KC Star columnist victim of an unethical cheap shot

For the PR firm, this could lead good people not to apply for openings. It's childish and unprofessional, even if there's no confidentiality law surrounding it.

 

Could also lead to the loss of some clients too.

 

The scary thing is not so much that there are so many bloggers who consider themselves real, trained journalists, or, at least, more than adequate stand-ins. It is that there are already so many, and that there soon will be ever more, readers who don't know and can't tell the difference.

And, they may not care to think or learn about it. It's is a standards/expectations/limitations thing, and those are changing, quickly and drastically.

 

Sorry, but had I been the PR flack to receive the inquiry I'd probably be put off. Might have sent back a testy response.

But I'd never -- ever -- do what she did.

Don't know Mike. Probably won't ever meet him but his inquiry didn't warrant the treatment it received.

 

One can only hope...

 

The woman who sent that to the blog should be fired immediately, and I suspect she will be.

Having said that...

Man, what a tool. It would be tricky to devise a more arrogant and obnoxious letter.

 

There are so many bad stereotypes out there right now of elitist newspaper veterans and dumb PR types, and this whole deal serves to perpetuate both. I'm embarrassed by how pompous the newspaper guy came off, even in the follow-up, and disappointed to see it handled as poorly and unprofessionally as it was on the PR end.

On the blogger end, I'll just say that the worst bloggers are the ones with no relationship with the people they write about. That makes for very little accountability -- you just sit back and rattle off smart comments without having to ever deal with the people you're ripping. It's too easy that way, and readers don't take the time to distinguish between those bloggers and reputable journalists who keep a blog as part of their job.

Like it's been said, this makes everybody involved look bad. There's nobody to root for here.

 

My thoughts exactly. Does not excuse the PR flack, but, man, Hendricks seems like a giant prick due to the emails.

 

Reminds me much of the anonymous comments that too many sites allow to be published beneath stories online.

There's a notable lack of respect for the power (and the potential damage inflicted) of the written word. I wouldn't want the typical guy next door driving and Indy race car or working as an EMT without the appropriate traing; it's increasingly clear that maybe he shouldn't be on the Inter Web either without passing an appropriate competency test.

 

While horrified by the PR person and saddened (but not surprised) by the blogger, am I the only one who thinks it's unseemly for people here to be rooting for this PR woman to lose her job? She was mean as a snake, but ... you want her fired? In this job market? What if she's a single mom? Whatever her situation may be, it seems like expressing anger/shock/your emotion here ought to be enough. Writing her an email to chew her out? Writing her BOSS to suggest she's deserving of unemployment? Good grief, people. And Slappy, thanks for providing her email address. Next time, tack on some smiley faces so we know you're actually a good guy and not the serpent I think you are at this moment.

 

I hope she gets fired.

Sorry, Greggggg. But if you fail at your job, you should be fired. Kind of the way it works. If you fail by being late to work every day, then you get a talking to. If you fail by pissing off your coworkers by being underhanded, then maybe you get a suspension.

But if you violate a code your company lives by, sending inside company information (which is what this was) to a blog for publication, then yes...you should get fired.

There are degrees. And just because it's a bad economy doesn't mean we can all go to work and basically tell our places of employment that we don't care what their standards or systems are, we're going to make fun of this job applicant in the most public way we can while protecting our OWN ass. Just doesn't work that way. She knew the economy, she knew the rules, and now she can learn that doing something to be a bitch doesn't help you keep your job.

 

Luuuuucy? You got some 'splaining to do.