Source: The Straits Times © Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Permission required for reproduction
OK no turning back now…
We knew that when we wanted to take on Asian breast cancer
as a cause that there would be days like this, but it’s been pretty hectic
nevertheless. You see Mike and I are not
natural publicity people. Our purpose in
professional life is to try to stay out of the papers. But for what we have to do it’s something we
need to get used to.
So the boss makes a few phone calls and soon we undergo
Media Training. For the uninitiated like
myself I soon found out that there is more to this than I thought. Under the capable and altruistic tutelage of
the indomitable Ms Amy Tan, we learned the basic rules. Some things are probably drummed into my
bones permanently, like, “the fullstop is your friend”, “2 stories, 2 social
statistics and 1 sound bite” and “go
back to your message house”. Most of all
we learnt context, content, credibility controversy and control. That the media
encounter mantra is, perhaps a little counter – intuitively, not about the person
being interviewed. Rather it’s about the
external audience that the reporter serves.
So yesterday we went public. (see http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/singapore/story/nus-professors-ride-singapore-sweden-breast-cancer-research-20131017)
Interviews with the English press at lunchtime, camera stills and movie shots
follow and by teatime it already online when we head down to Mediacorp for the
very short live televised interview. By this morning it’s pretty much
everywhere – meaning everywhere online.
Well wishers generally dominate the comments columns and I have a fresh
idea of just how far and fast the reach of this new media is. A fellow Vstrom rider I have never met from
Spain sends his godspeed within 2 hours of the story hitting.
Then comes that trickle of criticism which at least for the
moment is just a trickle. I remember
what someone once told me about how being anything but completely anonymous in
Singapore needs most of all a thick hide. A few suggest that this is paid for by
the university as some sort of sabbatical. Nothing is further from the truth. Its three years annual leave rolled into one. We did not even apply for no pay leave
because that would keep us away from our patients longer than what we were normally
entitled to. Of course there are the silly ones too: That we should not be allowed to take this up
because we are not at risk of breast cancer ourselves. On the whole though the positive comments
far outweigh the negative ones so I still have some hope that people see the
positive side of what we are trying to achieve.
There is another reason for going back to school with this. In the late seventies I remember a certain ex ACS boy who had successfully taken his Honda CB 750 from Singapore to London. Surname of
Wong I think. His younger brothers followed in his footsteps a few years later. As a primary schoolboy then I thought this the height of adventure and always wondered if I could have a chance to do the same. Last wee i asked the school administrators if there was any record of this and unfortunately they drew a blank. it was a long time ago but I don't think i have this wrong. it would be grand to meet them.
As reporters ask for real practical details – the route, who
we are meeting, how are we getting from here to there, it hits me that these
questions are not just being asked in my head anymore. Not even just over maps and coffee and stale
pizza. It’s out there in the wide
public. General knowledge. With our
names and faces on them. This is the
real difference between a private yomp and a ride with a cause. By announcing our intent we have pinned colours to the mast. Over a short time the mood
switches from “please let me go and try this” to “please don’t let me fail”.
