George Simpson, a columnist for Media Post's Marketing Daily added this to the PR debate, with some harsh words.
"Show me a child who says "I want to grow up and spend 15 hours a day writing meaningless press releases, begging for placement and swallowing my pride with arrogant writers"-and I will show you a child the school authorities should keep away from m-rated video games, listening to Metallica, or obtaining a gun permit."
Never mind that Simpson cites stats such as this: 90% of B2B reporters use news releases as sources for their stories. Chris Anderson's post has somehow become a polarizing event, with the PR haters on one side of the spectrum taking hugs whacks at much more than clueless practitioners spamming journalists. (Someone commented that Anderson has no right to be offended. WIRED mag has been spamming him for years!)
Amazingly, the PR industry response has been weak. PRSA has published results of a study that very impressively states how journalists largely depend on PR for their stories -the source that Simpson uses. But while it has responded to other issues such as the recent fake news conference held by FEMA, the PRSA has not issued a statement on the Anderson problem. It's been left to PR practitioners to stand up for what PR is really about.
How long must we wait?
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