Blogs and the Media – Shall the Twain Meet?
I’ve been in the PR industry for more than 15 years. That doesn’t make me a grizzled veteran, but I have plenty of gray hairs that I keep as a badge of PR-career-honor. And I entered the industry at an interesting time. I accepted my first position at Hill and Knowlton in the days immediately preceding Windows, cell phones and email. True, each of those three technological developments was already in existence, but none of them was ubiquitous.Â
 When they came upon the scene, since I was still relatively young, I was able to quite easily roll with it. Heck, my biggest client was Verizon Wireless, so I was right in the middle of the action.Â
 Over the years, there have been other developments, like cable news and specialty stations becoming legitimate outlets for my clients’ news. And then, of course, the Internet took over, and has now become the primary source of news for many of the world’s top decision-makers.
 And there are the more recent developments you all know about. My firm, Ruder Finn Israel, has gotten involved in the social media phenomenon, creating and maintaining Facebook pages and Twitter accounts for our clients.
 So here we are, many years later, and yes, I’m still rolling with it.
 And then, there are the Blogs. Now, let me begin by saying that I love Blogs. My brother has a fantastic one. The concept of creating a public venue for one to give his/her views on a particular topic or the world at-large is not only exciting, it’s the logical next step for communications. And there have been some great ones. For example, Bill Simmons is now a well-paid, well-respected columnist for ESPN.com because his “Boston Sports Guy” Blog was so successful years ago.Â
 But I have a problem with the Blogs. And that problem is one I can’t figure out how to solve. Here’s the conundrum …
 Blogs today are as highly respected as media. In fact, certain Blogs are considered media themselves, such as Huffington Post and TechCrunch. Public relations folks spend a lot of time crafting communiqués that will impact these Blogs, they way they would back in the day to elicit the attention of a Today Show producer.
 And that would be fine … if those Blogs played by the rules by which the media play.
 But they don’t.
 They don’t, because they don’t have to. After all, they are just Blogs.
 I’ll give you an example:Â
We had a client that was recently ripped to shreds – including insults and factually incorrect information – by a high-profile blog’s “guest Blogger.” We then contacted that blog with an op-ed submission that refuted those insults and lies, and took the story further by offering a different view of the situation. The blog’s response: “We’re going to pass on this.”
Well, isn’t that nice? The Blog bills itself as a “newspaper,” but doesn’t have to live up to the standards of mainstream media because, after all, it is just a Blog.
Okay, so that’s the situation. And it’s not going to change. So the question I’d like to answer is this: What do we do about it?
In my next post, I’ll be answering that question …
Comments (5)
July 16th, 2009 at 11:25 am Posted by Yaakov
Well, isn’t that nice? The Blog bills itself as a “newspaper,” but doesn’t have to live up to the standards of mainstream media because, after all, it is just a Blog.
Since when has it been a standard of mainstream media to publish any op-ed submission that was sent in response to a previously published piece? The New York Times will do this?
July 21st, 2009 at 2:58 pm Posted by Maoz
I just made aliyah and plan to soon launch a career in PR here in Israel. This post reminded me of a very similar incident I had to tackle while working at my firm back in the U.S.
Seems to me that one crucial step in understanding blogs is zooming out and appreciating the notion of the “blogosphere.” This is a wonderful title because it illustrates the sort of vaporous, interconnected nature of blogs. Blogs aren’t peaks on a media landscape, they’re a cloud layer one flies into occasionally while googling a product or story.
While biggies like Huffington Post do enjoy devoted readers, the vast majority of these readers frequent many other blogs covering the same subject matter.
So, if you can’t penetrate one blog to right a wrong, I would say consider it sufficient to find another blog or two of roughly equal popularity and category. As long as you’re in the blogosphere, mission accomplished.
July 26th, 2009 at 2:04 am Posted by ck
Look, I run a blog. We’re not above ripping the occasional person to shreds when we feel it is merited. If their PR firm then sent us a response, maybe we’d publish it and maybe we wouldn’t. That decision depends on a number of things. First, we don’t get paid to blog. Our ad revenue pays for our server and maybe some beers on occasion. If I have the time and the inclination, maybe I’ll post it, but maybe I won’t. It’s not a pressing issue because anyone can avail themselves of the comments section and if it turns out we were inadvertently grossly unfair to someone we’ll fix it.
As a PR firm that deals with this sort of thing on a regular basis, I guess it behooves you establish a relationship with the blogs most likely to impact on your clients. If the only contact I have with a PR firm is when they want something from me, well… not so compelling. But if they take the time to reach out and provide me with quality stories and content that I can occasionally use, I’m more likely to be receptive and responsive to their needs. If they even visit the blog and throw in a comment or two on occasion, again, I’ll be more responsive.
But if y’all come around assuming that you are owed special access to my readers, well… you’re not. Just be gentle. And considerate. Remember, most of us do this for nothing. A little effort, a little planning, a little forethought and stroking go a long way.
November 28th, 2009 at 7:32 am Posted by Carl Angling
Really like this site, would you mind if I link to it from my blog?
February 21st, 2010 at 6:11 pm Posted by Glenn Jasper
Please feel free, Carl. Thanks for the compliment.
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