In this new feature for PR NEWS - prompted by reader surveys
requesting even more media relations insight -- we ask top media
journalists to share their best and worst experiences dealing with
PR contacts. We call this feature "bugaboos" because if you know
what gets their goat, then chances are you'll have a better chance
of getting on their good side. To start, we tapped the New York
Post's Keith J. Kelly, whose aggressive Media Ink column, which
runs on Wednesdays and Fridays, is a must-read for all media
professionals:
- Getting calls at 5:30 or 6:00 at night from PR people who just
want to shoot the breeze about their latest pitch, clueless that
Kelly is often on deadline at the hour. "That's where I get my
reputation for being so gruff," he says. "Most in-house PR people
at the big group publishers know better; but a lot of the calls at
the hour come from the agencies." - Being contacted by a PR person who isn't familiar with Kelly's
column and is woefully unclear on exactly the kinds of media
stories --- mostly magazines and book publishing (and where the
bodies are buried) -- that Kelly will tackle. - A PR person who wants to introduce Kelly to a client during
lunch but the only "juice" around is what they're drinking. Kelly
says these lunches are a colossal waste of his time -- and the
client's. "Give me some news I can use, some gossip, some problems,
some people I can talk to," he says. "I don't want to be an
audience of one for a 90-minute infomercial."
What works: "On rare occasions, a PR person actually had some
important strategic news and managed to give it to me a day or so
in advance of the announcement to guarantee an exclusive."
Contact: Keith Kelly, [email protected].