“Why PR people send bad pitches” by Thomas Nardacci
Bad pitches come in all forms, shapes, and sizes. The
Bad Pitch Blog is full of them. They are not all from inexperienced PR people. They come from newbies and seasoned pros alike. I have come across a number of “PR people” who simply do not understand the media and are content with their way of doing PR. They like to be called ‘flak’ and they think they ‘spin’ news. They should take the time to partake in proper training, or go back to the career they came from.
On the other hand, I understand that it is simply a necessity sometimes to make a bad pitch. While I have never worked for a newspaper, I have pitched enough stories in a variety of industries and a variety of media markets to understand what makes news. Sometimes, PR practitioners find themselves in a position where they need to continually convince their boss, client or the budget officer, that PR should have a full time role in an organization. While I would push to be more creative to get the attention being called for, it may simply not be the PR person’s call. Hence, the press release that fully deserves the recycling bin.
Journalists are not lily white either and on occasion may write stories in a way that goes against some of the things they learned in J school.
