http://www.prweekus.com/PR-blacklist-wont-fix-imperfect-system/article/110084/
You've all heard of a blacklist, but have you heard of a blacklist for PR professionals? Apparently this is a new trend for some journalists who have encountered PR professionals who have done a lousy job pitching stories. In a recent article published in PR Week by Aarti Shah, some journalists admit to creating a blacklist of email addresses of PR professionals who have violated their rules for pitching stories.
The article brings up the question of whether or not the PR professionals should be doing a better job of pitching stories and being sensitive to the journalists, or for the journalists to decipher what is newsworthy. Some people mentioned in this article were surprised that this would happen because they thought there was more tolerance on both sides.
I don't believe a blacklist is the correct approach for the situation. Journalists and PR professionals need to have a good relationship. Outing a few PR professionals will not make the profession stronger. There are always going to be some bad apples in a group of people, but this doesn't mean a whole profession should be under minded for it. Journalists and PR professionals are co-dependent on each other. Journalists need PR professionals to help them find the news, and PR professionals need journalists to tell their stories.
To prevent further blacklisting, PR professionals should make sure they know enough about a journalist to not offend him or her with their approach. Journalists should take it upon themselves to decide what a news story is and not necessarily what a bad pitch is. If they do have a problem with the PR professional's approach, then maybe they should approach the individual rather than outing he or she in a blacklist. What do you think? Should PR professionals be subject to a blacklist for a lousy pitch, or should journalists be more tolerant?
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Hi Mel. I definitely agree with your comment over on my blog - there needs to be more understanding on both sides of the equation, both PR people and media folks. One good thing is that PR students graduating and entering the job market today really aren't far behind people like me who have been doing this a long time. Pitching bloggers is a relatively new thing - in fact you may know more about it than many folks who have been practicing PR for years! It's definitely an area I'm focusing on more and more as a way to differentiate myself. Trial and error, reaching out as one human being to another, is basically my approach. So far, so good.
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