It’s Called … Work
I got into a discussion the other day with a friend over which group is lazier – mainstream media, bloggers or public relations people. The subject came up because he remarked, rather accurately, how easy it is today to spoon-feed the media with information that they will use, without question.
While mainstream media has gotten lazier – which I believe is equated to the higher paid and more experienced people getting laid off, and the profession dominated by the less experienced – I think PR wins top billing among the laziest. Yes, there are exceptions, but they are in the minority.
- PR – because it has gotten so competitive and budgets tight – is less willing to push the envelope, and introduce clients to new ideas and concepts. Agencies have become client-driven order takers, and about all many clients can think of doing is an event or press release.
- PR is mired in pitching the dying mainstream media. Even though newspapers are folding, or on life-support, PR people and agencies still blindly blast out press releases, hoping that it will somehow, magically become a story. Doesn’t happen.
- PR is afraid to pick up the telephone. I’ve got a pal at a New York agency who gets stories by actually calling bloggers. Can you imagine that?! Nobody calls bloggers. But this guy does, and lands great coverage for clients. How many other PR people today use the phone to pitch stories?
- PR wouldn’t know a story if it kissed them on the nose. In a profession so obsessed by cookie cutter promotional press releases, the idea of real, legitimate stories is unheard-of. Let me share an example …
As publisher of BoomerCafe.com – the popular online eZine for baby boomers – I get hundreds of emailed press releases. They ALL end up automatically in my spam box, thanks to SpamSieve. But, each day, I cull through the releases to look for any hint of a story. When I see something that might work, either my partner in BoomerCafe.com, Greg Dobbs, or I will respond to the PR people.
We explain that while press releases are not stories, the subject of the release they sent might be developed into a story. We ask that they check our story submission guidelines of BoomerCafe.com, write a real story on behalf of their client, and send it to us.
You want to know how often we hear back from the PR people who send the releases? Maybe once in ever 50 requests.
Writing a real story takes extra work, an extra effort. Agencies and in-house PR people clearly send the message they simply don’t want to be bothered.
What do you think?
Category: Featured, Public Relations
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I don’t consider PR people to be journalists (hope I’ve not offended anyone) because they are paid to “make news,” versus reporting the news. PR people are hired to do someone else’s bidding. I think hands down the mainstream media are the laziest. They sit on the great stories because they care about what people think before they write, which makes everything they write so bland and cautious, they’re not worth reading. You’ll find me scouring the BBC or the Financial Times for good reporting. The Fourth Estate went out to pasture some time ago. I also believe that the Press Corps should be disbanded, too. They are no different than Pravda or TASS, government controlled media.
I am a PR person. I agree that we need to continue to garner new ways to promote our clients. However, I find it hard to believe that PR people are unwilling to write full stories. And I disagree with the comment above that PR people are not “journalists.” If you can’t write a story – or you are unwilling to do so – then you should be in a different profession. Have your clients send their news to me – I’ll write and publish stories for them all day long!
On a side note – I’d say media is the worst – not because of their laziness, but because they are too often unwilling to publish anything that isn’t death, terror or sensationalized.
I thought no journalist worth his salt would just take a press released story and print it as is? That was always considered to be lazy journalism over here in UK. Why have journalists if PRs are expected to write oven-ready stories for them? The best journalists would rewrite to their own style on principle.
A PRs main job is to bring newsworthy items to the attention of journos. Agree that doesn’t have to be done by press release and too widely broadcasting untargeted releases is a waste of everyone’s time. Also, some PRs don’t know what constitutes news (or their bosses don’t).
As a busy PR, I would write to attract the most important identified target and also contact them directly, create a couple of variation releases to send to ‘lesser’ targets but know my story might get picked up by an unlikely source or two. Sometimes a release might go to three people, sometimes to a lot, covering various media types. Have had 100% success with many releases (which always makes me wonder if I could have spread it a bit wider!).
