Leicester Mercury political correspondent
The worst press release of 2012
I am pleased to submit this as the first contender for worst press release of 2012. It landed in my inbox this morning, and it was sent by Leicester City Council.
- An awkward acronym? Check
- An amazing truism? Check
- The word ‘major’ in the intro? Check
- News hook is an “official launch”? Check
- 600 word release that’ll be used as a nib, at most? Check
Hold the front page, boss, because five “research clusters” from well-known European regions such as Aquitaine and Molise will be teaming up with researchers in Leicester to come up with one of those “green traffic management systems”.
The council press office went wild and capped-up the entire project acronym – THE ISSUE – which is the ‘Transport Health Environment – Intelligent Solutions Sustaining Urban Economies’ to your man on the street.
In a moment of press office magic we’re helpfully told that “local partners will be working in partnership”.
And the whole thing is funded by the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Programme, which “promotes knowledge exchange and joint working”. Obviously.
The note to editors offering “further media opportunities” is, shall we say, ambitious…
