David Strom says: “My inbox is overflowing with a virus: all Covid, all the time, with pitches and experts offered from all walks of life. It isn’t just the infosec vendors, either: I’ve gotten pitches from genealogy vendors, and how sports reporters are coping now that there are no professional games being played.”
Writes PR pro Alex: “Hanging out with reporters is my favorite part of the week and, having done it for a while, I’ve noticed some personality types that seem to recur. Here’s a pair of some of the most colorful media personalities I’ve encountered, and tips for getting on their good side.”
We asked Tier 1 and B2B journalists, “What role should PR be playing at this time?” Here’s what they had to say. Their answers were given Mar. 22 and 23.
Finding out that a client lied to you can be demoralizing, but it can also become a larger business problem if you don’t identify the lie until it’s too late.
Will Covid-19, better known as the coronavirus, change how tech and business reporters spend their time? Yes, and the changes have begun. We’re querying tech and business editors and will update this article throughout coming days. Here’s what we’ve learned from the front lines so far.
[Please welcome back SWMS contributing editor Lindsay Ciulla, a senior VP with (SWMS subscriber) Weber Shandwick Worldwide. –Ed.] Well friends, in what feels like the blink of an eye we’re somehow halfway through the first quarter of 2020 — in a decade that (at least when I was growing up) promised flying cars and travel via teleportation.
We recently conducted a video meeting with a subscriber who sought SWMS POV on the following media relations questions. With the subscriber’s permission, here are the questions and our responses. Hope you find them useful.
[We asked PR vet Alex Shapiro to contrast the worlds of agency and in-house PR. He knows both. Enjoy the read. -Ed.] For agency PR pros, the grass may seem particularly greener right now on the in-house side and there’s no shortage of hot companies hiring. We’re all told the job market’s hot, and that can often feel true for the revolving doors of PR.
[We asked Matthew Lynley, a former journalist with VentureBeat, TechCrunch and the WSJ, what makes for a great comms professional. Here’s what he had to say. — Ed.] Companies with massive budgets can hire a PR team the size of a small army. But hiring more people doesn’t make the company better at PR.
[We asked veteran tech reporter Mitch Wagner to deconstruct two of his recent news stories, explaining why he wrote them the way he did. Mitch has done so — you will enjoy his contribution. –Ed.]
A tech journalist today needs to get to the point right away. As a tech journalist, I have an ideal reader in mind every time I write an article. As I write, I’m always asking myself how I can best serve that reader with the news they need to know, fast.
YOUR ACCOUNT
FRIDGE NOTES
Here’s how Mike Isaac presents himself. A single perfunctory paragraph doesn’t cut it anymore in a world of disinformation and synthetic, AI-generated content where no one really knows the agenda. The NYT wants to get out in front of that, especially before the 2024 elections heat up. Read the background behind this in Vanity Fair.
Legendary journalist Louise Story reveals how the smartest edit shops are using AI. Here come the flexicles.
Sara Fischer of Axios nails another scoop: Time is merging its Time Ideas section into a new one, called Time100 Voices. It doesn’t promise big opportunity for tech PR — it aims so high that only the Benioffs and Nadellas stand a chance.
Recent research from Semrush, a data partner of ours, reveals the most searched societal issues based on average monthly Google searches between January 2019 and June 2023, and how they rank across 35 countries. Searches related to mental health are skyrocketing.
It is now called AI Time To Impact, and if you care about what’s real in AI and when we need to care about it, AI Time To impact is a must-read.
Says Digiday today: 40 percent of Gen Z uses TikTok or Instagram when searching for lunch recommendations. The younger you go, the tighter the grip held by platforms. Musk’s calculation that few will ever leave X might not be too far off in the long run.
