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Public Relations and Journalism Exam Qs 2018

Any help with how to answer this years exam Q's would help i.e. model answers, specifics to include, structure etc.

Scenario 1
You are appointed as a PR manager to design a campaign for the UK market for a large car manufacturer. Your job is to appeal to emotions from customers in the wake of the recent scandal concerning the emissions of their vehicles and the environmental impact their corporation has on the environment. Many vehicles in recent testing have failed environmental emissions testing. The scandal had a severe reputation impact on the company and their credibility, as well as on diesel vehicle industry as a whole. After the scandal, the company launched its first large UK campaign appealing to emotions of the customers. The UK market is very sensitive to corporate social responsibility, environmental protection and socially responsible policies, i.e. customers want companies to be responsible towards society, however, due to busy lives they live many customers do not regularly follow the media to have an in-depth knowledge of current affairs, and Britons generally do not trust the media. Given this, how would you go about designing a campaign which appeals to the hearts and minds of the public? What would you do? Justify from ethical/professional point of view.

Scenario two
You are a junior reporter on an apprenticeship. You are sent to court to bring back stories for that week’s edition. Your News Editor’s parting words are: “Don’t come back without a decent story!” One of the cases you hear involves a 68-year-old man who stole a pack of chicken fillets worth £4.50 from his local supermarket. He was spotted by a store detective putting the package into his jacket pocket. The store detective approached and asked him to come into a side room. The man pushed the detective away and ran out of the shop. The detective chased the thief outside. The chase only ended when the detective rugby tackled the man to the ground. In mitigation, the pensioner’s solicitor says his client is extremely sorry and had been suffering depression since retiring from his job with the Ministry of Defence. As an army officer, he had won two medals for valour. The man is given a suspended sentence and fined £100. After the case is over, you are approached by the man and his wife, who is crying. They ask you not to publish the story and offer you money not to do so. What would you do and why? Justify your actions from an ethical/professional standpoint.

Scenario three
You are a press officer for a child-care organisation which provides pre-school activities for under fours, and parenting workshops for people in deprived areas of the world. You are approached by a company wanting to give you drinks machines offering a variety of free drinks including coffee and hot chocolate for parents taking part in workshops. The company has been at the centre of controversy involving off-shore tax havens and believes such a campaign will boost its Corporate Social Responsibility image. However, just before the machines are due to be installed, you receive a complaint from a parent who says that your organisation shouldn’t pander to multi-national corporations who promote the sale of infant formula in areas of the world where children are dying through use of unclean water supplies and the cost of formula is more than the average daily wage. In addition, she shows you a news report which states that using infant formula in areas with poor water supplies and sanitation increases the infant mortality rate by as much as 40% in a child’s first year. What would you do? Justify your actions from an ethical/professional standpoint.

Scenario four
You are the press officer for an environmental charity. Your job is to get a story in a national tabloid newspaper to publicise a campaign to get businesses to sign up to the programme by making a pledge to cut carbon emissions. A local department store, which is directly opposite the offices of FemRight, a charity which campaigns for an end to sexual exploitation of women, rings with an idea. They want to reduce energy bills by turning down the heat in their shop and asking staff to wear body warmers. To publicise their “Turn Down the Heat” initiative they want you to invite the press to the campaign launch. At the launch female models wearing very skimpy underwear and fur coats will walk through the centre of Leeds. Once they reach the department store, they will drop their fur coats to reveal “Turn Down the Heat” banners. They will then parade around the store semi-naked handing out energy efficiency leaflets. What would you do? Justify your actions from an ethical/professional standpoint.