The NUblog–Edelman contretemps continues to kick up dust.
What is Deborah Branscum saying?
By all means check out [the] exchange with Edelman. I think he was cheeky (“Suraya, it took 15 days to pose that question? The original message [stated it was] on the NUblog where the piece will appear”) but the Edelman response, if [the] posting is accurate [it is – NUblog], should alarm journalistically-inclined Webloggers.
That’s because Edelman claims his “request for an interview was not on behalf of a credentialed publication and therefore, [he has] no claim or right to or for a formal interview. An interview request for an online, non credentialed website and chat room does not provide you with the same access or rights as a credential [sic] media publications.”
Which is not to say a reporter from a so-called legitimate or offical media publication has much in the way of access or rights, either. Lord knows I’ve been snubbed by some of the largest companies in the tech industry.
[NUblog] was snotty; that was rude and stupid and wrong. You’re supposed to be nice to and patient with PR people, particularly PR people who are not actually being paid to help the likes of you, buddy.
We assume Edelman doesn’t do anything that isn’t billable.
A certain minimum level of competence is required even when dealing with “uncredentialed” journos. As an example, if we say we’re writing a Weblog, do not wait 15 days to mail us back asking who we’re writing for.
We would happily concede cheek (and curmudgeonliness, and prickliness), but not “snot.” We only give what we get.
And we’ve had nothing but trouble from Apple Cupertino PR. The only help we’ve ever gotten from Apple was back in the day here in Toronto when a woman ran the show. She rather liked us, and we liked her. (Heterosexualist PR dudes in town described her as having “the best legs in PR.” What did we know?)
The irony? She now works for Edelman!
Meanwhile, we’ve been blogged over at Splorp and Scripting News.
Oh, and we are by no means the only media outlet, “credentialed” or not, to get the shaft from Apple. Even mighty MSNBC feels the sting: “Also for the record, Microsoft and Apple both react to my review requests in the same manner – they either ignore them or place them near the bottom of their lists.”
Is there really no such thing as bad press?
Posted on 2001-05-02