[cma-l] Census 2011 - Call for responses - update

[Javed Sattar]

Hi All,

 

Just to update, we at Awaz FM have a good relationship with Scottish
Government and in terms of Census we will be running paid advert
regarding census, we have also been contracted to produce same
information in Urdu and Punjabi - this is only applicable to Scotland or
in our case Glasgow.

 

Likewise a few other community radio stations will also have been asked
to run census adverts. I guess the position in Scotland is we have a
different relationship that works for all concerned.

 

Javed

 

 

From: cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk
[mailto:cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk] On Behalf Of Shane Carey
Sent: 07 February 2011 15:45
To: CMA-L
Subject: [cma-l] Census 2011 - Call for responses - update
Importance: High

 

Hi everyone, 

 

Thank you for the mass of responses that came in regarding Census 2011
and the ONS. It's the first time I've used the CMA list to get a lot of
responses before, and it worked well! Shame the CMA themselves are
responding so slowly in taking up the issue. 

 

I've written a response to the Head of Media, who I'd had a conversation
with, and used excerpts of some of the responses - see below. I think
it's very unlikely that we'll get anything from the ONS themselves, but
still think its worth pushing this for the sake of the sector. 

 

First is the relevant excerpt of his email, followed by mine:

 

You asked specifically about use of community media by the census and
also for details of the national advertising campaign.

 

As part of the overall census communication and engagement programme,
census area managers and community advisors are contacting local
community media to raise awareness of the 2011 census. Many
organisations have responded positively, recognising the importance of
encouraging their audience to participate, and covering the census in
news and editorial features.

 

The national census advertising campaign will begin on 21 February. The
campaign focuses on media channels with high reach, primarily TV and
outdoor with a smaller amount of digital advertising. Radio advertising
and local print advertising are being considered for localised areas if
questionnaire return rates are lower than predicted during the census
field operation in April. It is not possible at this stage to identify
where or if this advertising may be required.

 

 

Hi William,

 

Thanks for your response. 

 

In your email, you mention you will consider local radio/ print
advertising if returns are lower than expected. In many of the areas
(mainly deprived) Community Media broadcasts to, return rates were
particularly low in the last Census, as they have many 'hard to count'
residents. 

 

I accept your area managers are working with local authorities for
greater community engagement which should improve returns somewhat.
However, many of those in the 'hard to count' bracket do not trust local
government or statutory institutions. Therefore, there are significant
sections of the community who aren't being targeted through either your
mainstream media campaign, or local authority community engagement
activities. This leaves a gap in the final count, and yet again local
authorities will be aggrieved that they are losing central government
revenue, and maybe more importantly cannot design services tailored to
those uncounted. 

 

You also mention that your census area managers are contacting community
media organisations to ask them to raise awareness, and that they are
responding positively. I asked our national network of community
broadcasters last week (following our phone call) to what extent they
were working with the ONS. 

 

With one exception, a station which put out free advertising for the
census recruitment drive as it directly benefited their listeners, I've
been inundated with responses from Community Broadcasters. All follow
the same thread - they are not getting involved, payment hasn't been
discussed, or as with us, a wall of silence from area managers. Here are
a few excerpts of responses:

 

"met with a representative from the ONS before Christmas and did a post
to the CMA list around that time as we were trying to gauge people's
views towards census coverage, with our own attitude being skeptical,
following their 'no marketing budget' claims at our meeting.

Similar to Alan's comments we're not going to be providing any
coverage/support to the 2011 census after hearing the likelihood is that
community media promotion won't be funded, but the commercial sector
will see at least some marketing spend.

 

It's a shame really as it's something we would likely do one or two
programme features on, but if they're not prepared to support community
media then I see no reason why we should support their plans."

 

"[We] are currently NOT getting involved with the ONS/Census !!"

 

"we haven't been notified by the ONS or anybody else. We might think
very hard about it, and we'd like to think we would actually get paid
for doing something this time, after the Digital Switchover fiasco,
which used up loads of resources and delivered very little to us or our
listeners."

 

"Given the pitiful amount of money around we are not running any
commercial / or promotion unless there is an associated benefit."  

 

"They have failed to reply to me"

 

"They know that commercial radio and tv have to be paid for publicising
the Census.  They also believe that community radio stations will do the
job for FREE, as they have done in the past. NO PAYMENT - NO PUBLICITY!
Whilst community radio stations do things like promoting the Census for
free then community radio will continue to be taken advantage of and
will carry on being on the breadline and desperate for funding to
exist."

 

I'd be very interested to hear which community media organisations you
mention you have contacted and received such positive responses from.
Area managers across the country have been stating since before
Christmas that there is no budget for local media - yet you mentioned in
your phone call last week that the media campaign was only finalised two
weeks ago. 

 

I would suggest from the inconsistencies between your response, your
Director-General's letter to parliament, your area mangers and your
media office, that you have not seriously considered Community Media. It
seems not to have been a part of your media strategy, and was mentioned
in a letter from your DG only in reaction to a specific question from
the House. 

 

I would appreciate a response to these points. I will also be forwarding
this email to our Community network. 

 

Regards, 

 

Shane

 

 

 

 

 

 

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