The recent ‘Don’t become the story’ anonymous guest post has generated huge web traffic, lots of engagement and sparked others to come forward to share similar stories.

by Darren Caveney and anonymous comms pros

Unfortunately, it seems that this is a more common problem than we may have imagined. It’s important for comms2point0 to shine a light on the issues but I also want to be a part of the solution, be it a campaign or for example a protected Whatsapp group for those suffering to provide a space and place to talk with others with similar experiences.

Please let me know if that would be of help to you at darrencaveney@gmail.com

Here are three more anonymous contributions

The recent anonymous blog by a local government communicator who had become the target of anti-organisation feeling really hit home. I know there are many working in public sector communication who would have experienced something similar. The moment when your name appears on a quote in the newspaper, or someone finds you through LinkedIn or Twitter. It is really unpleasant. But what do you do when that hatred comes from within the organisation?
It may sound unlikely, but I experienced it. The time when communication and PR is seen as an arm of an unpopular leadership. When employees don’t like the way things are going and changes that are being made, they can become unhappy and even angry. Even worse if there views are not being listened to then they will look to other methods to be heard.
At its worst I was being bombarded by unpleasant messages on social media and not from someone I didn’t know but from those I worked alongside. They would target media organisations, make personal comments, and not just once or twice but constantly. What had I done? I was the one trying to help the business make sense of the changes that were being made. I was the one that was seen to be doing the bidding of the bosses.
How can we deal with it? I have to say I didn’t. I just tried not to look at the messages, to put up barriers and to avoid any public situations. Even when I raised the issue with my manager there was a shrug of the shoulders as though nothing could be done, and I was on my own.
My fear is always that others will experience what I did and with possible further pressures on public services due to the financial crisis will this get worse? When organisations are in turmoil the PR team have to be close to the changes and developments. They have to listen to what the bosses are doing and planning so they can help the organisation make sense of it. Doing this is a job and should not put people in the firing line for hate and vitriol against those at the top.
Life, work and communication are hard at the moment and no public sector communicator should have this made harder by anyone, and definitely not by those they work alongside.

Thank you for posting this, I was really disturbed to read it, but it resonated with me and my experience. We have probably all read about the Director of Comms at Nottingham University Hospitals Trust who was suspended after blocking the parents of babies who died in its care from her personal Twitter accounts and the blog post made me wonder if this will become a more regular occurrence.
I think there is a definite trend towards targeting the messenger ie: the comms teams. I have experienced this is a small way but am concerned it will escalate. As a Head of Comms I’ve been feeling generally uneasy about being visible on social media from a personal point of view for a while but I actually feel this will ultimately impact my career. I am an avid follower of comms social media accounts and can see the benefits of networking on the various sites but my instinct has been to keep a low profile, even though I would love to be ‘putting myself out there’ more.
I’d be interested in talking more about how we combat or try to mitigate these type of incidents.

Working in a local council working on planning issues around Traveller sites, a national newspaper quoted my name in coverage instead of the usual ‘spokesperson’. I will never know if this was a genuine error, or whether the fact I have an obviously Irish name was a factor.

Thankfully, this was before the current very widespread use of social media, or birth of local FB groups, but I have no doubt it would draw intense commentary and messages on local groups and council accounts if it happened now.

I have nothing but sympathy for the team involved in the situation the blog describes. Perhaps something similar to the LGA campaign to reduce abuse of candidates and councillors is needed for council staff as well?
Nobody deserves to be targeted with uncalled abuse for just getting on with their job.

*Sign up for the comms2point0 eMag*

The comms2point0 eMag features exclusive new content, free give-aways, special offers, first dibs on new events and much, much more.

Sound good? Join over 3k other comms people who have subscribed. You can sign up to it right here

Image credit