Jason Nisse

Jason Nisse is a former business journalist who now works in PR and lobbying, most recently as a partner at Newgate Communications until summer 2017. He now runs his own consultancy.

Jason Nisse

At Newgate Nisse led on the agency's fracking industry work with Third Energy and UKOOG.

Biography

Nisse joined Newgate in February 2012, after four-and-a-half years as a director at Fishburn Hedges.

His first foray into PR was as public relations director of Barclays Bank for just under a year. He left in spring 2007 for a short stint at the Telegraph before joining Fishburn Hedges.

Nisse was former City Editor of The Independent on Sunday from 2001 to 2006. A journalist for nearly 20 years, he covered sport, the City, banking, media and international business. ^[1]

He has a track record of stories about the nuclear industry, from exposing a secret Government plan to bail out the beleaguered nuclear company British Energy, to revealing that BNFL has been shooting and secretly storing nuclear-contaminated seagulls at Sellafield. ^{[2] [3]}

Links with nuclear industry

This article is part of the Nuclear Spin project of Spinwatch.

Nisse is a former non-executive director of Nirex, the now disbanded UK government company that advised on options for the long-term disposal of radioactive materials. Nirex announced his appointment on 25 November 2005. ^{[4] [5]}

Nisse announced the appointment in the Independent on Sunday:

Last week, I became a non-executive director of Nirex, the Government-owned body charged with building a repository to store nuclear waste. Just to put it in context, no decision has been made to build a repository, but a recommendation is due to come next year from the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management, which could lead to a repository being built. Before accepting this post, both I and the editors and managers here considered whether this might cause a conflict of interest. However, as I have long held the view that a repository for nuclear waste needs to be built and have said so in these pages, we felt the risk was minimal. If serious conflicts do occur, my primary duty is to the readers of the Independent on Sunday, and I will stand down from Nirex. ^[6]

Advice on challenging planning projects

Our experience shows that for the most difficult schemes, having all the bases covered is essential. So good community engagement can be undermined if you do not have strong, responsive media relations able to rapidly rebut any negative comments. Gaining political cover from MPs – or being aware of what issues will bring attacks from politicians – makes your life infinitely easier when dealing with the media and communities. Also, 24/7 monitoring of social media – even if you never engage with it (as we didn’t with Third Energy) – is impossible to do without.

Finally, the job of the consultant is often to be the conscience of the client – asking “have we disclosed all we can?”, “did we tell x this?” or “when are we doing what we promised at the meeting on y?”

Critically, I would advise anyone working on a project to try to avoid being drawn into national debates. Tempting though it may be to argue with The Guardian about whether gas is a bridging technology to zero carbon future, local issues carried in local media and discussed in the local pub will hold more sway. Think global, but act local.

This article is part of the Spinwatch Fracking Portal and project

External links

• ^ Biography on Ten Alps plc's website, undated, accessed February 2006.
• ^ Nirex website: 'About Nirex', undated, accessed February 2006.
• ^ Nirex website: 'New look for Nirex Board', November 25, 2005.

Articles

• Jason Nisse and Dominic Crossley, Justice denied: How media reforms have harmed the rights of companies, Newgate Communications, 6 January 2015
• Jason Nisse, Opinion: A turning point for UK nuclear energy?, Fishburn Hedges Blog, 18 March 2011
• Jason Nisse, ' Business View: Journalists have lots to offer but more to learn', Independent on Sunday, May 14, 2006
• Jason Nisse, 'Ministers in secret plan to bail out nuclear giant', Independent on Sunday, August 25, 2002
• Jason Nisse, 'Sellafield struggles with radioactive gulls', Independent on Sunday, unavailable online, September 11, 2005.
• Jason Nisse, 'Business View', Independent on Sunday, unavailable online, September 4, 2005

Letters to the editor

• Jason Nisse, Director Fishburn Hedges, How to get rid of nuclear waste and atomic weapons, Published in the Guardian 18 November 2008