Public relations

[Phoenix]

Do newspaper people regard P.R. to be the last bastion for the journalistic misfit or sell-out?

 

[Mizzougrad96]

No, and yes...

A PR guy who knows and understands what beat writers deal with on a daily basis because they've been a reporter before is worth their weight in gold...

Sadly, PR guys almost never fall into that category... A few do, but they're all retiring... The newer group are more of a roadblock between the media and the coaches and players rather than a link...

It's changed quite a bit in the last decade and not for the better...

 

[DemoChristian]

I know one media relations guy who has virtually no understanding of the media. He tells the players he's on their side and encourages them not to speak to reporters. He also argues with us over what is and is not a story.
Then again, his boss is great -- but maybe that's because he was a journalist once upon a time.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

I know one media relations guy who has virtually no understanding of the media. He tells the players he's on their side and encourages them not to speak to reporters. He also argues with us over what is and is not a story.
Then again, his boss is great -- but maybe that's because he was a journalist once upon a time.

You just described 95 percent of the PR guys out there...

 

[Seahawk]

It is sad. We have a school in our conference with a basketball coach who does not allow the team's stats to be posted on the school Web site. How that is/has been allowed, I have no idea.

As a former sports journalist, I get very frustrated with fellow SIDs who truly don't understand how they are actually hurting the school and/or athletes with the way they do things.

 

[copperpot]

There are definitely good PR folks out there, but sadly they really seem to be in the minority. I did have a good experience the other day -- my boss thrust a last-minute preview of an outdoors story on my desk. I called the PR guy and was told he was in a meeting and would be for the next two hours. So I dropped him an email and told him I was hoping to get some info and pictures from him and that I'd give him a call after lunch.

I get back from lunch and find he's sent me six nice pics. I call him and he asks for my number and says he'll have the show's director call me. Calls back a minute later to tell me he talked to her and shell call me at 2:15 if that works for me.

Wish like hell all PR folks could be like that.

 

[Tom Petty]

bookmark.

 

[Birdscribe]

I know one media relations guy who has virtually no understanding of the media. He tells the players he's on their side and encourages them not to speak to reporters. He also argues with us over what is and is not a story.
Then again, his boss is great -- but maybe that's because he was a journalist once upon a time.

And typically, those are the best PR folks -- because we were there and understand what news is.

My agency has no fewer than a half-dozen ex-pat sportswriters, including my VP and one of our boxing guys who used to write for the Her-Ex.

Our jobs are two-fold: to promote our client and to make it easier for you guys to do your jobs. I don't understand why the two have to be mutually exclusive.

 

[hankschu]

PR folks for the MLB team I cover are terrific. They understand our job completely, and I feel comfortable even asking for their help on a story they know will place their team in a bad light.

Rather than fight us, they ask us to consider their point of view and spell it out. Then they trust me to write a balanced story. That makes me want to do exactly that, so in that sense, they are doing their team a service.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

My son starts his job at the NYC office of Edelman, a humongous PR firm, on March 17. I hope his knowledge of the profession as expressed at the dinner table by me is helpful. Like most sports folks, I cherish a good PR operation and suffer, not silently, with a bad one.

 

[bob]

My son is a "junior account executive" at a PR firm. I was horrified when he went into PR, but those guys will do anything possible to help us chase down something we need.

 

[PHINJ]

If you think sports PR guys are bad, try dealing with entertainment PR people.

 

[Write-brained]

If you think sports PR guys are bad, try dealing with entertainment PR people.

True dat. I've tried in the past to get ahold of celebrities who were coming to my town. Only to be treated like something on the bottom of the flak's shoes.

As for pr flaks closer to my home, I always make it a point to thank and compliment the ones who go above and beyond for me. There are a couple.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

A good thread topic (Hi, Birdscribe!) would be the best sports PR operations and operators. I would certainly have a shout out for the now-retired Ed Carpenter at BU.

 

[accguy]

One thing to consider, there's a significant difference between working as an SID or media relations for a team/league and working for a PR agency like Birdscribe and Gee's son.

They are completely different. The latter deals much more with strategy and deals almost as much in a marketing capacity as it does trying to get people to write about something.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

One thing to consider, there's a significant difference between working as an SID or media relations for a team/league and working for a PR agency like Birdscribe and Gee's son.

They are completely different. The latter deals much more with strategy and deals almost as much in a marketing capacity as it does trying to get people to write about something.

Completely true... They're not all whores...

 

[Ace]

One thing to consider, there's a significant difference between working as an SID or media relations for a team/league and working for a PR agency like Birdscribe and Gee's son.

They are completely different. The latter deals much more with strategy and deals almost as much in a marketing capacity as it does trying to get people to write about something.

Completely true... They're not all whores...

Being a PR ***** sounds good about now.

 

[forever_town]

I've been thinking about being a flak for a team lately. Even if the pay isn't much more than I'm making now, at least I wouldn't have to worry about the bean counters.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

There's much better job security...