how to ruin a journalist’s day

Is there a journalist you really don’t like? If you work in PR, here are eight tried and tested strategies to ruin their day.

😖 Pitch them something that isn’t a story, and then argue with them when they knock it back. Be sure to act like you know more about their publication than they do. Learn nothing from the exchange. Rinse. Repeat.

😭 Add them to newsletters and lists that will fill their inboxes with so much junk that they can’t find emails they actually need. Make sure it's virtually impossible to unsubscribe.

😱 Pitch them only after you have done zero background research. Have no idea what the publication covers, who it’s for or why your pitch doesn’t belong there.

😳 Write very long rambling emails that bury the actual news, and then follow up repeatedly when you get no answer. Or better yet, have a junior follow up. One who has worked with you for seven minutes and has no authority to engage in any useful way whatsoever.

😡 Insist on seeing the questions beforehand. Then ask if you can see the copy before they publish. When they push back, insist on suspending the whole process so you can check if “we can make an exception this time”. Come back with an affirmative response ten minutes before deadline, after everyone has dropped the whole thing and moved onto a better story that doesn't require dealing with annoying people.

😤 Embargo your media release for a time that makes your story functionally useless to anyone in a newsroom. Then combine this strategy with one or more of the steps above.

😖 Offer an “exclusive” for the least exclusive person in town, and then shop it around to everyone anyway.

🤬 Offer CEO access, then go silent when your CEO decides that you really should have checked with him first. Then pop up again after deadline, offering someone seven levels down the org chart.

😤 Send a media release with no phone number. When the journalist manages to find you somehow, insist on eight rounds of approval to get an interview.

Did you read this far?

Good. It should go without saying that this is a list of things PR professionals should never do.

They do happen though. Some of the above happened to me.

Real advice:

💥 Don’t pitch what you can’t deliver.

💥 Journalists are (or should be) agnostic to your success. Their loyalty is to their audience, not you. Live with it.

💥 Working in the media is harder than it has ever been, so a little consideration goes a long way.