freelance stories from pr guys/girls...

yeah, i guess i just thought more people would be fundamentally opposed to using pr people to string on their job.

maybe i'm too idealistic. to me, it's a clear compromise of journalism ethics and a conflict of interest. it's a shame that it's become palatable because newspapers are cutting back on reporters.

how long before the newspaper becomes the press release paper? or maybe it skips that step and just becomes an online message board.

our standards as journalists are one of the very few things that separate us from the average human. why flush those down the toilet?

 

Haven't newspaper run PR copy for a while now? It doesn't seem to be a new trend.

 

Yeah, what do you mean string?

If a college soccer team makes the NCAA tournament and plays 1,000 miles away, I might tell the PR person that whatever they send is all we might run on the game.

That's not stringing. That's doing their job.

Doesn't mean I plan to run a mid-week feature on the midfielder.

 

yeah, perhaps i'm not being too clear.

but i am NOT talking rewriting a news release. i'm NOT talking about running an out-of-town gamer from an SID and swapping his byline with "staff reports" (though in my opinion, that should be rewritten, too.).

what i'm saying is this. i'll try to be as clear as possible.

staff cuts mean there is an overworked prep writer and college writer. that's all. there is a big event with pro players that doesn't fall into either beat. management says someone has to write a preview. there is no one to write a preview. pr guy for the event is contracted to write a preview.

my instincts say this is wrong — a bad bridge to cross.

everyone knows with staff cuts there are sacrifices in coverage. i wanted to feel out the people here to see if anyone thought running an event preview written by the event's pr guy in such a case is worth sacrificing ethical standards if the alternative was running nothing at all.

if this is already happening on a widespread level, excuse me for missing the boat. but it's not the kind of journalism i'd be proud of.

 

I would not "contract: with a PR person to write a preview of an event.

Most I would do is ask if they were sending a release on the upcoming event and use it the best way I could. I might let them know that the more details the more we can use, but that's it.

If management doesn't like it, management can write it.

 

Now that I understand your question, like Ace said, no way in hell would I hire a PR guy to string something for you.

That is iffy at best.

 

Most releases I've seen in the cities I've lived in have been rewritten. Usually that's because the SID can't write a newspaper style gamer. I don't care if NW Chuckers State tried real hard. Final score first and then give me some play-by-play.

 

I'm not thinking about a feature. More of a game story or an advance or maybe a Q&A type of thing.