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Don't ask why the annoying PR person calls the journalist at 7am

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Anjoo Mohun
Anjoo MohunJul 12, 2017 | 21:08

Don't ask why the annoying PR person calls the journalist at 7am

Why the annoying PR calls the journalist at 4 am

I have been seeing a lot of social media posts from "pissed off" journalists who are vexed with asinine PR managers who are "clueless" about how to go about promoting a story. Some of the incidents they list seemed bizarre beyond belief since they fall into the category of "common sense or lack of" but, for me, it did set off a train of analyses and a question: is doing PR as bad as it is said to be?

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One senior journalist called communications one of the "silly" jobs of the new millennium and he is highly respected so we should all listen to him except that he was caught talking to one of those irritating communications people himself. So everybody talks to that PR representative but doesn't want to own up? Is that it?

Or is there just too much going on?

It is but silly because print and broadcast created platforms that needed content by the hour. Online news took it to new heights - that pressure to be "breaking news" or to be the first with the flashy scoop has led to public relations becoming that necessary evil you cannot live without.

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Stop being so familiar with the media, it takes a lifetime to make friends so don't pretend to be one after a single phone call. 

That 10-second shot with the Bollywood star that plays on loop over a 20-minute segment is the reason why PR executives can call the shots and does so with impunity.

They are not gatekeepers anymore, but the ones who have the power to decide who gets through the gate! Who would have known that Shahrukh Khan's debacle Phir Be Dil Hai Hindustani would end up foretelling the PR domination! Or that The Donald can get away with the kind of language he uses for the media.

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This is not about "unforced errors" but a terrible situation between the media and the PR junta who think carpet-bombing with six emails, four phone calls and a dozen WhatsApp will get the story in. The root of such pestering lies in the growth of media itself. Since I, and many like me, have worked directly in print and other media before jumping over the fence to the other side, we do know how newspapers work.

Back in the day, there were merely three publications that mattered. One a major film magazine, another a women's magazine and the last that one great news magazine whose bylines journalism students read like they were God's own words.

It was known for its research, fact checking, quote attribution and everything else solid journalism was about. It was nothing short of the holy grail and I got to intern there for a few weeks and I saw divine beings walk the corridors.

Yes, I also did work at one of its sister publications later but it was not the same thing!

Those were also the days when editors had real clout; I have heard one of them give a sarcastic do-over to somebody who happened to mention a politician too frequently: "Is he paying your salary." It was the worst possible insult.

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There was shame in flaunting a proximity to a rich businessman or a powerful politician. We reported facts and news and worked at arm's length from the power corridors and reported as we saw it. It was simple really, if the story was published with a name in it, it was a given that the reported story was true and that was real power. That press card carried a weight which belied its dog-eared, rectangular shape.

What blurred that line between the reporter and the reported was the exponential growth of the media itself. Three newspapers went on to become 300. All powerful state bureaus made way for state editions and then city editions so that leading papers today have 23 editions, all with their own city editors. Then there were the supplements.

Today, the NCR has its own local versions. How thinly has the salami been sliced! Then there was colour. The supplements lifted features into a new honourable position vis a vis the all powerful political hacks - they brought in glamour, an exclusive look at wealth and celebrity. Colour also changed the face of 24x7 TV and all of this needed content.

Anchors became celebrities, in love with their own voices, the questions became longer than the answers and the Cabinet minister was best chum addressed by his first name.

All protocol was gone, and left in the detritus was inanity and journalistic vanity, encouraging an army of undergrads fluttering press releases, like the Mongol army across the steppes.

The time when an editor would snigger and refuse a five-star hotel's single malt cocktail disappeared like steam.

The features gang got front row seats at fashion shows and the women among them became femme fatales themselves, getting their cotton saree blouses stitched at private fittings - called up ahead for any table at any hotel.

Close on the heels of all this media "space" came the revolution in retail, hospitality, travel and what not. It was boom town.

The politicians had already divided the journalists among themselves, that arm's length disappeared into a hug with personal wedding invitations. Contacts were to be gloated about and more importantly to be blatantly brandished.

So why blame the soft story feature folk for showing some muscle? They had been sidelined for too long and if they had to use five adjectives in one sentence because there was nothing else to write, so be it.

No sweat! I remember an intern asking me how many parties she would be able to go to and later a trainee reporter wondering if it was her turn to take a free trip to Singapore!

The new age kids saw journalism as a lifestyle choice, led to the freewheeling PR brigade who send intrusive SMSes at 7.00 am and pound on your virtual door day and night with a poorly written note, asking to ensure that their MD gets a photo space in your media outfit.

They do it because they can. They have favours to dole out and people out there who want them too and who sometimes ask for it outright. Yet, there is nothing to condone the bad manners and since I belong to both the tribes, I can squarely place the blame on two sets of shoulders. The media should go back to the basics and the PR fraternity should remind themselves that they are enablers. A conduit.

This could be an urban myth but it does make sense. Alan Rusbridger, The Guardian's legendary editor once said to someone who asked him about all the money the paper was losing, "You worry about the journalism and get the story."

Basically, he meant sod off and just do the job you are supposed to do! You are only as good as your last story.

Communications and PR executives too need some basic lessons in manners. First, repeated intrusions never earn you anything except a block on the mobile phone. Try to do your homework.

Stop being so familiar with the media, it takes a lifetime to make friends so don't pretend to be one after a single phone call. Would you buy whatever you are selling?

Try reading, I am told it is a sound mental exercise. You can't try open plugs and plants. And tell that CEO of yours and his wife, that no, that birthday party cannot be covered by the BBC unless both of them fall off the roof on top of their Ferrari. Now that would be a real story!

Last updated: July 12, 2017 | 21:08
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