Should Journalists Blog PR Pitches?

Maybe this whole transparency thing is going too far.

Stephen Baker at Business Week's Threadspotting blog says he's thinking about running PR pitches he receives in the blog in the interest of transparency. "...but," he says, "journalists should make it clear that the conversation is on the record. Otherwise it can look and feel like an ambush."

I think it would be interesting to see the pitches that result in stories, and to see some of the worst, of which I have posted several. Do we need to see all Baker's email (or anyone else's) from flacks? Nada.

Baker's post is part of the age-old battle between flacks and journalists. At least Baker admits he gets stories from flacks. Many journalists deny that publicists play any role, which, of course, is a flat out lie.

Baker also suggests that PR people blog their interactions with journalists. "They certainly have a right to. It's up to them to decide whether doing so is in the best interest of their clients." Yeah, especially if they want a journalist to read their next email after they explain how rudely they were treated by him/her.

CEOs and PR people alike have already begun blogging their interactions with journalists to show how they were mis-represented.

Comments

Posted by: steve baker at September 21, 2005 2:29 PM

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