Shane Warne Sent Home for Using Banned Drug.

"Shane Warne is in full damage control mode. He has called in the spinners and is secretly briefing journos like Neil Mitchell. The man he has hired is Peter Mahon, the PR flak who hung Archbishop Pell out to dry during his sex abuse scandal." SOURCE.

From Frank Flipper, Crikey's cricket-loving PR flack.
"It might be instructive for Crikey's army of spin experts to muse on the evidence of the PR campaign being mounted in Warnie's defence. Let's be real here: Warnie's defence is as much about the court of public opinion as it is the court of the ACB.
So far, I count:

*Two beautifully crafted statements, obviously not written by the Sheik of Tweak himself;

*Two strictly controlled press conferences with no interviews;

*Candid shots of Warnie at home with family;

*Consistent "blame it on mum" key messages (and a compliant mum!);



*An array of psychologists pointing to Warnie's pathological fear of fat;

*An Inside Sport interview;

*And some timely defence from friends and fellow players.

I post this under the category of "Stating the bleeding obvious". The *news* reports that hit the front page, the airwaves and the screens are like the owls in Twin Peaks, not quite what they seem. These days journalists are less likely to go to the barricades under the flag of freedom of the press than they are for freedom of the press release and a nice long free lunch with a spin doctor.

Let's have a look at the picture accompanying the Warne front page story today ... paying attention class?


"Tense wait: Shane Warne swapped the weight of his cricket worries for playing
dad yesterday when he picked up his son Jackson from pre-school."

If you look very closely you might spot Shane's PR man reflected in his sunglasses ... the guy in the shiny suit slipping a tenner to the photographer. I hope Shane is not going to use that mobile phone in his hand for more "dirty" calls to Nurse Donna Wright.

The Deputy Editor would like to see the staff member responsible for this blog appearing as a result of this search term in his office immediately. No names, Kevin Coffee ... no pack drill, but you're aboard the first Smart Camel to Iraq.