Posts that take up time and mindspace, unnecessarily...

I recently happened to have a series of great conversations with very dear friends of mine from the journalistic, corporate communications and PR fraternities. While some were had over black coffee/Old Monk (an expression of thank you to Mr. Mohan Meakin: yes; a shameless plug: maybe not), others were based on perspectives and opinions I greatly respect and owe a lot of my learning the little I know, to. At the end of this, you might still cuss at me for being too long-winding. I would thank you for it, and you would know why by the end of this post.

A conversation arose on an industry community I am a part of and help admin, basis a social media post by a respected journalist, who wrote of a story pitch gone horribly wrong, by a PR person who called him. As someone from the fraternity, I can vouch that I have made a few pitches akin to the one mentioned, myself, including one a couple of years ago, that led to a very senior Bureau Chief mailing me saying, “I am not with the publication you think me to be”. I have no shame in saying that my love and respect for the Bureau Chief have only risen, because he taught me that research is paramount. And I Had erred. There’s no taking that away.

The social media post in question that was the subject of this discussion however, invited opinions au contraire to the author’s, and then proceeded to detail a conversation had between him and a PR person. To sum up, it was the story of pitches we have all made in PR, maybe similar to the subject of the social media post, maybe different, one which in some instances leaves us listening to an abruptly appearing disconnect tone on the phone.

The journalist (from aforesaid social media post fame) however (as per the post, and something which not knowing better, I am inclined to not disbelieve) remained civil throughout the entire conversation with aforementioned PR rep, and then mailed the PR rep in question his frank opinion on where the pitch (and she) went wrong, something that we have all received sometimes rather rudely, more often than not, telephonically. My sincere respect, and here I speak in personal capacity, to the journalist for having been candid yet calm.

Anyway, the conversation I was part of on aforementioned industry community on this LinkedIn journalist-post had an opinion from a very dear friend, that I take liberty of sharing here, “We can’t (express our discontent at journalists who are rude without us ‘read: PR reps’ giving them just cause). Who will? Will any PR/Comms person ever dare to write something against journos?”

This opinion hit home somewhere, an opinion I feel is shared by a majority of our industry of PR people and ‘communications strategists’, including me, and somewhere out of my love for good, nay great journalism, I write this post and hopefully not imperil my good offices with, and heartfelt love and respect for, several journalists across organisations and hierarchy. The thing to remember however is not to write against journos or PR reps, it’s to write to them, about them, in all honesty.

So let me take this opportunity to maybe try and speak up, and for fear of being accused of grandstanding, let me say beforehand that these views are not only my own, but something shared by several in the PR community I have had the pleasure of knowing and learning from. I, however, do express them purely in my personal right. To those who choose to bore themselves reading this:

A PR person deals with three stakeholders more often than not. Her/his reporting manager, her/his client and our dear friends in the fourth estate, all of which stakeholder groups I have had the fortune or misfortune of having been part of, in the past. Our lives are entrenched in pitching for stories, getting new clients, dealing with pressures and rants from all three stakeholders and quite often at that. For the lucky few, the rants may come from one or two lesser stakeholder groups, but rare is the PRO who lives a happy, tension-free life.

‘That’ is absolutely no excuse for not getting research in place. That again, those of you who know me personally, will testify, is a cardinal sin, for me too. We have all lamented, and continue to lament, the lack of training within the PR industry, but then which industry doesn’t? I have friends from the journalistic fraternity who do too, just as I do friends from the auto, e-commerce and digital fraternities.

However, please do understand, that there are a lot of us PR people out there, who sometimes wing it, sometimes do not, but our intent is not to lie, or offend, or hurt the media personnel or their interests or those of their publications, that we speak to. We do it, because just as journalists deal with editorial deadlines, PR people deal with clients who want quantity And quality, managers who want those two (and rightfully so) and more, and our consciences where we often wonder how we are never able to explain to our parents what PR is, but deal with continuous tension because of it, only to lead thankless lives at times. We do also of course, deal with ‘media lists with status on press release against each journalist’s name, quotes which I have been waiting for but your client doesn’t want to give (read therefore as you are to blame) and why was I not a part of this industry story’, but c’mon, that’s just a part of our jobs.

