Meet our Press Office Manager, Clio Turton

For over 65 years the Soil Association has worked tirelessly to champion the benefits of organic food and farming. Today, as Press Office Manager, it’s my job to lead the press team in upholding the reputation of the organic movement through proactive and positive public relations.

Voice of the organic movement

With hundreds of media requests for information a month, our busy dynamic team ensures journalists are given credible and current information on the benefits of organic, often to very tight deadlines. We manage the Soil Association's media profile which includes writing letters, correcting any misinformation and responding to relevant stories with the help of Soil Association spokespeople who are experts in their field.

In July 2009, for example, we worked around the clock to successfully respond, via TV, radio and national newspapers, to the Food Standards Agency report which challenged the nutritional benefits of organic.

Managing the debate

The Soil Association regularly provides comment for national newspapers and broadcasters. Most recently we featured on BBC Newsnight to debate cloning, Radio Five Live to discuss the issue of food labels and what organic means, and had a letter printed in The Guardian on the issue of GM and food security. The variety of media we communicate with is reflective of the broad array of subjects the Soil Association has a voice on.

As well as communicating with national and regional media, we also communicate with trade press such as The Grocer, Fresh Produce Journal, Farmers Weekly and Farmers Guardian, specialist consumer titles such as Country Living, The Ecologist, and Ethical Consumer, and consumer magazines such as Woman & Home, Prima and Healthy Living.

Positive and proactive public relations

A large amount of our time is dedicated to proactive media work, creating coverage opportunities on a range of subjects linked to sustainable food and farming - from climate change and food security to animal welfare, genetic modification and cloning. Recently we had an exclusive story in the Daily Mail about our demand to UK supermarkets to have clear GM-free food labeling.

The Times receently covered our latest report - ‘A rock and a hard place: Peak phosphorus and the threat to our food security’ – which highlights the urgent need for farming to become less reliant on phosphate rock-based fertiliser.

On a lighter consumer note we sent out a press release on how to source a local organic turkey for Christmas with our online, interactive map listing organic poultry producers across the UK.

Social media

We now have nearly 4,000 Facebook fans, over 6,600 Twitter followers, a You Tube broadcast channel and a Flickr account for photos. Twitter and Facebook are powerful campaigning tools and a great way to reach out to a more diverse audience. Why not join us on Facebook and Twitter to post or tweet details of your latest exciting news.

Supporting you directly

We also produce a daily media digest on the latest news and issues related to organic. You can sign up online to get it straight to your inbox each morning. If you think you have a coverage opportunity or would like help dealing with negative press, please do get in touch - we’d love to help.