Dos and don’ts for journos
Posted on June 3rd, 2008 by sherrilynne
I know we’ve been reading a lot about bad pitches from PRs these days. How about letting some bad behaviour from journos get some air time too?! If they want us to help them do their jobs, they should show a little respect.
Dos and don’ts for jounros if you want to get the best out of a PR.
- Don’t agree to interview our client and then be unavailable at the appointed hour.
- Do let us know if something unexpected comes up and you can’t make it to a call.
- Don’t ignore our calls and emails after standing us up; do offer an apology or explanation.
- Don’t reschedule a call three times and still miss it. If you don’t want to have a discussion, tell us.
- Don’t commission a story, accept it and never run it, if it fits the brief.
- Do explain why a commissioned article will not be used in the end.
- Don’t interview our client’s customer, take up an hour of their time asking tons of questions, then not write nor offer any explanation of why not.
- Don’t blank us. We can’t help you if you don’t talk to us.
- Do be courteous even when we screw up. We’re all human and just trying to do a job.
Thank-you. I feel better now.
Filed under: Media, public relations
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[...] Dos and don’ts for journos [...]
[...] Starkie takes a jab at the habits of some journalists she’s dealt [...]
Journalists seem to be pretty light headed. Their main skill is words and not necessarily ideas. In fact as an engineer pretty much all language people look to be carrying a light intellectual load to me.
Well Fred, that’s a bit harsh. But I’ve heard such proclamations from engineers before.
I think the respect needs to flow two ways. But most journalists have been burned more than once and are protectionist.