This isn’t to say we don’t need to be trained, of course we do, but then rather than ranting, let’s try talking. I know several senior technology journalists who are dear friends, and speak of review pieces of products being sent without chargers, being assigned specific seats (and who to sit next to) at press conferences (entirely laughable – just a personal opinion) and the evergreen “we got called and asked, would you be interested in covering electronic mixer grinders. They have the latest in technology running them”. And these guys often tend to be quite forgiving. Of course, there are others who have also rudely said, upon being pitched to, “if your client isn’t in the top-2 as far as share of market is concerned, don’t bother calling me”. To such people I implore, whether right or wrong, size of market does not Always make a story, hear us out, bear with us a little, we aren’t all out to put a spin on everything. We might go wrong. But we are fellow human beings.

A last anecdote before I wrap up. Someone who is family and has worked in PR in the past, once asked a relatively senior journalist (by designation, if not by age) well-known for his unnecessary incessant impoliteness towards PR people to @#&! Off. When I asked him why he did so later, upon getting to know of the incident, he said with honesty I tend to believe came from the heart, “the journalist insulted our family, called me a slave to my client, asked me to get my facts in place and said people like me should work in the BPO industry, all because while updating media lists I called him and very respectfully asked him if he was still with the same organisation he had joined a month ago”. I informed the family member that if he had been on my team, I would have discharged him of his duties for action or inaction in controlling a situation, but could not find it in me to condone his thought process, while being honest to myself.

We update media lists, make unpleasant calls, sometimes even have to pitch clients we might not believe in. But can you imagine our plight then? It’s existential. And we deal with it every waking moment.  Just as I wholeheartedly support, endorse and believe in research, better-informed pitches and not sending press releases on bcc to entire media lists, I also maintain that a little bit of compassion on both sides, and the ability to remember that we’re all human beings on tight deadlines, would help both sides of a coin/relationship, that isn’t going to split in two anytime soon. Whether senior/middle or junior management, we are trying to do our jobs. We might get it wrong. We’re human. Whether the PR executive pitching to you, or the Corporation Communications Head deciding advertising budgets for a trade magazine, we might have a bad reputation for eating into and twisting editorial integrity, and some might even, in all honesty, deserve it, but do not please paint the canvas of our industry with the brush of experiences you might have had the misfortune of having (and regrettably quite often at that). Trust me, we have such appalling experiences with the journalistic fraternity too. We are just led to believe that we cannot speak openly.

To close, I would like to thank the journalist who wrote that social media post, not only for expressing his views, which I believe we all have a right to, whether PR person or journalist, as long as not shoved rather unpleasantly down the gullet of another, but more so my gratitude is for a part of one line in his post that drew and draws my attention and applause, “I would love to hear your thoughts”. Thank you for speaking. Thank you for putting out there the fact that listening to have a conversation, and not just being a muted PR person is appreciated. And there is no insincerity when I say that. Given my appalling history with relationships :D it’s heartening to know, and points in the direction of a solution to an ever-troubled beautiful relationship that the journalistic fraternity as well as the PR industry share, that we want to hear, talk, be heard. Communicate.

As I put up this post, I shall hope not to get caught in the crossfire between both communities, but then I think of mentors such as my parents and several industry professionals across my career in public relations, corporate communications, journalism and consulting, and I remember that things each of these common human beings hold dear are honesty and compassion to oneself and to others, and if I can live up to those ideals, then this common human being is just fine trying to communicate and often failing miserably.

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The above article represents the views solely of the author, the person who placed this post. All views are strictly personal, and whether right or wrong, not a representation of any people or organisations he is associated with. I encourage people to comment, critique, tear to shreds, but above all, Communicate. If nothing, at least I will learn from where I have botched up. I also encourage people to take the time out to find mentioned social media post, which I, for fear of hurting sentiment cannot point you in the direction of. I respect the journalist and every word he has written and he makes complete sense to me, rant or not. But what I respect more so is that he encouraged communication between the two fraternities, something more necessary than rants, whether by journalists or the PR fraternity.

Truly yours,

A shameless fellow ‘ranter’ (if such a word exists) :)

P. S. If I have hurt any sentiments, at all, I sincerely apologise. My intent was purely to speak, be heard, try to communicate, not to hurt anyone and if I have, whether inadvertent or not, I am sorry.