million listeners a week, is facing a similar cut, from £800,000 to £500,000.

Other personalities who may face a drop in salary when their contracts come up for renewal include Chris Moyles, Jeremy Clarkson and Jonathan Ross.

In the current economic climate it comes as no surprise that the BBC is making “efficiency savings” and talent fees are not excluded from the economic pressures.

It’s also no secret that ITV and Channel 4 are struggling in these hard economic times, but throw the licence fee - that’s public money - into the melting pot and it becomes a rather more interesting issue.

As the Telegraph’s Neil Midgley writes; “the PR line from the BBC is clear. Don’t take the licence fee away from us.”

With the amount of press coverage this “top talent” gathering attracted, it soon became clear that the BBC’s PR machine has been working particularly hard since the report by the House of Commons public accounts select committee which criticised the corporation’s reluctance to open its books to public scrutiny, not to mention separate talks of freezing the licence fee.

Clearly the BBC must be seen to be doing all it can to make savings and not waste public money on hugely inflated salaries and what better way to tell the world that’s what it’s doing than at the expense, quite literally, of its biggest, news generating stars.

With this in mind, one can’t help question whether the recent pay cuts were more of a shrewd PR move than a strategic business decision, as it seems the corporation’s freelance production staff (who can command £1,000 a week or more) have, for the moment, been left unscathed.

Last week the Times suggested that BBC insiders hoped that a high-profile name would walk out in a row over pay, to allow the corporation to say that it is refusing to meet overpriced salary demands.  But that doesn’t seem likely. No big stars have publicly complained which is now rather incidental as the headlines have already been grabbed.

UPDATE #2: This is what Rory Cellan-Jones found in belligerent Buckinghamshire and this is what he says.

UPDATE: Hear what Google has to say about it.

 As I write, BBC technology correspondent, Rory Cellan-Jones is on his way to the Buckinghamshire village of Broughton, where the locals are revolting.

Is this a copy-cat outbreak of #G20 summit protests? Actually, no; it’s all about the Web’s favourite search engine Google.  

According to news sources, local residents have sent the Google Street View vehicle packing by forming a human barricade. Thames Valley Police, in customary non-judgemental police speak, report a “dispute between a crowd of people and a Google Street View contractor”. It’s about privacy, say Broughton’s inhabitants; Google says it’s working within the law and that there’s “an easy way to request removal of imagery”.

What’s got Broughton so hot under the collar? According to UpMyStreet the inhabitants have a bigger predilection for “golf, gardening and visiting National Trust properties” - hardly the stuff of anarchic, direct action.

But while Google sees Street View as a “rich, immersive browsing experience”, some Broughton people see it as a burglars’ charter.

Just this week, while talking with a client about the impact of social media, the question was mooted: “Has Google gone too far with Street View?” But despite the privacy backlash on its launch, there was no suggestion it would result in Home Counties’ insurrection.

Twittering lawyer, John Halton, pictures a baying medieval mob, though is careful to disclaim this view:

Others in the Twitterverse are divided on the topic, but have the “good people of Broughton” touched a nerve within the populace that Google - maybe over-estimating the benign acceptance it enjoys around the world - never anticipated?  

Broughton seems to be saying: “Listen Google, I’m happy for you to track down the cheapest car insurance and my secondary school sweetheart, but keep your 360 degree cyber nose out of my property.” An Englishman’s home remains his castle, it seems. You don’t get much more medieval than that.

Twitter users are growing by a factor of 10, so says web measurement firm, Hitwise. Not bad going for what was a niche, online tool with no clear use apart from giving other intrepid social media pioneers a running commentary on your day-to-day life - in 140 characters or fewer.

But now the BBC, according to correspondent, Rory Cellan-Jones’ “Tweets”, is having meetings about its own reporters’ use of Twitter, surely it’s gone mainstream.

And so, social media is becoming part of the fabric of our lives. When your Mum and Dad are on Facebook - even if they are slightly bewildered by it - you sense a corner has been turned.

In the past 24 hours I have been involved - for the first time - in a new business discussion that began on a social networking site. A few hours later, it went offline and is progressing in a way you’d never expect after meeting someone in today’s equivalent of the infamous “chatroom”.

But it makes absolute sense. If you need a service, and you know that people looking to do business are gathering in particular places online, why not congregate? Not only can you get an insight into the background, knowledge and expertise of prospective business partners or customer (it tends to be spelled out in a clear chronology), you can open a dialogue and get a feel for the person you’re dealing with. Interacting on social media is disarming, so you should get a truer, more unvarnished view, free of marketing gloss.

