Had a quick read (due to the lack of pages) of the latest Volunteer mag.
I love the bottom of page 15 - Xmas Shopping? Think Olympus Camera.
Donations to the CFS for every camera purchased between 1 Oct 2010 and 31 Jan 2011.
And on page 28 a small article about the Clare Auto Shop Fire. Big job and lots of photos around , but a super small article with a small photo.
tft...agree
We just do somethings badly, and this is another example. Clearly put together last year, whats the point in a glossy newsletter that is so retrospective that its out of date.
With paid media types available, there is no excuse to not be able to put together something meaningful and real - not one bad news or "we are having problems" type story features - and there are so many to chose from. Is just an apology for a Govt Spin Mag these days, full of loveliness and that warm feeling you get down your leg when you get close to the Government.
How about;
- specialist articles - RCR/Hazmat info for a start
- equipment updates
- overseas relevent info
- seeing as its filtered March, a review of the Fire Season
- up to date infrastructure updates - the toilet block at Brukinga burnt down in Oct - no piccs/story. Surely someone has built something since then somewhere
- the plan......lets get the 10, 15 and 20 year plan out there for staff,training, vehicles and infrastructure - heaven forbid we look ahead and not backwards
if you cant do that then pretty much dont beother sending it to me, its no real use, or else please change it to softer cottonelle paper so I can recycle it
Oh yeah, please dont use the "it's only as good as what you send us for articles" excuse b/s - if you cant manage the output of all the paid media types, then please give you're notice and let somone in that can. Get them out from their desks and coffee machine, give them a laptop and remote login and do some real media stuff.
Wonder what the cost of an individual mailout to all CFS members is 3 or so times per year (14,000 Members, I'm guessing about $20k per annum), and how many BA/RCR/Compartment courses that would run per year. All about priorities isnt it
Agree its never out on time and its time someone in the media unit took along hard look at it but then again is there anyone left in the media unit???... Time for change but to what???
Well why dont those complaining actually right a letter to CFS media? Send your points on as they all seem valid to me.
This might change with the organisations getting their individual media sections back.
SAFECOM have lost a lot of staff which has had an effect on the production of the mag.
Arthur's Infralog is a so much better publication in every way.
Maybe every section within CFS should be required to publish a similar report.
Training, Ops, Regions, Air Ops, etc, etc.
Maybe same for Groups - possibly to be amalgamated into regional reports for the
purposes of the mag. Also quarterly incident summary/stats out of AIRS.
Gizmos & gadgets page for things which make the job easier. Still got to get brigades to write in about them. However I bet here's a lot of good gadgets out there which haven't got HQ Equipment's stamp of approval on them,so they won't advertise...
Quote from: Alan J on March 18, 2011, 12:45:35 AM
Arthur's Infralog is a so much better publication in every way.
Maybe every section within CFS should be required to publish a similar report.
Training, Ops, Regions, Air Ops, etc, etc.
Maybe same for Groups - possibly to be amalgamated into regional reports for the
purposes of the mag. Also quarterly incident summary/stats out of AIRS.
Gizmos & gadgets page for things which make the job easier. Still got to get brigades to write in about them. However I bet here's a lot of good gadgets out there which haven't got HQ Equipment's stamp of approval on them,so they won't advertise...
The newsletters that started to be published by each specialist area were good... until 99% of them fell down after one issue. There was some great information in them and it felt like you actually knew where training and course roll outs were upto. "We haven't been able to do xyz because we've done abc" is fantastic.
I have cancelled my subscription, which isn't easy, the mag seems to just arrive!! Your paid to do media work, so do it, the advertiser or the like don't wait for the public to send in articles!! The only media releases that CFS seem to send out is about smoke drift from burnoffs after the event!
I will give Arthur 1 thing, his newsletter is very useful and informative....now only if that would translate to the items being written about!!
QuoteI have cancelled my subscription, which isn't easy, the mag seems to just arrive!!
Have you logged on to the Members Only section of the CFS website? To apply/leave subscriptions (Volunteer mag, SMS alerts and email alerts) is all on there. Simple as checking a box.