Journalists are driven people. They are required to fill vast areas of newspapers even if there is nothing worth writing about. In the event of a slow news day, they must fall back on inventiveness. Freemasonry is good stuff to ginger up a slow news day.
    Sadly, the problems with the media often come from within. Attempts to feed "good news" stories about Masonry to the media are often frustrated because senior members of Lodges refuse to speak with journalists who will, they say, "twist everything".
    Image is less about reality than about perception. I was, first, a librarian and later an academic working in universities and colleges in many countries.
    The media image of a librarian is of a be-sandalled crone in a shapeless twin set with hair screwed back in a bun, long dangly earrings and a permanent cold in the nose. And that is only the chaps!
    Nowhere in the world have I encountered any librarian remotely matching the media stereotype. Mao Tse Tung was not like this, nor was Golda Meier. Neither was Lenin’s wife by all accounts. Librarianship is a physically and mentally demanding activity requiring wide knowledge of information technology and, sometimes, unarmed combat skills to disarm the local vandals.
    My wife, also a librarian, has been threatened with knives, knocked to the ground, kicked and spat on by avid seekers after knowledge with a drink or drugs problem. But the old stereotype lives on in the minds of journalists looking for a jokey way to introduce their stories.
    Media stereotypes of an academic are of an unworldly pedant with pebble-lensed spectacles and a prissy, precise voice, living in ivory towered seclusion.
    Most academics in my experience have more entry and exit visas in their passports than a diplomat, and operate on the task of swelling their bank accounts and academic reputations with the business ethics of a particularly peckish piranha fish.
    The media stereotype of a Freemason is falsified by media stereotype in similar ways and it is hard to shift the stereotype.
    How can we change it if our members will not stand up and be counted? Does not my frequent need to admit to journalists that I have been unable to obtain the co-operation of Freemasons willing to be interviewed, simply reaffirm their impression of our sinister secrecy?
    Lodges must be increasingly vigilant about initiates, to avoid the wheeler-dealer who has swallowed the media claptrap and likes what he has read about us.
    But are they? Interview committees are often little more than a bad joke, with senior brethren mouthing jargon about ritual, Lodge of Instruction and belief in a Supreme Being, and ask questions which obviously demand the answer "yes". Our collective response to media attacks upon our integrity has often been woefully inadequate in the past. At best it has been reactive, at worst non-existent. Such responses as do reach the public prints appear to the non-involved as whinging, defensive and self-interested.
    It is always "They" who should do something about our image. The average Freemason does not see image making as his problem to resolve.
    We need a clear vision of what we want the world to understand about us. This needs to be crisply articulated and expertly put across in a consistent and convincing way.
    There seems to be an ingrained philosophy within Freemasonry that it is rather dirty to involve oneself in the spin-doctor’s black art. But in the real world these days, one is only as good as the image one projects. Deplorable, possibly; but reality, undoubtedly
    We live in the age of the soundbite. We must get out of the business of attempting to rebut criticism, and into the positive territory of feeding in our own snappy soundbites.
    Freemasonry needs a "brand image" that can be projected quickly, slickly and consistently. It is not the least of our problems with our image that we do not all sing off the same hymn sheet.
    I would go further and say many individual attempts to present our case are disastrous to the image. Listen to Freemasons trying to explain themselves on Radio "phone-in" programmes if you doubt me.
    "I do not go to church. Freemasonry is my religion."
    "Yes, we are a secret society. I have sworn oaths to tell nobody I am a Freemason. Even my wife does not know."
    These were two helpful contributions on a recent BBC North Network programme, which defeated years of patient work to build a better public perception.
    We need a more aggressive stance. We require a strong reaction to criticism, trenchantly expressed, a coherent policy of two-way communication with the media, feeding them with material that will enable them to write in a balanced fashion about our activities.
    Sending local newspapers copies of our Provincial Year Book and Newsletter may have not created sudden changes in attitude, but has made it more difficult for the media to peddle the "secrecy" line.
    Sending them background briefing notes with our press releases has sometimes resulted in the briefing notes being published in full – but the press release ignored!
    Is enough being done to improve their communication skills and their understanding of the principles upon which we are founded? Most Lodges of Instruction merely teach the means to recite ritual parrot-like. No attempt is made to increase understanding
    We need to tell the troops more effectively about the essentials of Freemasonry. We must end barriers to clear communication caused by outmoded traditions, self-defeating arcane Lodge practices, and most especially self-styled "Senior Past Masters" who will go to any lengths to prevent desirable change.
    The report of the Home Affairs Select Committee (HASC) has not been effectively used. It stated that Freemasonry is not the sinister, secretive society of popular myth.
    It acknowledges there is much unjust paranoia about us. A raft of organisations, when questioned, said they saw no evidence of sinister Masonic activity in their work. Did we capitalise sufficiently upon what was good news for us?
    The HASC Report contained a fierce sock in the jaw for us. Whilst telling the world they had found nothing sinister in our activities, they implied that the fault for the public perception of extreme wariness – even paranoia – about us, lies with us.
    They recommended, 30 years after we had made that concept our policy, that we should be more open. It was a signal indication that we had failed so far to project our policies effectively.
    How do we, then, to counter this failure? A willing seller needs a willing buyer. The media will take a great deal of convincing that what we supply them with is not artful disinformation.
    A journalist recently asked me for my real name. When I gave it he replied that he did not want my Masonic cover name, but my real name or he would not publish our interview!
    They have their stereotypes of Freemasonry carefully preserved in the cuttings library they refer back to with each new story. This was characterised in a headline in the Northern Echo, when reporting a public launch of one of our charitable efforts: "The funny handshake of friendship offered by the Masons". It is hard to shift these stereotypes once embedded.
    We live in a society with curious value systems. It may be estimable to attempt to rise above the sordid realities this brings in its train, and ignore them in a dignified way. However, it is not sensible.
    Wars are not won in a nuclear age by bow and arrow societies. It is with outmoded PR weaponry and less than wholehearted conviction that we have fought our fight for public regard so far.
    Until we have convinced our own members of the need to project themselves more effectively, we have no hope of making progress with the wider world beyond Masonry.

Donald Davinson is Deputy Provincial Grand Master and Information Officer for the Province of Yorkshire North and East Ridings.