I used to work in the newspaper industry, and I’ll admit that some of the criticism that journalists are arrogant and holier-than-thou is justified.
Take, for example, the smart-aleck news brief that appeard on Page 3 of the July 6 issue of the Denver Business Journal. The headline read “Another episode: Bad Press Release Theater.”
“Don’t imply that the media outlet to whom you’re pitching will soon be out of business, as in this recent pitch to DBJ editor Neil Westergaard,” the item stated.
The writer, presumably Westergaard, was critical of an unnamed PR person’s pitch that began like this:
“Four years ago, executive director [Jane Doe] anticipated the eventual decline of print media and launched her own new media startup, which serves the travel, tourism and destination marketing industries through new media and video productions…”
DBJ Editor Neil Westergaard replied:
“I’m not interested in doing a story on [Company X]. I’m too busy putting the DBJ’s affairs in order owing to our eventual decline as a print medium, as predicted by [Jane Doe].
The publicist wrote back, “Thanks, anyway, Neil. Hope you gave a great day!”
“You have to admire such cheerful obliviousness,” the brief stated.
OK, maybe it wasn’t the greatest pitch in the world. But it wasn’t inaccurate. The editor’s response makes him look, indeed, oblivious.
The newspaper industry, particularly dailies, is seeing continued declines in circulation and advertising, with many major dailies gutting their news staffs. Craigslist, the wildly popular free online community bulletin board, is largely responsible for the papers’ eroded classified ad revenue.
The Cincinnati Post and The Kentucky Post, both afternoon dailies, will stop publishing December 31, the newspaper’s owners announced last week. The problem probably isn’t as severe at business journals, but the American City Business Journals chain and Crains have been devoting a lot of time and attention to the online verions of their publications.
Problems in the newspaper industry are all the more reason why PR people should be reaching out to bloggers and citizen journalists and using social networking sites, as well as posting to Craigslist. See “Let Bloggers Create Publicity for You” and “Craigslist: A Valuable Publicity Tool.”
Full disclosure: I was editor at The Business Journal in Milwaukee, which is owned by the same company that owns the Denver Business Journal.
Thanks to Publicity Hound Anita Larson of The Web Muse & Company, a Colorado web design firm, who sent the clipping to me. She says she, too, thinks the brief smacks of smart-aleck.
I think the demise of print media is definitely “greatly exaggerated.” While the print newspaper circulation is on the decline due to online and other forms of media providing many more opportunities for one to obtain their news, it is foolish to think that the “ink on the fingers” type journalism offered by reputable print outlets is completely out of style and in danger of extinction. Nothing could be further from the truth. The fact is that it can be tough on people to be tethered to computers all day and yet another example of an unhealthy, sedentary lifestyle for those that do this. Meanwhile, I still like to read a newspaper in my car or on the train on the way to work. I am willing to bet that there are many people the world over who share that view, both young and old alike. Today’s media landscape is unfriendly to most media which is singular in form and delivery. Indeed it is the media group that covers more bases and eyeballs that largely gets the ad buy these days, not just a single outlet. As a publicist, I like to see online hits but also still very much crave the actual column inch or paper and ink hit in a longer lead publication or a newspaper.
J.M. De Jesus
President
QUADRANT TWO PR
Guttenberg, NJ/New York, NY