LM performs flight with first Dutch F-35 mistake-jet--Response: ...crickets chirping...

On August 6th, a Dutch F-35, airframe AN-1, performed its first flight. On the 7th, it made its' second flight. On the 10th, it made its' 3rd flight. What was the response in the F-35 PR-spin-machine-world to this wonderful event showing alleged progress? Absolutely nothing reports JSF News (Google Translate Dutch-to-English).

One of the reasons for the PR silence could be that the Dutch election--where the troubled and expensive F-35 is an inflammatory issue--is only 4 weeks away.

It is unclear why this historical moment for the Royal Air Force is not noised data. The manufacturer Lockheed Martin normally consults with a client, press releases, believed to be from The Hague that the preference was given to wait a press release, taking into account the reaction of Lockheed Martin told the press: "We will need to refer you the Netherlands Ministry of Defence office for specifics surrounding the first flight of the Dutch F-35. "

Defence spends on media consultants

Fortunately, Defence has their priorities straight. They have 190-some PR staff and decide they need media consultants. I wonder why? A great percentage of Australian news sources only copy/paste Defence press releases with little reporting skill.

The Defence Department is spending more than $1 million to acquire the expertise of a firm of former tabloid-TV journalists to help train its senior staff to speak to the media and write press releases.

Just before the axe fell on defence spending in the budget, Defence was able to push through a contract with the firm Media Manoeuvres to provide training to defence staff who are likely to be interviewed by the media or required to give written information to journalists.

The new three-year contract is more than double the value of its previous contract with Media Manoeuvres and brings the total value of contracts secured by the firm with Defence to $1.65m in the last three years alone.

Media Manoeuvres is one of many consulting firms that have profited from lucrative government contracts to provide media training. The firm Media Gurus has been awarded several defence contracts in recent years.

Two of Media Manoeuvres stable of training experts are former journalists with both A Current Affair and Today Tonight, while a third has worked for Hinch and Today Tonight. Other staff have experience in commercial radio.