Three heads are better than one
Why would wonderful blog Boing Boing feel the need to tell PR types to stop emailing them suggestions for their site? In bold?
My first reaction was to pity the editors at Boing Boing for having to deal with a load of PR people desperately emailing them dumbass press releases about their client's latest rubbish product in the vain hope of 'coverage'.
But that was the blogger in me talking.
Then I thought about the poor PR types. Most of the media relations people I know are only really just working out their key blogger contacts. Yes, some are more behind than others, but PR is currently one of the blogosphere's main supporters. They are even happy to give free stuff away (like mobile phones) in the hope of 'coverage'. Why publicly berate them just for doing what they do best? In bold?
But that was the PR person in me talking.
Then I thought 'Hang on a minute'. These bloggers have found themselves at the helm of an online magazine. These writers are reporting fact, swaying opinion and entertaining the masses. When a blog gets as big as Boing Boing, it's made the jump from pet project to broadcast medium. This is a position of great power. And as we all know, with great power comes great responsibility. So if Boing Boing thinks it's OK to post glib remarks about PRs - in bold - it's wrong. All that is doing is showing that it's a fledgling in the big wide world of publishing. Editors need PR, and PR needs publications to survive. I suspect they don't complain when they get free stuff. This is just another case of a blog that's got too big for its boots.
That was the journalist in me talking. I will only be listening to him from now on.
Tagged: Boing Boing
My first reaction was to pity the editors at Boing Boing for having to deal with a load of PR people desperately emailing them dumbass press releases about their client's latest rubbish product in the vain hope of 'coverage'.
But that was the blogger in me talking.
Then I thought about the poor PR types. Most of the media relations people I know are only really just working out their key blogger contacts. Yes, some are more behind than others, but PR is currently one of the blogosphere's main supporters. They are even happy to give free stuff away (like mobile phones) in the hope of 'coverage'. Why publicly berate them just for doing what they do best? In bold?
But that was the PR person in me talking.
Then I thought 'Hang on a minute'. These bloggers have found themselves at the helm of an online magazine. These writers are reporting fact, swaying opinion and entertaining the masses. When a blog gets as big as Boing Boing, it's made the jump from pet project to broadcast medium. This is a position of great power. And as we all know, with great power comes great responsibility. So if Boing Boing thinks it's OK to post glib remarks about PRs - in bold - it's wrong. All that is doing is showing that it's a fledgling in the big wide world of publishing. Editors need PR, and PR needs publications to survive. I suspect they don't complain when they get free stuff. This is just another case of a blog that's got too big for its boots.
That was the journalist in me talking. I will only be listening to him from now on.
Tagged: Boing Boing
posted by JON @ 9:50 pm
3 Comments:
Thanks for your comments, Cory. Appreciated. I figured out who you were right away, even though I work at a PR agency.
But I have to disagree with your sentiments - complaining that people are sending you free stuff as a) you didn't ask for it and b) you're paying to ship it to LA doesn't work for me.
Like it or not, you're a journalist now. I know you may not have asked for that either. But as a journalist, you need to get to know the PR dynamic. PR people are being paid to influence you in any way they can - by phoning you (when you didn't ask them to), sending you free stuff (when you didn't ask them to) and sometimes even inviting you to nice lunches (when you didn't ask them to). It's the way it works.
I don't hear Stuff or T3 magazine complaining that people send them gadgets - without PR those titles would be dead. It's a bit like celebrities and the paparazzi - sure, the celebs couldn't exist without the photos, but I'm sure some pap taking pics of your cellulite-ridden thighs when you've just popped out to Fresh & Wild to buy twenty B&H can get tiresome.
A journalist complaining about being sent stuff by PR people only invites the question - why did you bother in the first place if you didn't want to get noticed?
Above all, it sounds like you're ungrateful of the position you've found yourself in, which I'm sure you've worked hard for.
Anyway - where can I send you some free stuff?
I wholly appreciate your credentials as a writer.
I'm just confused at your attitude to PR. That's all.
At a time when blog power is in the ascendance, the journalist/blogger divide is under the microscope. I just flag those bloggers with new power thrust upon them who act in a way I find inexplicable.
And as a journalist now working in a PR agency, I am more interested in the blogger/PR relationship than ever before.
In fact, the most common problem I see is bloggers getting free stuff and feeling compelled to write nice things...
So if you're sent something newsworthy in the post, you won't write about it out of principle?
Isn't that wholly unethical?
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