PR Must Stand Up for Itself—a Top 10 List of Reasons Not to Hate PR People!
By Linda VandeVrede, Blogger, Valley PR Blog; Director of Public Relations, iMemories
PR people are just getting bandied about in the blogosphere these days, if you haven't noticed. And I for one am tired of seeing "flacks" held up to the light as evil incarnate in an online world. I'm not saying that our profession is perfect or infallible. I'm not saying that there aren't PR people, including myself, who have wished they could turn back time and recall an email or call they placed. I just want our fair due.
A few years ago, I sat in on a panel of high-tech editors. The purpose of the presentation was to have each share his or her tips on how best to work with them. The session predictably ended up as a rant against PR people in general.
At one point in the panel, I turned the tables on the editors and asked, "Since you're all covering the 'technology' beat, and you have so many different industries and technologies to cover these days, can you tell me what you do in your spare time to learn more about your beat and keep up? What sort of homework do you do on the side?" Resounding silence ensued.
It seemed that their vision of themselves was as selective brokers of information, reminding me of the scene in the movie "Trading Places" where Eddie Murphy is on the commodities trading floor, designating which bids he'll accept. One of the panelists had even confessed to me in a private moment that his preferred beat was not technology at all. For goodness' sake, follow your passion and leave the technology beat to those who have an innate interest.
Perhaps we need a national "Take Your Journalist to Work" or "Take Your PR Person to Work" day so we can both better understand the other's challenges. My first job out of college was as an editorial assistant for a national arts magazine, so I have sat on both sides of the fence. Unless a particular editor or blogger has been on the PR side recently—during the Web 2.0 "era"—I don't think he or she can truly appreciate what PR people are facing today. Namely, that is an ever-growing list of publications, bloggers, editors, analysts or influential consultants, and an ever-growing list of ways in which those individuals wish to be contacted, on an ever narrowing timeframe.
In the spirit of showing the other side of the coin, I have created the tongue-in-cheek "Top 10 List of Reasons Not to Hate PR People." Someday, it is my wish to be in an environment where I am sitting in the catbird seat. That leaves me the position of either reporter of a prominent online magazine (where I will magnanimously accept and respond to all PR emails), or queen of a small, as yet undiscovered European country. My husband would tell you, of course, that I am already in the catbird seat, and have been so all our married lives.
Here they are, my "Top 10 List of Reasons Not to Hate PR People":
#10 - They know that just building a better mousetrap won't get the world to your door.
#9 - They're much easier to talk to than other professions. (Ever attend an engineering or accounting conference?)
#8 - They're not lawyers.
#7 - They are the ones who have to tell the client the baby is ugly.
#6 - They're well read and thus would make perfect teammates on a game show.
#5 - They'll never correct your math mistakes.
#4 - They'll never impose a deadline on you.
#3 - They've deliberately chosen a field where there is little control and few thank you's.
#2 - They're no divas—they know what it's like to be the ugly stepsister trying to get the prince to dance with her at the ball.
#1 - They don't care how you communicate with them. They'll respond to emails, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, cell phones, smoke signals, you name it.
#5 should be #1. I have yet to meet a PR pro that was any good at math and met quite a few who started some sort of math-related major in college only to find they were not good at it. I started out in Accounting then Financial Planning, and finally communications/PR...my finances remain a mess! -)
Tuesday, November 20, 2007 12:22:40 PM by Anonymous
Another reason not to hate PR people: they really want to help you get your story.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007 10:25:41 AM by Bill Byrne
Here's why, in my mind, we're getting a bad rap.
Too many agencies are just churning out media lists using Bacon's or whatever, not vetting them, and then going for a home run with each pitch.
So you landed the million dollar Smith Pencil account? Awesome, I hope it wasn't on the basis of some great ideas which sound awesome on paper, but media just won't be into.
Likewise, just because MediaMap or the Gift List says Jane Hurt @ AP is covering new products for the holidays, that doesn't mean she'll find your new pencil eraser compelling. Sure, pitch her, but once, not 30 times.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007 10:26:25 AM by Anonymous
Amen, Linda! Thank you for the laugh, You forgot one, though. #11: They throw great parties at the best restaurants that you'll otherwise never get to enjoy.
Monday, November 26, 2007 2:15:27 PM by Anonymous
#12 They are the first people to be called because they have a million contacts.
#13 They know a lot of secrets and keep them confidential.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007 10:53:11 AM by Linda VandeVrede
These are all great additions, so maybe the next version will be the "Top 100 Reasons...."
Tuesday, November 27, 2007 10:56:40 PM by Anonymous
Another perspective.
As a practicing PR professional, I think it would serve us well to consider the top ten reasons why people hate us. Or why they think they hate us.
Most of us are communications professionals who work hard to honestly promote our clients. The problem is that we've let those to whom these reasons apply, smear the rest of us with their slime. We have a PR problem.
Top Ten Reasons to hate PR people.
10. We're unprofessional hacks who flood the media with meaningless drivel that takes away from truly important political, environmental, economic and social issues.
9. We're paid operatives who manipulate the media for selfish business interests.
8. We're greedy parasites who charge exorbitant fees to clients willing to pay anything to get what they want.
7. We're ruthless mercenaries who put our clients' interests above the public interest.
6. We're political prostitutes who hop in bed with any politician who's got the money.
5. We're corporate shills who whitewash corporate malfeasance and corruption.
4. We're sleazy spin doctors who sanitize and bandage over the corruption of public officials.
3. We're propagandists who promote the lies of crooked, self-serving governments.
2. We're unscrupulous opportunists who will promote any product or service regardless of it's worth.
1. We're persuasive mouthpieces who will say anything we're paid to say - truthful or otherwise.
We need to better police our own industry. Or maybe we should consider hiring a PR firm to represent us.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007 12:40:40 PM by Linda VandeVrede
I think there's enough negative posts in the blogosphere now highlighting the foibles of PR people that it's time to remind everyone of the good things - and there are good things. Remember the old adage about "give a dog a bad name..."
Friday, November 30, 2007 9:53:13 AM by Anonymous
I agree with the top ten reasons why they hate us. And Linda, it's not enough to just focus on the positive while ignoring the honest truths. And they are truths. I realize you're trying to be coy, but ultimately I think your humorous list exposes the lack of substance so many of us provide. I would like nothing more then to have each of us take a good long look at the mirror and reflect on what we see. More and more, I'm growing disinterested and disgusted with this industry. Perhaps if we thought of ourselves first as citizens and second as PR pros, there wouldn't be a "them" or "us" to hate but rather a unified "we" communicating with each other. Isn't that what PR is all about?
Thursday, December 06, 2007 9:17:49 PM by Cindy B
I completely agree with the anonomyous person before me. Although this article is enterntaining, as I read I could only think that these "reasons not to hate PR people" are jokes with no credibility or substance. Instead of focusing on the negative or on the unimportant, how about trying to give some real, solid reasons why we should appreciate PR persons?
For example: PR people promote open and honest two way communication between companies and publics.
Certainly this is the truth for at least some PR professionals.
By Linda VandeVrede, Blogger, 
