Ragan’s PR Daily recently ran a bylined article I wrote about the new face of the summer intern. Ironically, it’s a person who needs not show their face at all. Would you consider hiring an intern who never came into the office?

The recent brouhaha (I wrote this post so I could use the word “brouhaha”) over The New York Times’ decision to bar tech columnist David Pogue from serving as a paid speaker at PR conferences underscores the perpetually fraught dynamic between journalists and PR professionals.

Arthur Brisbane, the paper’s public editor who moved to take action against Pogue’s participation in such events, notes, “The “Pitch Me” presentation might strike some as pretty harmless. But there is a reason why The Times ethics policy proscribes it. Times readers deserve to be assured that journalists don’t get too cozy with the P.R. professionals who strive to influence coverage.”

Here’s the thing: Journalists have been participating in these types of events and relying on PR pros/their clients for ages. A PR person’s objective is to get his/her client’s story heard. That involves knowing key influencers (reporters, editors, producers, bloggers, etc.), building relationships, and crafting and delivering stories in a way that makes them stand out. A journalist’s objective is to find a good story and tell it in an engaging and balanced way. These goals are not in direct conflict. A good journalist does reporting and research to determine what’s really newsworthy and to get a picture of the broader context. Relationship building is very much part of the process for both parties.

Interestingly, in this era of overwhelming 24-7 digital communication journalists actually seem to be more open than ever to face-to-face meetings. Case in point: I was in The New York Times offices just a couple weeks ago introducing my client, a professor at IMD, a business school in Switzerland, to a colleague of Pogue’s at The New York Times. I was able to interest the reporter in taking the meeting by presenting my client as a potentially useful resource for the types of stories he typically writes. It was, of course, up to the journalist to evaluate my client’s information and expertise. I’d have to be some kind of magician to talk him or any other good reporter into writing a story with no news value, so Brisbane’s underlying concern about journalists and PR people getting “too cozy” strikes me as an underestimation of the writer’s competency.

What’s your feeling about it?

After getting a lot of “feedback” (read: brouhaha) Brisbane’s now working on a follow up column “PR professionals: bane or a boon?” and he’s seeking input, so weigh in here, there, or in both places, if you’d like.

I had a big smile on my face riding the train to work this morning because the focus of this week’s “You’re the Boss” blog in the  New York Times was about the power of PR.   The piece validated the profession in such a way that put a skip in my step as I headed into the office. 

Adrianna Gardella’s profile of Jill Cartwright, entrepreneur and founder of Go Ga Ga – makers of ergonomic tote bags - sheds light on the impact of proactive public relations.  As noted in the piece, PR professionals have widened their scope – adding social media, word of mouth campaigns and blogger relations to the traditional media mix.

In fact, many of our newest assignments at Rose Communications have been hinged on the development and execution of social media campaigns.  We recently expanded our program with Apex Tool Group, one of the largest worldwide producers of industrial hand and power tool brands, including Allen®, Armstrong®, and GearWrench®, among others, to include social media strategy and special projects.

And we’re having even greater impact on the bottom line.

After working with a PR professional Cartwright grew her business exponentially.  Her revenue in 2009 was 134k and after working with a PR pro her revenue nearly doubled, with projections for 2011 in the 500k range. 

I’m excited by the possibilities and love that Cartwright gave her publicist props.  Her advice:

·         View your publicist as your partner

·         Conduct monthly brainstorm meetings with your PR team

·         Invest in PR and you’ll see immediate results

The term “press release” bothers me.

Historically, I’m told, “press release” referred to the targeting of news to newspapers, while “news release” encompasses all forms of media. I know it’s the perpetually idealistic (read: hard-headed) journalism student in me, but in my mind, a press release implies that the issuer is just out to get “ink,” news value be damned. I prefer the term “news release” because it conveys the loftier goal of providing information that is genuinely valuable to the intended audience.

You’ll be happy to know I’m not as much of a stickler on this issue anymore. I guess I’ve softened a bit, and using the term “press release” is not as angst-ridden for me as it used to be.

A trivial point? Perhaps. But semantics aside, I always keep in mind the higher purpose of a release so I’m sure to serve my clients well. That means constantly asking, “What’s the news?”

We live in a world teeming with information and countless channels for delivering it. The cliché of “cutting through the clutter” was never more accurate than it is today because there really is much more clutter than ever before. And cutting through it is getting ever tougher with each new blog, Twitter and Facebook.

Add to the mix the fact that many people can now read releases verbatim via online news databases that grab, cut and paste the releases directly from newswire feeds. It can be easy to fall into the trap of relying on such regurgitation and writing releases only for prospective customers (not to mention the SEO gods), forgetting authentic news value altogether.

