Red-zone tours for RWC media
Yesterday's Press had an article about plans to give Rugby World Cup media representatives tours of the Red Zone. The online version of the article is here.
The lucky journalists will be taken to see the inner city Red Zone, AMI stadium, and the RWC 2011 fan zone. There will be three tours during September, coinciding with visits by the England, Wallabies and All Blacks teams. Each tour will be accompanied by the Mayor. The emphasis is on keeping a positive focus on what is seen, and managing what they see and write about.
The following is the Mayor being quoted in the article.
Christchurch is a small village. There will be people here who have personal connections with media from the outside. Maybe they would like to encourage them to take a wider visit, so the whole story can be told. Both the BBC (here) and The Australian (here) have worked hard (especially The Australian) to do this. Perhaps there are others who will prefer to be guided by their journalistic instincts rather than be managed by corporate and official minders.
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The lucky journalists will be taken to see the inner city Red Zone, AMI stadium, and the RWC 2011 fan zone. There will be three tours during September, coinciding with visits by the England, Wallabies and All Blacks teams. Each tour will be accompanied by the Mayor. The emphasis is on keeping a positive focus on what is seen, and managing what they see and write about.
The following is the Mayor being quoted in the article.
"Global press interest" in the Canterbury quakes as a side story to the World Cup was expected, he (Parker) said.Of course there is more to Christchurch of 2011 than the three destinations mentioned. The positive story of a remarkable recovery is some way off for many in that other Red Zone, plus the tens of thousands living a damaged existence in the Green Zone. And for those who have had to leave.
"Our job is to ensure the story they leave with is maybe not the same story they came here imagining they might do," he said.
"It's all about managing the interest of the media and helping them to focus on the remarkable recovery.
Christchurch is a small village. There will be people here who have personal connections with media from the outside. Maybe they would like to encourage them to take a wider visit, so the whole story can be told. Both the BBC (here) and The Australian (here) have worked hard (especially The Australian) to do this. Perhaps there are others who will prefer to be guided by their journalistic instincts rather than be managed by corporate and official minders.
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