But I've never heard an explanation as to why the PR industry has got so big in the first place.

As a journalism graduate with relatively right wing political views, I think journalists themselves maybe party to blame.

Since modern journalism graduates tend to be left-wing, always looking out for the underdog types, businesses perceive them to be anti-business, and in an age where branding and image are such a big part of their profits, they are inevitably going to greater lengths to protect themselves from what they believe to be adverse publicity.

Admittedly I have no evidence for my theory, but I do know that US businesses give more donations to left wing causes (eg environmental groups) than right wing ones (eg, pro-business think tanks), so it's clear who they fear the most.

Certainly, they no longer found my conversation scintillating enough to flatter me or invite me to lunch.

This is fair enough, but I wish they had been direct about it.

Also, in my new roles I saw an alarming side of PR. For example, one firm tricked journalists by having a pretend freelancer ask a particular question at a press conference. The executives had been briefed as to how they should respond, and their fake concern convinced the journalists they had a hot story. Instead it was just a clever marketing operation.

There was also a case where a PR firm successfully undermined a journalist whose coverage of their client was a bit too accurate. They didn't complain to his editor. They just arranged for the client MD to casually bump into the editor and publisher at a function, and casually mention some false allegations that reflected badly on the journalist.

That affected the editor's trust in the journalist, and led to him leaving the publication a few months afterwards. Mission accomplished.

'Free' keyboard = Buying favour

Loan keyboard = legitimate review

Free lunch = considerate

Free lunch followed by luxury night's accommodation for journo + spouse = suss

Attention from PR person = you're important

Rectal examination from PR person = ego play

PR person uses the phrase 'I need a favor' (unless they need a hand moving a fridge) – they're seriously taking the piss and your bullshit detector is defective.

Scott

——

Read your stuff on the PR industry – very good mate, very entertaining.

I think the reason I liked it so much was because years and years ago, when I was young and getting into commenting on tech:

- I thought that the hot chick PR people actually thought I was an interesting person who was fun to hang out with!!

- the free keyboard was just a nice gesture

- lunch was provided because I was probably hungry

- the attention from PR was because I was an important person with important opinions

- a heartfelt 'I need a favour' was from a good friend who needed a knight in shining armour and it was only me who could save the day

Your piece highlights what took years for me to learn. I am glad it is on the web for all to read, especially those who are new to the industry.

Now – perhaps because I've been neck deep in science these last months – it seems to me some insight in this issue could be found in game theory.

The relationship between journalist and PR can be expressed as two agents seeking to maximise their outcome (good story for the journo; good exposure for the PR) in a non-zero sum game where they can either cooperate (communicate honestly) or betray (communicate dishonestly or not communicate at all).

You punch this in to something like the prisoner's dilemma matrix (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner%27s_dilemma) and I reckon you'd see something startlingly like what Dan describes.

There'd be roughly four outcomes.

1) Journo and PR cooperate and speak honestly – both gain a reasonable amount – the journo gets a decent story, the PR's client gets some moderate exposure.

2) PR hypes things up, buys drinks and/or flies the journo to Disneyland (the 'carrot) – maybe even with the threat of not speaking to the journo as a 'stick'. The PR 'buys' themselves a great story, but the journo suffers because they've fallen for an overhyped product/story that isn't as interesting to their audience as it should have been.

3) Journo unleashes on the PR, writes a crippling criticism of their client's product and wins points with their audience at the expense of relationship with the company.

4) Both journo and PR don't speak, so journo doesn't get valuable material for their audience, and PR doesn't get exposure.

Ultimately, in this model, it wouldn't be surprising to see an equilibrium form (a Nash equilibrium, a la Beautiful Mind guy, just to get even more geeky) where things would oscillate between all four outcomes – eventually settling in most players cooperating (1), with the occasional defection (2, 3) leading to total defection (4), then to recognition that's not ideal, so swinging back to cooperation.

And the kicker is this: it's just rants like Dan's that are expected in this model. They help kick things to the next phase. You need vocal players on each side driving their agenda to push the model into equilibrium.

Hey, no one side may ever 'win', but ultimately things will settle down for the long term good of all.

