Amen. PR needs pesky journos to ask the hard questions to help them hone the pitch. Swamped journos need the pitch written in clear terms and thoroughly argued so they can critically evaluate it on a deadline. It's a symbiotic negotiating process by two professionals with different missions--good advocacy and critical objectivity--but a shared commitment to truth and accuracy. I've worked with Edelman folks, and they didn't behave at all like they held the attitudes spouted by their boss.
Chuck,
Thanks for sharing Jack Trouit;s piece in Forbes. It's a good read -- not too obtuse -- and provides a grounded perspective of some of the new tools now proliferating in the digital marketer's arsenal.
Ike,
I was very torn in writing this posting. On the one hand, the idea of rallying support for a client's cause by "seeding" like-minded citizen journalists is a natural extension of the long-time practice of grassroots, third-party constituency-building.
My conundrum lies in the manipulation of bloggers who often don't check facts and aren't bound by the need for journalistic balance. Is this a good thing for PR people to be seen as insidiously bypassing objective reporters to advance their clients' causes? Some may argue yes.
I would like to think that our client's messages -- through all the wonderful new information syndication tools (and some old ones like media training, etc) -- can withstand the scrutiny to prevail upon even the most jaded of audiences.
We're dealing with the same sort of issues over in the advertising world.
Here's a good article by Jack Trout in Forbes. It bleeds into your happy world of PR:
http://www.forbes.com/
columnists..._0307trout.html
Peter... you might be shocked to find out that a large number of people believe that journalists have a "license" that can be taken away, or ought to have some type of professional certification.
Scary stuff. We don't teach the First Amendment like we used to.
Anyway, the only real checks and balances we've ever had on journalism in this country have been through competition and credibility. When neither is a factor, Hearst is able to start a war on Spain. "You provide the pictures, I'll supply the war."
Today, media-mega-mergers are taking the competition away, and the public pendulum has swung more toward information sources that either reinforce existing beliefs or worship celebrities.
Given the climate, there is no police to police the blogosphere. Some bloggers stake a claim as the universal ombudsmen for the fourth estate -- but in reality they are just as susceptible to falling to the dark side.
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