It was with this dilemma weighing on my mind that I left for Oxford, and the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, at the end of 2021: could press and PRs work together more constructively? An interview with the director Across the channel, in a Victorian villa on a leafy street near the centre of Oxford sits the Reuters Institute. [...] “Our identity is one of the most intimate and personal things we have and, at the same time we have no control over it – because it is in the eye of the beholder. [...] And think carefully: how are we going to tell our story?” Ducheine believes transparency starts at the top of the political pecking order, and puts the ball squarely in the Prime Minister’s court: “This is about exemplary behaviour and leadership.” When those in power hold their spokespeople hostage to an unhealthy focus on reputation, the result is disingenuous communication. [...] He admitted, he would have aired the scene if he were my editor in chief: “It’s good television: you tried to get the answer, now you’re going to the top.” But while viewers might get a kick out of seeing a public broadcaster hound the king, the approach has a downside: it further strains the relationship with the State Information Service. [...] We recall the old-school metaphor that the relationship between politician and journalist is like the relationship between a lamppost and a dog: it is the latter’s role to piss on the former.
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