Telling the client’s story well is one part of my job. But perhaps an even more important duty is to help identify, package and deliver the message in a way that truly serves the information needs of the target audience.

How do you define what’s news release-worthy?

I recently attended a trade show where my client had a booth in the exhibit hall. This particular client is an environmentally focused manufacturer committed to reducing its carbon footprint and protecting the planet for future generations. They initiated a “green action” program more than 10 years ago, before “carbon footprint” and “sustainability” became the popular terms they are today. The program includes lean manufacturing initiatives to lesson energy consumption and eliminate material waste.

The show had a dedicated press room where exhibitors could place media materials to highlight existing products or announce new ones. When planning our public relations strategy for the show, we chose to provide our media materials on USB flash drives instead of supplying hard copy kits. This decision was an instinctive one in keeping with the client’s position as well as our own. Not only does it make sense environmentally, it also lightens the load for journalists attending the show.

When I stopped by the press room to drop off our flash drives, I was surprised to find a long table laden with stacks and stacks of traditional media kits – fancy folders and elaborate packages bulging with printed materials. Many of the companies’ materials ironically touted their commitment to the environment.

This experience made me think about the importance of considering all the ways a company communicates and staying true to the brand. Certainly, a slick media kit chock-full of dazzling graphic pieces grabs attention, but what message does that send about the company’s commitment to sustainable business practices?

The new season of AMC’s hit TV series Mad Men started off with a bang (pardon the pun), with a peek into the bedroom of creative director and new bachelor Don Draper.  It also revealed the tensions inherent in the pursuit of new business at fledgling ad agency Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce.

I confess I’m a “Mad-dict,” in part because I’ve worked at a few advertising agencies in my career and many of the situations hit home for me. 

In my experience, some clients view advertising as the golden child and public relations as the bastard at the proverbial family reunion. PR can be an after-thought, while creative gets the lion’s share of the attention.  After all, how do you quantify something you can’t storyboard or plot into a media plan?

The season premiere of Mad Men, entitled “Public Relations,” opened with Don being interviewed by an Advertising Age reporter.  Don’s lackluster responses and subsequent dismissal of the interview as a waste of his time reminded me of a few clients’ view of doing media interviews.

When the article showcases Don in a less than favorable light, he’s called onto the carpet by his agency partner Roger Sterling:

Don:  He never asked me that. Did he check any of the facts?

Roger:  You didn’t give him any facts. He had to make some assumptions.

Don:  My job is to write ads, not go around talking about who I am.

Roger:  Who knows who you are? This was supposed to be an advertisement for the firm…this is a missed opportunity.

By the end of the episode, Don has an “aha” moment when he realizes the value of PR as a tool to tell the agency’s story the way he wants it to be told.  During his interview later on with the Wall Street Journal, it’s obvious Don’s in control.

Smart organizations (the Roger Sterlings) know the value of leveraging editorial coverage to their advantage.  For those that don’t (the Don Drapers), we’re here to tell them.

Having entered the workforce in the late 90s, I always thought the world of public relations presented endless opportunities.  My first “real” PR job was at Rubenstein & Associates, in New York City, the quintessential publicity shop, where weekly media placement reports were typed on carbon paper using massive silver Brother typewriters.  The reports were then distributed to all the head honchos, many of whom were female.

It’s hard to imagine a time when PR was not dominated by female professionals.  However, when Ruth Jacobson entered the field in the 50s, it was more common for women to stay at home than work in any office, let alone as a professional in the high-powered world of advertising, PR and marketing.  According to a news story from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jacobson was the first female executive to work at Fleishman-Hillard and the first senior female partner at the firm.  She graduated from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism and worked on big brand accounts such as Anheuser-Busch.  I would love to have been a fly on the wall to see how she navigated that testosterone-heavy account team – having watched an episode or two of Mad Men, I can just imagine the condescending (and sometimes offensive) comments that got thrown her way.

Now as a vice president at Rose Communications, a female-owned and -operated firm, I am a testament to how the roles have been reversed.  The X chromosome now dominates the PR profession.  I sometimes wonder what if a male colleague had to endure conversations about child rearing, breast feeding, PMS and various other female-orientated topics that make their way into our water cooler chatter?  According to a diversity tracking survey conducted by BPRI Group, 66 percent of employees at public relations agencies are female. I believe we have Ms. Jacobson to thank for that.

