A column intended to be a lighthearted look at just how far PR folks will go to get their clients noticed is instead shedding a bright light on the often-tense relationship
between journalists and PR professionals.
After perusing a few discarded press releases received by his office, Washington Post columnist Gene Weingarten decided to test how desperately certain agencies were to
get ink. He acknowledged up front that "some of you might call this experiment cruel." He then contacted selected account representatives and proposed a trade: He would write about
their clients' products if the account reps on the line would share embarrassing stories (which Weingarten also would cover.)
Nine out of 16 PR professionals went along with the proposal. (The full text of the column can be found at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7115-2000Oct14.html.)
The question is whether the column is more an indictment of the PR profession, or a glimpse inside the attitudes of journalists - at least this journalist - about PR?
Joel Richman, with Pan Communications in Andover, Mass., fired off an angry email to Weingarten after reading about a coworker in the column. "It's unfortunate someone with the
power to reach as many people as you do would use that medium to embarrass others in another profession - but maybe you wouldn't consider PR a profession," Richman wrote.
He also told Weingarten he had been contacted by other journalists, who expressed dismay at the tone. "'Not only was it in bad journalistic taste, but it was a blatantly nasty
thing to do,'" Richman quoted from one of his email messages.
Another journalist, executive editor Shira Levine of America's Network, told PR NEWS she found Weingarten's column hostile. "We get annoyed [when PR professionals]
don't do their homework," Levine said. "But to insult people and be so denigrating? You wouldn't throw trash on the floor and make fun of the people who had to pick it up."
Weingarten is clearly sensitive on the subject - when PR NEWS called, he asked if we were calling to yell at him. Nevertheless, he defended his handiwork. He said he's
received 180 complimentary messages about the column and just 10 complaints.
We'd like to know what you readers think of Weingarten's "test," and what you think of the way he wrote about it. Check out the column, then email your comments to senior
editor Jenny Sullivan at [email protected]. We'll share the results in future issues.