I suspect we need to do more to make it easy for the media to contact us.

For instance another organisation I belong to called the Association of British Drivers (www.abd.org.uk) has a phone number (unfortunately 0870) that hunts around a list of their more active members in succession using mobiles etc 24 hours a day if the press needs to get in touch for contact.  This was once a very amateur organisation sometimes seen as extreme that has now achieved respectability in the media.

www.saynoto0870.com needs to do more with such a hunt group contact number (of course ours would have to be 03 or a geographic voip number) and/or a library of press releases to make it easier for the press to get in touch with us on various issues and/or to easily publish the main arguments regularly being put forward by the campaign.

This website has always been a very well organised resource for finding alternative numbers but could probably have taken a rather different approach if communicating with the media had been our main focus.

NGMsGhost wrote on May 18^th, 2009 at 8:31pm:

I suspect we need to do more to make it easy for the media to contact us. For instance another organisation I belong to called the Association of British Drivers (www.abd.org.uk) has a phone number (unfortunately 0870) that hunts around a list of their more active members in succession using mobiles etc 24 hours a day if the press needs to get in touch for contact.  This was once a very amateur organisation sometimes seen as extreme that has now achieved respectability in the media. www.saynoto0870.com needs to do more with such a hunt group contact number (of course ours would have to be 03 or a geographic voip number) and/or a library of press releases to make it easier for the press to get in touch with us on various issues and/or to easily publish the main arguments regularly being put forward by the campaign. This website has always been a very well organised resource for finding alternative numbers but could probably have taken a rather different approach if communicating with the media had been our main focus.

I know I've not been particularly active on here lately; got too many pies to keep my fingers busy, but I'd be willing to setup and host a (03) phone number that could operate in the manner mentioned, IF it's thought this would be of benefit.  

irrelevant wrote on Jun 4^th, 2009 at 1:15am:

IF it's thought this would be of benefit.

This sounds like an excellent suggestion, so long as one remembers that this is an open public discussion forum where many different views are presented. It would therefore be necessary for any active member to be allowed to take a place on the rota, if they so wished, as there is no valid mechanism for excluding those who have registered but may be seen to hold views that are different from those of the majority.

If some individual were to host such a facility however, it would be entirely up to them to set the rules for its use. That is little different from the present situation where campaigners who issue media releases may refer enquiries onto others.

If anyone is interested in setting up a formal campaign group with a charter and officers then that is a wholly different matter. I would look on any such proposals sympathetically, but would not expect to be persuaded to join.

SilentCallsVictim wrote on Jun 4^th, 2009 at 1:58am:

It would therefore be necessary for any active member to be allowed to take a place on the rota, if they so wished, as there is no valid mechanism for excluding those who have registered but may be seen to hold views that are different from those of the majority.

As irrelevant is offering to set the facility up the valid mechanism is surely either to include anyone willing to volunteer from the forum whom irrelevant has noted as appearing to adequately represent the views of the campaign or for irrelevant to agree such a list in consultation with the website owner (Daniel) or the website's main moderator (Dave).  To suggest that anyone at all who visits the forum but with no proven track record of supporting the cause or of being knowledgeable on the issues can participate on the media enquiry line would be likely to bring the campaign in to disrepute.  For instance would the campaign wish to be represented by or associated with anyone who has regularly stated that they do not have a problem with private companies using and abusing 084/7 numbers?


Quote:

That is little different from the present situation where campaigners who issue media releases may refer enquiries onto others

I am not aware of the campaigners you refer to who issue media releases ever having referred any enquiries on to others.  The last such release I saw contained the contact details of only the two people who had written and published it.


Quote:

If anyone is interested in setting up a formal campaign group with a charter and officers then that is a wholly different matter. I would look on any such proposals sympathetically, but would not expect to be persuaded to join.

The Association of British Drivers does have such officers and an annual subscription of £20 but I am not convinced that either of those things are necessary to connect together a small body of people who are knowledgeable on the issues who it is easy for the media to get in touch with.  However I suspect that periodic press releases containing the phone number in question would be necessary in order to drum up some interest from the national media.

Am I right in assuming that, at the moment, saynoto0870 is basically a database and forum owned and hosted by Daniel, and apart from a general consensus on views, we've no actual organisation as such, and basically it's down to the individuals to promote their own opinions to the media?

My skills, and interests in this, are mainly technical- I've no real campaigning ability, and little time to do so actively.  However I'd think that having a more formal structure to the campaign would make all our opinions a lot more credible, both to the media and to the regulators.  At the moment we can be dismissed as a random group of wingers.

Without wishing to alienate SCV, whom I respect for his work and tirelessness on his particular areas of interest, I would therefore suggest that some slightly more formal arrangements be considered.  Perhaps something could be done along the lines of the SABRE constitution which is another web-based community of which I am a member.  

Even without that, for those added to a contact number rota, I'd certainly want to have some sort of election/recommendation/expression of support system for the volunteers before they were added.  After all, they would be in the position of representing all our views rather than just their own.

irrelevant wrote on Jun 4^th, 2009 at 10:10am:

Without wishing to alienate SCV, whom I respect for his work and tirelessness on his particular areas of interest, I would therefore suggest that some slightly more formal arrangements be considered.

Thank you for the kind words. It is I who alienate myself, with no ill feeling. I will be happy to make a positive contribution to discussions on establishment of a formal campaign group, and potentially to offer support to such a group if it were formed. My campaigning energies are however primarily reserved for instigating change in the "real world". To this end I wish to engage with all other campaigners to share inspiration and encouragement of our efforts on all related issues, including contact with the media.

SilentCallsVictim wrote on Jun 4^th, 2009 at 1:58am:

… It would therefore be necessary for any active member to be allowed to take a place on the rota, if they so wished, as there is no valid mechanism for excluding those who have registered but may be seen to hold views that are different from those of the majority.

Anyone who wishes to make themselves available to the media could have their details published.

If there's just one 03 number for which we take it in turns to receive calls and a journalist calls it (having spoken to one of us previously on it), they may be put through to another member when they wish to speak to the person they spoke to previously.

Dave wrote on Jun 5^th, 2009 at 3:04am:

If there's just one 03 number for which we take it in turns to receive calls and a journalist calls it (having spoken to one of us previously on it), they may be put through to another member when they wish to speak to the person they spoke to previously.

Well it's absolutely no problem to set up a "If you know the extension number of the person you wish to speak to, dial it now" type system, with each person being given an extension number they can give to their contact should they not wish to give out their direct number.  Doing that also gives the opportunity to play a disclaimer or something to the caller before putting them through.  

I just thought that, since I've got the system hardware already here setup and running, it was actually something I could do to help..  Can't guarantee 100% availability, as it runs off ADSL lines, but it's been a fairly solid system so far..