Not sure which thread this should go in.
As expected in the wake of
the notice that Christian and Isabella will both be at Herlufsholm next year, Mary's visit to Haslev Idrætsefterskole with the Mary Foundation's social well-being project Me&We was marred by the question of her personal association with Herlufsholm. The fact that journalists were questioning her wasn't really unexpected. They asked Frederik the same questions at Royal Run. (And got a snappy answer in return
). A few things stand out about the palaver surrounding this engagement though:
I agree this should be moved to the Herlufsholm thread.
Got a couple of PMs about the criticism M&F has got over this. Couldn't answer until now - work you know...
Anyway, there are two aspects in this.
But first. Yes, there has been some criticism in some parts of the press (not so sure how big this issue is in the eyes of the general public though.) that it's hypocritical of M&F to have Christian and Isabella attending Herlufsholm and that it is now developing into the largest crisis M&F, perhaps in particular Mary, has had so far. (Again, I'm not entirely sure it's that big a crisis.)
And now for the two aspects.
The cynic in me cannot help thinking that some parts of the combined Danish Worldpress (yes, that's derogatory) is miffed that M&F can't be bothered to answer their questions and preferably submit to a critical interview - preferably by said journalists.
The angling doesn't impress me in the least either: It's a typical one: You find experts and "people on the streets" who agree with the angling the media wish to present and publish that as documentation that this is a crisis for M&F.
I don't think any of the journalists would dare answer critical questions here on TRF - even if they read this challenge.
They wouldn't stand a chance.
- So as I see it, it's a story that is being blown up.
However, The DRF has been criticized by other members here on TRF for being bad at damage control. - That sure is very obvious here!
And it was even more obvious yesterday with Mary. Mary who is otherwise very good at handling the press, basically ran away. And you don't run away from the press, it's like running away from a predator.
I think it could be handled by being as simple and direct as possible: We have chosen to keep Christian at Herlufshom, because the school is actually actively trying to do something about the issues regarding bullying etc. So we are going to give the school a chance to prove that the culture can and will be changed.
And we are not going to pull out children out of schools, where they thrive and are among friends, each time there may be an issue. The schooling of our children is too important for that.
- In other words: Forget about the journalists, focus on the public.
Unfortunately M&F have placed themselves in a situation where they are now forced to issue an in depth statement, and preferably yesterday.
It's a rookie mistake any competent PR manager should have seen coming and prepared for in advance.