The industry lost a trailblazer last week when Jacobson died due to complications from congestive heart failure at the age of 84.  While she may be gone, her legacy will live on.  Thanks to her, PR executives in their mid-30s, such as me, are oblivious to the “glass ceiling.”  The opportunities for female public relations professionals remain endless.

Lin-Manuel Miranda, Tony award winner and Alexander Hamilton aficionado.

Alexander Hamilton was an author of the Federalist papers and first secretary of the U.S. Treasury. He was the leading champion of a central government and was killed in a duel with Aaron Burr.

A little boring, right?  How about this:

“How does the bastard orphan  

Son of a whore and a Scotsman 

Dropped in 

The middle of a forgotten  

Spot in  

The Caribbean

By providence

Impoverished

In squalor,

Grow up to be a hero

And a scholar?”

Aside from his Tony award-winning musical In the Heights, a less well-known demonstration of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s storytelling genius is a rap he composed about Alexander Hamilton.

That’s right, rap. The Hamilton Mixtape, part of which Miranda performed at the White House Evening of Poetry, Music, and the Spoken Word in 2009, engages and entertains like no dry history textbook account could.

We as public relations professionals are essentially storytellers.  We spend much of our time researching our clients and choosing the right words to tell their stories.  Relating the facts isn’t enough.  It’s our job to tell each story well. 

Good PR people don’t distort the facts of any story to make it more provocative or sensational.  Facts reign supreme.  But we must strive to humanize the message – tying it in to something with which the receiver can connect and delivering it in a way that resonates.  Doing so shows a depth of understanding – not only of our clients and their stories, but of the audience for which each message is intended.

Telling a story well lifts the veil that separates the sender from receiver, enhancing the transparency that is so important to an organization’s credibility and, ultimately, its authentic connection to its audience.

A recent article in The Daily News calls the select journalists who attended Tiger Woods’ apology “stooges.” The reporter suggests their agreeing to attend a press briefing during which they’d be allowed to ask zero questions should have earned them “T-shirts reading: ‘2-19-10. I attended Tiger Woods’ Bootlicker’s Ball.’”

The article goes on to say, “There was a time when reporters would not genuflect, not bow down, not adhere to rules set by some celebrity-punk looking to control them. Nor would they listen to some shifty PR flacks or enabling agents, like the ones who look the other way as their married clients morph into womanizing, cheating creeps.”

In the spirit of full disclosure, I know personally one of the three reporters who agreed to attend the “Bootlicker’s Ball.” All journalists are in the business of breaking news. My colleague, who works at Bloomberg News, was the first to write about the apology with this article that scooped his biggest competitors.

Not only was he first with the story, but the piece led to his being interviewed by dozens of other media outlets, including CNN Headline News and Good Morning America. The coverage was great exposure for him and his employer. Plus, he didn’t simply publish Tiger’s statement. He found other people to fill in the gaps for the story he wrote after he attended the event. A stooge? Hardly.

Is the idea that someone in power put restrictions on the media really new? Sure, there are circumstances where reporters won’t acquiesce to the demands of their sources (e.g. they can get the info elsewhere or they know the source needs them more than they need the source). It’s impressive that the Golf Writers Association of America boycotted the event. But, in the era of citizen journalism, Tiger Woods would have found a way to get his story out even if the others had followed suit.

I appreciate the idealistic notion that media should be able to report a story the way they see fit. But I don’t subscribe to the idea that journalists are more easily influenced by people in power today than in the past.   

For many corporations and individuals, common sense dictates the practice of astroturfing (see Wikipedia’s definition if you’re unfamiliar) is something to be avoided, since it’s unethical and chances are it will backfire. It’s also against the law thanks to new FTC guidelines.

So if you’re the world’s largest public corporation by revenue, and stockholders, journalists, bloggers and pretty much everyone under the sun is watching what you’re up to, astroturfing is a disaster waiting to happen – especially if you were caught doing something similar back in 2006.

But that didn’t stop Wal-Mart from setting up a fake community group to drum up support in Chicago, where the company is gunning for a second store within city limits.

When the Chicagoist blog received a series of pro-Wal-Mart comments from unknown screen names in response to various posts, blogger Kevin Robinson decided to investigate. He discovered that, with the help of PR firm Serafin & Associates and the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, Wal-Mart is behind the phony advocacy group, “Our Community. Our Choice,” which was linked to the blog comments.

Wal-Mart and its associates have every right to plea the corporation’s case to the people of Chicago. And the citizens do, too, if they’re legitimate. But establishing a fake community group that professes to stand for residents and their interests is undoubtedly devious and a tactic no PR firm or brand should use.