PRs that make me scream

Journalists get to meet a lot of PRs (public relations officers, some are also known as Corporate Communications officers etc) in our line of job.

They are the ones we go to when we need more information about certain events, details on press conferences, arrangements for interviews etc.

Be it government agencies or private organizations, we have to work with PRs quite often.

You may think that the PRs are “trained” to have the essential PR skills—polite, friendly, resourceful, efficient and accommodating. But some of the PRs whom I have personally met, as well as tales shared by my colleagues, proved otherwise.

And my experiences with these sub-standard PRs, make me pity the companies which employ them (I wonder how many clients they had caused the company to lose by their hostile attitude). It also makes me doubt whether their existence is really essential. Or do they expect journalists to do their jobs for them? What do they have against journalists anyway? And when these PRs say they will return your calls, they never do.

The following are true accounts, but names have been changed to protect them from embarrassment.

Encounter 1:

A* previously helped to arrange an interview for me and X#. It was a pretty interesting news report, and I am quite glad for his help. A, being rather fastidious, then asked me if I could publish an upcoming event on X. I could not make the decision, and had to consult my editors. In the next few days, A repeatedly called my mobile to ask about it. “Why didn’t you publish it?”, A demanded over the phone, on the day just before the event. And when I say “demanded”, I really mean it. But in fact, we did include a short insert that day. I kept my cool and told A so. It was then that A said, “Oh you did? Your paper is XXX? Okie then.” A obviously had no idea who he was calling up, and was behaving, literally like a mad man. A really ought to check out newspapers first before he put forth his nonsensical behaviour, otherwise it only shows how unprofessional he is.

Encounter 2:

I wanted to do a follow-up report on a recent research, and asked B* if he could make arrangements for an interview with the relevant personnel Y#. B wanted to know what questions I have for Y. This is quite common, so I quickly told B over the phone. One of my questions was, “Why did Y carry out this research?” When B heard that, he snorted as though it was a silly question. “Why do you think he did that? That is his job.” Of course I know that it is Y’s job to do research, but what I wanted to know is, what is the reason to do such a study, i.e. did Y foresee a serious problem in that area? Anyway, B should not make such a reply on Y’s behalf. It only shows how shallow he is. B then said Y would not have the time for the interview, even before he asked Y, as we were on the phone all the while. B then said he would call me back. He never did, of course.

Well, these are just some of the terrible experiences that I have had with poor PRs, who make my job more difficult, than it already is.

However, there are really some good PRs around, who are almost always available round the clock, and they actually try their best to be a good facilitator. You can see it and feel it.

There is one whom was woken up by my phone call early in the morning on a recent weekend. I needed her urgent help to contact someone for a news report that morning. I felt rather apologetic as I know how pleasant sleeping in late on weekend can be, and how horrible it is to be woken up by phone calls. But she was not at all annoyed (at least I could not tell from our phone conservation) and what was most amazing is that, within ten minutes, she managed to get the other party to ring me up.

Wow. That’s what I call an effective PR. I sure hope there are more like her around.

* A and B are the black sheep in the PR industry.
# X is either an organization. Y is a person.