Did you discuss the possibility that maybe BoomerCafe is not the most important media the release has been submitted to and the PRs time is actually being spent wisely …?
Brilliant post David.
Thanks David. I’m in PR.
LAZY ON A GLOBAL SCALE
And I am lazy. The laziest? I don’t know – but it’s a good bet I’m in the global top 5 (It’s nice being a leader in some global category … besides being a Thought-less Leader).
PR RECONSIDERED
Having said that … the PR folks you are talking about should really reconsider what it means to be in PR.
I’M NOT REALLY IN PR
I do head up PR for my company – we’re global. But PR to me means sharing good ideas, information, insights and inspirations. Finding the heart, the drama, the comedy, of a good story and sharing it. Whenever I say that to someone they look at me like I’m the SWINE in SWINE FLU and say “So you’re not really in PR.” I am … and not.
BORING
But consider the PR job. Sometimes your products and solutions are boring. Can’t get around that. Real snooze-fests. But even if they are …surely there are creative ways to find some differentiating STORY in your people, your product, your process. There is.. but you have to look, and do the work.
PRESS RELEASE
As for press releases – I can’t remember if I have ever mailed or emailed one to a journalist. Not in the last 5 years anyway. Hopefully if your press / news release is well-written it will be found by someone (journalist or prospective client) who is interested in the topic you’re writing about. They’ll find it by web search. Meaning they come to you. Which is a much better way to achieve success in PR .. with mutually beneficial respect, relationship — and value.
NO MAS
I’ve talked to a quite a few reporters over the last couple years and they’re buried with email press releases. Some upwards of 600 a day. How you going to break through that?
They’re e-screaming NO MAS. SO WOULD I. So help a JOURNALIST BROTHER OUT. Don’t email them a press release unless they ask or subscribe.
DO YOU FEEL LUCKY TODAY?
You might be lucky IF you writer a killer subject line that happens to hit the reporter at exactly the right time on a topic/angle/urgent need – but that’d be rare. I’ve had better results just concentrating on the story. But – I’m not in the big leagues like a lot of these folks you write to. We’re a small-to-medium sized business in the Midwest.
PR PROS OF NOTE
I will, however, take issue with you on some of the New Media PR folks. There are some incredibly talented and creative people out there trying to move PR forward. I’ll use their Twitter Screen names (because if you’re in PR you ought to know Twitter.) New Media PR folks like @prsaraevans @tdefren @briansolis @chrisbrogan @marshafriedman @dmscott @ambercadabra @ ConversationAge – Vaeria Maltoni @bethharte (although she is the Harte of Marketing) @rgeller @pitchengine -Jason Kintzler @swhitley @dslunceford @nettiehartsock @jasonfalls @Dannybrown – and I could go on and on. Those people are accessible, friendly, courteous, professional and share their time, ideas and information.
BEST
Steve
It’s the old chicken and the egg syndrome told from a media standpoint.
The thing is, you get the good and bad wherever you go. It’s human nature to be disappointed if things don’t work the way we want them to.
You can say that there is a lot of laziness in PR, but the same can be said of journalism and media. I’ve known journos pass up on what could be an incredible story because that little bit of mundane research wasn’t worth it, in their opinion.
I’ve also seen media companies take the easy route and just go with what they’re given (much like the situation Giselle attests to in her comment).
The truth is, David, we start out lazy and we have to work at being better. The good ones do that; the bad ones remain lazy. The industry doesn’t matter; the people do.
I know that you like to bash PR where you can, and hey, I agree with you a lot of the time. But as the recipient, have you ever just contacted a bad PR pitcher and advised how you’d like to be pitched?
Perhaps you could have a “Pitch Me” page with details on how to pitch a story to you. It might just weed out the lazy PR types and keep you in touch with the good ones. And while we’re at it, perhaps the lazy journos can stop asking for PR to do their jobs for them, and get back to what THEY’RE great at – the story.
And to Steve Kayser, thank you kindly for the nod, good sir – I’m glad to be able to help, cheers.