Gone are the days of PR pros and journalists holding desk sides barside...

jour?nal?ism?

noun

Due to the aforementioned definition of journalism, I will say that both bloggers and reporters take part in the practice.  Within both cast of characters, you have your more respected bloggers/reporters and your less respected bloggers/reporters.  But the most important thing to understand when discussing journalism is that there is a very distinct difference between reporters and bloggers, and a piece posted on TechnoFlak highlights it nicely.

Robert Scoble (a widely respected tech blogger, so don’t begrudge him that) recently gave and interview where he spoke about how he likes to be pitched by publicists, and let’s just say, he does not come off as a flattering gent you’d like to take to dinner.  You can find the full audio of the interview at AuburnMedia.com.

Essentially, Scoble noted that he rarely checks his emails, so pitching him that way, even if the pitch is effective, isn’t a worthwhile avenue.  He prefers a good dinner with some light-pitching as the petit fours. 

Now, don’t get me wrong: I would love to go back to the days of the three-martini lunch with reporters (I wasn’t actually around for them, but they sound delightful), however it’s gone out of practice.  As has the tradition of baiting favorable coverage from a reporter by lavishing gifts or “product samples” has gone out of practice (and is even frowned upon by large news organizations with strict policies in place to ensure uninfluenced coverage).  But that’s only for reporters with print publications (mostly newspapers, though a number of magazines will uphold themselves to the same standards).

Bloggers, however, don’t have corporate policy to keep them in check, and therefore, if a dinner is what sells them, that’s there prerogative and there’s nothing we can do about it (except lavish them with a dinner perhaps?).

While I don’t believe Scoble was taken out of context, I do believe that the message he was trying to convey might have been overshadowed by what sounded like a “Feed me, Seymour!” style call to be pitched in a relatively opulent fashion.

Where reporters are bound by policy, ethics, or both to not accept gifts or favors, bloggers have a little more leniency with the discretion by which they accept tangible offerings  in exchange for preferred consideration with respect to what they cover.  Working in Public Relations, you learn quickly what bounds you can and should step, and which ones won’t be greeted with open arms, as they’re bound to not accept them.

To read more of Alice Marshall’s take on Scoble’s preferred methods of pitching, check out “Scoble’s troubling anti-PR rant.”

Jackie for AMP3pr.com

@JackieBrook