Wednesday, 4 April 2007

Trashing PR

So journalists hate PR people and never read their press releases. Or only print them if there's a decent gift attached.

Hands up then.

Which of you lot filter certain PR companies straight to trash?

And who goes to High Rise press conferences just to get iPods?
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21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Saudi journalists won't cover a press conference without a present or incentive being offered -don't know about journos in the UAE...

05 April, 2007 09:01
Anonymous said...

Well, I know one editor who calls up the pr beforehand and doesn't bother with the conference if there's no gift.

05 April, 2007 11:42
Anonymous said...

A couple of years ago, a PR I know held a presser for business media (it actually had a great story as well as interview opps) and hardly had anybody turn out. Apparently, there was another press conference going on, where all the journos had been told they'd get a free DVD player if they turned up. It was for the opening of a cafe or something.

05 April, 2007 12:30
Anonymous said...

One publishing house has a rule is that no journo can accept a gift more than $30, if I recall. Not sure how they exempt mobile phone, cosmetics etc from those calculations.

05 April, 2007 12:32
Anonymous said...

Apparently Eudore's moustache is sponsored by a well-known soft drinks manufacturer. If you turn his picture upside down and hold it up to the light you can make out the name.

05 April, 2007 14:33
Anonymous said...

My moustache was a gift from a PR company

05 April, 2007 16:21
Anonymous said...

I used to work for ITP - somebody got given an iPod shuffle by a PR and they got told to give it back

05 April, 2007 18:23
Anonymous said...

Please don't paint PR people as Santa Clauses..I'm a reporter who's been rebuked very publicly at a conference for asking a director general for a quote for a story (silly me!)...and the same PR man has offered me his business card and then asked back for it two minutes later so that he could give it to a more 'prestigious' publication....

05 April, 2007 18:34
Anonymous said...

well that's your fault for working for Emirates Today

05 April, 2007 22:49
Anonymous said...

au contraire anon, i don't...thou this blog is so full of Toady bashing, it's beginnin to look a lot like the now defunct 'media watch' blog....

06 April, 2007 09:43
Anonymous said...

PR people are far from perfect - I know, because I was one. We still hear of horror tales of companies paying for coverage (literally) and agencies bribing journos with gifts. What to do, yanni .......

06 April, 2007 14:53
Anonymous said...

fthen ofcourse we have the head ofa magazine taht is part of a newsppaer group who is now given charge of a amagazine, each and every story will now be spnsored by a company.
thats good news for us pr folk. he eh

good days are here again.

06 April, 2007 19:25
Anonymous said...

Anonymous @ 19.25. Are your press releases of similar quality to your post above?

07 April, 2007 12:51
Anonymous said...

I apologize for using your blog. My name is Dr. Abdullah Ahmed Al-Ghamdi. I’m trying to spread this information that I consider useful for women, since Dubai authorities and newspapers have not helped us.
Last year my wife (a Muslim woman from a local family) was harassed by a chiropractor, Dr. Saukkonen. After much thinking at the end she filed a claimed to Dubai police and through our lawyers to other Emirates authorities but they neither took any measure against this man nor answered to us in a right way. This person still practices in Dubai, at a clinic in Jumeirah (British Lasik Center).
We were ignored by Dubai authorities, and considering that certain people are untouchable, we use this means to advice women not to rely on this person.
Thank you.

07 April, 2007 18:34
Anonymous said...

Are you kidding? Journos L-O-V-E giveaways. Matter of fact, some journos actually suggest what kind of gifts they would like to receive next time, i.e. digital voice recorders, digi cams, etc.

Why blame PR when the chances of getting their story printed is much higher when they spread neat gifts to journalists.

If there's someone to blame here, it's the cheap journos who allow that to happen in the first place and who give journalism a bad name!

07 April, 2007 23:16
Anonymous said...

comming back to this particular journalist who is currently in charge of a magazine, his excellency worked out a deal with a airline and took his family on a trip to Europe. He he he , . hilarious character he promised and the airline fell for the bait of several pages of coverage spread over a year. i had a good laugh when i heard that one. he is affectionately called the spin doctor in the trade

have u also heard of the other journalist who prefers to have gifts send home .

charming


the media in the middle east is "interesting"

08 April, 2007 15:44
Anonymous said...

I remember a few years ago being sent a press kit and told that the journalist who gave the most pages of coverage would win a diamond watch.
I phoned up and expressed my disgust only to be told by the female PR, 'but it's real diamonds habibti. How can you resist?'

09 April, 2007 11:52
Anonymous said...

there is this particular "editor" of a magazine who ghost writes articles for hos own magazine and collects the payments through various accounts that he has created. this guys is an absolute genius. A master of download he ensures that he stays in his job by sucking up to his management and of course stabbing anyone who could remotely disturb his operations.

Well the journalists will all know who i am talking about .... he he .

09 April, 2007 12:27
Anonymous said...

"the media in the middle east is "interesting""

please don't generalise to all the ME .. journalism in the Levant area is different..and real Arab journalism is UK's AL Hayat and Asharq Al Awsat Newspapers.

09 April, 2007 14:41
Anonymous said...

Journalism in the Levant area is different?

As in 'no gifts but we write whatever our sectarian paymasters tell us to'

15 April, 2007 11:11
Anonymous said...

Lowly paid journos love free stuff and will grab what ever they can at events. Arabic press are particularly bad and unsubtle. The general consensus amongst PRs is that without some form of incentive you simply won’t get press to events or the ludicrous number of press conferences that happen.

I as a PR on the other hand have learned to feed myself on canapés and simply go round events for free booze.

19 April, 2007 10:41

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