Since the dot-com days, the PR profession has suffered (and rightfully earned) its share of slings and arrows at the hands of the beleaguered (by inane PR pitches) tech journalist.
How many more rants can we endure from the editors and reporters for Ziff-Davis, IDG, CNET, Wired, The Industry Standard, Red Herring? The answer is: at least one more.
Yesterday The Long Tail evangelist stuck it to the long tail of the PR profession by formally banning those whose misguided queries to Wired magazine finally struck a raw nerve. (PC Mag’s Jim Louderback’s rant against the Micropersuader pales in comparison.)
Wired editor Chris Anderson posted on his Long Tail blog a faint “apology” to a group of “lazy” PR people for wiping them from his magazine’s radar. Not only did he ban them, but he borrowed a tactic from those “In” and “Out” lists published by the self-anointed style arbiters. Mr. Anderson posted the e-mail address of all those on the outs for their PR misdeeds:
“The following is just the last month’s list of people and companies who have been added to my Outlook blocked list. All of them have sent me something inappropriate at some point in the past 30 days.”
Whew. Thank goodness I didn’t make this rogues’ gallery of PR outcasts since “there’s no getting off it.”
Chris, I still owe you for the MSNBC gaffe at the World Business Forum. I’ll make it up to you if you promise to ignore any ill-conceived query I ever sent to you, the magazine or one of your blogs. I don’t blame you, however, for outing those you did. Frankly, many are not surprising to me.
Gawker
Cartoon Barry
IP Democracy
PR Newser
Conversations Matter
POP PR Jots
Beet.TV (Andy Plesser)