Drama, Drama, Drama

Oh the drama and controversy swirling about the interwebs right now! (I refuse to use the term “blogosphere” (even though I just did) and also, I hate Weblog. STOPPIT. It’s just a blog now, ok? We’ve got that cleared up? Can we move on? Ok. Great.)

First, Chris Andersen published his vitriolic post about being pitched as Editor in Chief of Wired Magazine.

There was a big bunch of kerfuffle (now THAT’S one of my favourite words) over that among PR people and journalists alike.

Then, Gina Trapani from Lifehacker tweeted [past tense of having written a twitter message] a link to a wiki, called PR Spammers. I’m sure you can figure out what that’s about.

That started a whole new kerfuffle.

So, instead of re-hashing something that is now essentially, old news, if you want details, go read Geoff, or Jason, or Brian, or Todd. I didn’t even get them all. But that’s a good start. If you want to see the other side, take a look at Matt or Stowe.

Whew. Ok. So here’s my whole thing. I’m currently on both sides of the fence here. I’ve still got a foot in PR and Social media, and I’m still working on clients (none of my clients are in any of the fields I write about on any of my blogs). I’m also a writer, and actually working towards doing more of that in the future.

Through the course of this blog, and the one I’ll be launching on the Lifestyle channel, I’ve been dealing with a lot of great PR people. Some, not so great, but 90% of them have been fantastic. But, because I have a PR background, I talk to them like I would like to be spoken to and I reply to them in a timely manner because it’s how I would like to be responded to. (do unto others much?)

So who’s right here? I think there’s a bit of both right and wrong, on both sides of the fence.

I think PR people who pitch blindly, throwing a bunch of shit at the wall to see what will stick, and in turn are pitching the Editor in Chief are lazy. Chris is right.

I think that media people who aren’t clear on how they want to receive information, and then get bitchy when they are contacted, or break PR’s trust – breaking embargos, threatening exclusives and when not granted them, refuse to write about the company, or just act as though the person on the other end of the phone is obviously a complete idiot because they dared to say the words “Hi, My name is Colleen, and I’m from Type A Public Relations. Do you have a minute?”. I should have named my PR company something other than “Public Relations”, obviously.

Folks, it’s time to put down the gloves.

Not long ago, I asked for pitches for this blog, and I meant it. I’ve been getting some great stuff, and I can’t wait to get everything reviewed and written about. I can’t wait to do author Q&A’s with everyone I’ve been speaking to recently. I still welcome pitches – after all, without the PR people, where would the writers get all of our news? Email’s great. In fact, you can call me too if you want (604-215-0697), and I’ll talk to you, but in the end, I’ll probably ask you to email me anyway.

Also, any PR people reading this, know that I also cover lingerie, cocktails, food and wine, travel and beauty, personal care, health & fitness and homewares. Feel free to send me anything that would fit into any of those categories.

Images courtesy me, on flickr.

Technorati Tags: Gina Trapani,Lifehacker,Geoff Livingston,Wired,Chris Andersen,The Long Tail,PR Spammers Wiki,Stowe Boyd,Todd Deferen,Brian Solis,Jason Falls