TLC... among others....

TLC.. so many meanings.. most of them good... from the American R+B trio to Thringstone Live for Charity, a rock concert in aid of Cancer research, among other things... and our Scouts (with others) were in attendance, car parking, bouncy castle attending, and dooing sundry other duties, including being unpaid roadies for the Screaming Eagles, a band numbering amongst its musicians our ASL Joe... a good time was had by all, the scouts were seen once again in a positive light, and 3 grand was raised... so positives all round! Now, in my mind, this is the sort of event that we should be publicising.. Scouts roadie at rock concert looks so much better than bored looking scouts walk through village on St Georges day.... but that of course doesn't solve the main problem, which can be summed up thus.. (based only on my limited personal experience..) Newspapers make Scouts look boring.... sorry, but it had to be said.... they do.. and its not really there fault.. your average local journo wants to fill a couple of column inches.... and he can only use what he's got.. and who sends in the (honestly.. sorry...) boring Scouting stories?? We do.... and I'm as guilty as the rest of you... I'm willing to be that over two thirds of Scouting related articles in the local press are pictures of three or four scouts, a couple of leaders, a commissioner of some kind, a badge, a handshake and a wall..... and any self unrespecting teenager who happens to see it will have a furtive little snicker, and carry on thinking that scouting equals boring.. which is a real shame.... now, I realise as much as you do that getting the preess to come along ito anything out of the ordinary is difficult.. these are busy people.. but none of the local chip wrappers round here have ever been known to turn down a good (sometimes not so good!) digital photo and a well worded press release... and to be honest sometimes I think it would be better to give them nothing at all rather than another picture of some scouts against a wall... we do fall into the trap of bigging up investitures (which to be honest should be a commonplace, not a newsworthy event..) and badge awardings, when really the focus on the article would be better placed on what the scout has done to deserve it.. for example, which of these will attract potential members... "Jim gets Queen's Scout Award from Chief Scout" or "Local Scout leads wild expedition.." and I know we all feel its important to get coverage for St Georges day.. after all, we work hard enough for it.. but a quick (and admittedly small and possibly unrepresentative ) vox pop on the subject reveals that most readers have a quick look at the photos and pass on... general consensus being that its just a bunch of kids walking... and that is our fault... so how do we make things like that seem more appealing.. or do we just admit that coverage of St George's day may in fact be counter productive.... and start phasing out the media aspect... personally, I'm with the former.. maybe if we held more of a display of skills or similar, made the day a celebration of the previous twelve months of Scouting, and concentrated press attention on that aspect, we may be onto a winner... who knows.. certainly not me... but anyway, i'm rambling.... and its past bedtime.. so, please don't be afraid to tell me what you think.. and keep Scouting..