When I worked as a newspaper editor for more than 20 years,
I had my own pet peeves about people who were clueless about
working with the media. They included:
–Idiots who called to complain, “You’ve written about my
competitor three times but you’ve never written about me!”
–News releases that didn’t list the name or phone number of
a contact person.
–People who agreed to be interviewed, but changed their
minds after the reporter showed up for the interview.
(Reporters NEVER called them again.)
–People who were interviewed, then demanded to read the
story before it was printed. (Don’t even ask this question
or you too will NEVER be called again.)
–People who emailed news releases as attachments. If a
news release can’t be sent in the body of the e-mail, don’t
bother sending it. You wouldn’t believe how many seasoned PR
pros do this.
–E-mailed news releases with a subject line that said “News
Release.” The subject line must explain what the release is
about.
–People who called to insist that the newspaper owed them a
story because they bought several thousand dollars of
advertising each year.
Now that you know what newspaper editors hate, learn about
what they love in “How to be a Kick-Butt Publicity Hound,” an
ebook I cowrote with Tom Antion.