This is just one model, but it seems to have vague fitness to me…

So yeah – fight the power Dan. You're doing a bang up job.

Perhaps we should all be less suspicious of each others' motives ;-)

It's unfortunate too from my side, as from time to time you might meet a journo and think they're someone you could have a genuine friendship with, but find yourself 'stepping back' (as you put it) as you don't want them to question your motives.

We humans are curious creatures :-)

I suppose it's an unusual thing just to do a 'brain dump' — usually people expect there to be an assertion behind a piece like this. But that wasn't my intention — it was simply a post about what it's like engaging with PR — mainly for people who wouldn't have insight into the media (though it appears to have been of interest to people in the media too.)

How would most PR people look in this light?

Dan, as a fellow tech journalist I heartily agree with the sentiments you have expressed in this article. I recommend any journalist to read the book "Inside Spin: The Dark Underbelly of the Australian PR Industry" to get some insight into how some tech PR companies (eg Hill & Knowlton, PPR) really work.

Cheers,

Thinker

Perhaps you should have a register on your publications listing all travel and long term loans etc supplied by vendors with an aprox cash cost, that could also be sorted by company total spend?

Perhaps that would bring some transparency and you could lead by example?

Also I doubt the PR's you are seeing probably earn as much as you think if they are at the bus stop with you :)

Well charge out rates are high, the people at the top are the ones making the margins.

I am sure the average PR makes more than the average journo but to be honest that doesn't say that much…

John, I think you're right.

I think what we have witnessed on this webpage may be one of most insightful pieces on the modern media landscape to have been written this century.

Indeed, I don't think it'd be going too far to say it challenges the very foundations of society as we know them.

I'm going to run off now to have it framed.

I then went on and ran my own PR firm servicing Australian IT companies for 10 years and wrote for several Mac publications in a variety of roles, including as a reviewer, before moving on to other things.

I don't think anyone has written an article such as this before. It should serve as a wake up to the PR/advertising industries and the readers.

Having been in the position of organising product reviews and flying journalists off on international trips, as well as being the recipient of same, I've seen the industry from both sides.

What you write is so true it's not funny. In fact, the actions of some PROs go well beyond what you've written.

When I was a working journalist on IT press the agreement with the PROs was always that I was happy to accept their offfer of a trip or product to review, but there was no guarantee they would find the subsequent story pleasing.

I used the same yard-stick when I was the one organising the trip or supplying the product. This was also what was relayed to the client. My job was to contact the media, build their interest and try and get them to attend a certain event.

It was up to the client to make the product or story stand and bugging an overworked journalist in an attempt to pressure them into a favorable story or review just had the wrong effect.

These days the clients seem to have unrealistic expectations of what their PROs can achieve. Despite a strong tradition to the contrary, many clients also fail to comprehend that a freebie doesn't buy anymore than that journalists time for the duration of the event. It doesn't buy favorable editorial comment or support.

My PR firm was successful because it applied the same ethics to our PR approach with journalists that the journalists themselves applied to their job.

The problem is that whereas in the past a majority of PROs moved from journalism into the PRO role and took the ethics they were trained in into the new role, the majority of PROs have learned their skills from textbooks and have no comprehension of the ethics journalists follow or adhere to.

Your comment, "they enjoy socialising with the hot chicks who make them feel loved." hits the nail on the head. These days many firms think it all it takes is a hot chick in a short skirt with an alluring smile and flirty personality to garner positive press.

Unfortunately, the ploy works on some. All journalists are subjected to it at some time or another. Only the really good ones are the ones who don't forget their role and surrender their credibility.

Most of the people I worked with from the 80's and 90's are out of the industry now from what I can gather. But people like Helen Meredith, Bev Head, Jay Spencer, David Hutchens Osmund Linde-Iverson, Don Kennedy and Stephen Withers, to name just a few, were all outstanding technology journalists who were happy to have a drink, take a trip or accept a product for review but promised nothing in return apart from the truth and the facts.

Your article should be a compulsory handout by PROs to their clients.

I hereby certify you with obsession.

And thanks Pru :-)

I've always believed as a PR professional I should treat a journalist as I would wish to be treated myself and quite frankly if I faced the sort of interactions you encounter daily I'd go spare.

Fight the good fight.