This model, in my opinion, would serve the procurement of professional services such as PR and marketing very well, as it allows for a more natural evolution of understanding between buyer and seller, rather than the unnatural beauty parades that dominate the sector. Companies can be dazzled by a pitch, but does that translate to a long-term working relationship? Sometimes, but not always.

Social media is out there and - for business - it’s coming of age. Get with it, before your Granny beats you to it.

Update: Here’s what the FT has to say: “Social media…transforms a business if you use it correctly.” (Bob Pearson, Dell)

Israel has embraced new media as a vital tool in the latest Gaza conflict. 

This is part of an active PR strategy it has been formulating since early 2008 according to Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland, discussing whether the British media is anti-Israeli on the Media Talk podcast. 

Freedland pinpoints the formation of the National Information Directorate as a key turning point in how this conflict is perceived. The new Directorate was formed after an inquiry into why the media didn’t fully report Israel’s actions in Lebanon in 2006. Israel felt the world perceived it as Goliath against David. 

As Aviv Shir-on, foreign ministry deputy director-general for public affairs is reported as saying: “In the war of the pictures we lose, so you need to correct or balance it in other ways. Support doesn’t mean the world is standing behind us, but it does mean people understanding what we are doing and why.” 

In his interview, Freedland points out that about six months ago the Directorate started to court the publications like the Guardian and the BBC. The reason he believes was not only because of their important role in the UK but their websites, by definition are international publications which are widely read and respected in influential countries such as United States. This is also the case in Israel itself where, as Freedland says, the influential daily newspaper Haaretz  is seen as a foreign publication due to its high readership levels in the United States.  

Israel’s approach appears to have had some success. Justification was given for Israel’s actions in many news reports and particularly on the BBC, where it cited recent Hamas attacks on Israel. This had been absent from the reporting in the Lebanon war in 2006 in which the Israelis felt portrayed as an unprovoked aggressor. Major Avital Leibovich, spokesperson for the Israeli military, has said: “Quiet a few outlets are very favourable to Israel, namely by showing [it] suffering….I am sure it is a result of the co-ordination.” 

It is not just newspaper websites that have been the subject of the Directorate’s attention. In recent months they have been targeting not only Jewish communities and friendship leagues but bloggers and backers using online networks. Since the conflict has started it has even started a YouTube  channel. 

Regardless of the legitimacy of Israel’s military action, it has seen new media as a way of fighting back in the propaganda war.  

Welcome to the world of digital communications.

The BBC launches a new satellite TV channel today for viewers in Iran.  BBC Persian TV which will be broadcast by satellite seven days a week, will rely heavily on bloggers and citizen journalists.  Iranian authorities refused permission to broadcast and produce from within the country so programmes will be made in London using the active blogging community in Iran for first hand source material. 

The Farsi language channel is part of the BBC World Service and funded by the UK Foreign Office to the tune of £15m ($22m).  It employs 140 staff.  Editorially it is entirely independent of government.

Sina Motalebi a director at Persian TV a graduate of Tehran University and a former blogger himself believes that Iran’s highly active blogging community will provide material they have filmed or recorded that gives a real picture of day to day life in the country ”we are not asking people to send pictures of police brutality or demonstrations, we want material about ordinary life in Iran.”

In addition to Iran, BBC Persian TV will be broadcast in Afghanistan and Tajikistan.  It will also be available in Britain, Dubai and of the Persian Gulf through satellite and cable.

When the story broke on the terror attacks in Mumbai there was much talk of news spreading through blogs and social networks like Twitter.  Details of the siege were reported minute by minute by people who were there.  There is no doubt that the rise in citizen journalism and the availability of these channels has provided a new layer of news sourcing where information comes fast and direct.

It was the medium of radio however that brought the events into vivid and immediate focus.  As the siege was taking place Jim Naughtie on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme conducted an extraordinary interview.  Business lawyer Mark Abell was barricaded in his room inside the Oberoi hotel whist the murder and mayhem was taking place.  “As I entered my room there was a massive blast …and the gunfire has been going on throughout the night” he said, ”there is no escape and we haven’t heard anything from anybody.”  The immediacy and reality of the situation along with Mark’s stoic bravery was evident throughout.Mark escaped and was interviewed again on Today, 24 hours later.  He described his release and the full horror of the carnage he saw when he was escorted under armed guard through the lobby of the hotel.

Radio can deliver insight that text or still image based channels never can.   I have always been persuaded by the views of Gary Carter of FremantleMedia who argues that so called ‘old media’ are not replaced by new they continue co-exist.  He argues  ”The only mass communication medium in history to have been replaced by another is the telegraph and …arguably, of course, the telegram was not a mass communication technology.”

We need to stop thinking of media in terms of “newness” and think more in terms of “richness”.   We can be seduced by something shiny and new and but we must still celebrate that which we already have.