Visit our other sites:   

Search the site

  

Grab my RSS feed | (What's this?)

About this Blog

Journal Blog Central is the home for the North-East's best bloggers, writing on everything from newsroom life to ethical living, cookery, TV reviews and birdwatching.

Recent comments

Recent Posts

Sponsored links

Blog Authors

Graeme WhitfieldThe Journal's Graeme Whitfield takes you behind the headlines in his newsroom blog »
Anna HeywoodEnvironment campaigner Anna Heywood writes on ethical living »
Malcolm ClarkeMalcolm Clarke on life as a professional pool player »
Brenda BoydBrenda Boyd - the life and times of a morris dancer »
David BrennanDavid Brennan from the website Enjoying Photography writes about how to take good photos »
Emily SillarEmily Sillar, from the Comfort Food Company on North-East food »
Write Said FredWrite Said Fred - view from the pram with six-month-old Fred Telfer »
Rebecca YoungRebecca Young finds fashion on a budget »
John MackayLocal GP John Mackay writes about the NHS »
Mark RobertsonMark Robertson of the Northumber-
land Cheese Comapny on artisan food »
Tom DoddsTom Dodds on transport matters »

Archives

More Blog Links

Sponsored links


The conversation I have each day...

Posted by Graeme on February 5, 2008 3:35 PM | 

So here’s a conversation I have about three times a day.

“Hello, is that the newsdesk?”
“Yes.”
“Hi, this is Sian (or Nikki, or possibly Julian) from Really Cool PR (or Wow Marketing, or maybe Look at Me! Media) and we’ve done a survey which shows that men in Newcastle are the fourth most likely to eat macademia nuts in bed. Would you like to do a story on that?”
“No.”

All very ho hum, you probably think, but given that it happens three times a day to me and probably the same amount to my colleagues on the Journal newsdesk, it can get pretty annoying – particularly as I generally have the following conversation the day after:

“Hi, is this the newsdesk?”
“Yes.”
“Hi, this is Sian from Really Cool PR. I sent you a press release yesterday about a survey we’ve done which shows that men are the fourth most likely in the country to eat macademia nuts in bed.”
“Yes, I remember.”
“I just wanted to check if you got the email.”
“Yes, I did.”
“And did you do a story on that?”
“No.”

Again, there’s nothing wrong with that conversation in itself, but when you find out that PR companies are wont to charge their clients about £50 for what they call a “follow up call”, you get even more ticked off.

As a polite young man, I usually let the matter drop, but occasionally I find myself saying that if they’ve sent the email and it’s not bounced back, then of course I’ve got it. And it’s none of their business whether I’m going to use the story or not, but they can find out in the time honoured way of buying the bleedin’ paper. And sometimes, I even find myself wanting to shout down the phone that if they bother me with this crap again, I will blacklist them and their company for wasting my time and make sure that none of their press releases sees the light of day ever again...

I don’t have exact figures for this, but my guess is that there about five PR people for every journalist working in the North-East. I seem to spend half of my time talking to them and thinking that they do two things: (a) trying to stop me getting information for stories they don’t want us to do and (b) trying to get us to carry stories that we don’t want to do.

In truth, there are lots of people working in PR who are very professional, who answer the questions we ask and do a good job of helping us tell the stories that people want to read. But it’s easy to forget them when you spend what seems like the lion's share of your life talking to the others.

I can’t help feeling too that it’s not great for newspapers for there to be so few of us and so many of them. The people with the most money end up with the best PR people and that gives them more influence than they should have over the press.

Of course, it's up to us as journalists not to be swayed by them but the influence of PR in a fast-moving world can be pretty pervasive.

Comments (4)

Julian Christopher wrote...

I wish I worked for the client that paid £50 for a follow-up call!

Even sitting this side of the fence, I can't disagree with much of your argument, but I would point out that there's good and bad in every profession - whether heart surgeons, tree surgeons, PRs or journalists.

A good PR should know that the journalist they're calling is going to be interested in their story before they make the call, which they can do by, as you say, buying the bleedin' paper, or reading the bleedin' web edition if they're outside the region.

But I do suspect the 'bloody PRs!' conversations that no doubt go around newsdesks up and down the land are mirrored by equally-strident 'bloody journalists!' discussions in PR firm offices - and from my experience, both are regularly justified.

There is, however, no reason why ebony and ivory can't live together in perfect harmony. Journalists are looking for good stories and useful information, and PRs can, and do, provide this on a daily basis, helping to fill a good proportion of most publications' pages.

I'm glad to have had very good relationships with a lot of regional journalists during my time in the north east, who value my help as much as I value the stories they write, and long may it continue.

And by the way, not all PR people called Julian are necessarily bad, you know! :-)

Posted by: Julian Christopher  | February 11, 2008 1:04 PM

Graeme Whitfield wrote...

I knew I should've picked the name of my imaginary PR person more carefully! Let me make it clear here that I was in no way referring to Mr Christopher in my rant above.

I agree with Julian that there are good and bad PRs, and that there are good and bad journalists. (In fact, I think I made that point in some ways in my original blog).

Let me go further: there are a number of people in PR in the North-East who I admire hugely and some who I am happy to call my friend.

The important point, however, is this: no matter how dedicated and moral a press officer is, he is ultimately working for the good of the organisation he works for.

I'm not going to pretend for a minute that all journalists are highly moral people who only want to serve the truth in some high minded way, but even the worst scribbler on a local rag is ultimately writing in some way to inform and entertain the public.

Posted by: Graeme Whitfield  | February 12, 2008 9:45 AM

Julian Christopher wrote...

I guess every one of us is (theoretically) working for the good of the organisation he or she works for - if we weren't, that organisation wouldn't want us hanging about for very long!

Posted by: Julian Christopher  | February 12, 2008 9:15 PM

Sian, Really Cool PR wrote...

Graeme,

I'm extremely disappointed that you aired our private conversation in your blog.

Anyway, that macadamia nut story was a great news item. I think your readers would benefit greatly from seeing it in print.

Sian

P.s. I've got another fabulous one about eight out of 10 'Geordies' put the milk in with the teabag before the hot water ...

Posted by: Sian, Really Cool PR  | February 13, 2008 8:19 PM

Post a comment

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)