News Of The World – A Quick Thought!

News Of The World Closure – When A Brand Breaks Unwritten Rules

This story is moving so quickly now it is almost impossible to keep up.  Just like in the Arab Spring uprisings, social media tools have led to a groundswell of unrest and discontent at the actions of the paper.  I do not want to try and unpick the whole story here – watch the bbc web-site for all the information you need.  But the first thing that occurred to me this morning as I woke up is that News of the World has broken unwritten rules – and brands like people cannot really preserve relationships once they have done that.

Until recently public opinion and probably the opinion of advertisers was that News of the World had come close to, or had broken some rules of journalism.  But if that got to the heart of a good story about someone who chose to live in the media spot-light it was somehow ok.  It was down to the individual to fight it out with the paper using the courts if necessary to put their side of the story across.

That changed the moment people realised phone hacking was not reserved for politicians and high profile celebrities – it was used in a wide ranging number of stories including those of innocent members of the public who have suffered terrible tragedies.   This is not acceptable and it breaks an unwritten rule of journalism.  What you can do to a celebrity or politician is not that same as what you can do to an ordinary member of the public who is unfamiliar with that world.

When a brand breaks an understood and known rule it will be damaged, but if it does the right thing it can recover, and in some cases even become more respected.  Break an unwritten rule and it is almost certainly terminal.