Much to the glee of journalists and the chagrin of PR practitioners, another “PR blunder” has hit the airwaves, this time under the pen of the folks at TechCrunch. Although I am always shocked by the carelessness exhibited by people pitching journalists when they KNOW if they make a mistake, there is a good chance they will be publicly chastised and humiliated by the recipient (enter in waves of awkwardness as you think of 80s high school movies…or your own high school movie), I am even more stunned by the passionate anger expressed in some of the comments people make about these honest mistakes. Take this one, for example:

i think future posts should embarass (sic) the hell out of PR Flacks and not omit their names or companies.
that is the only way they will learn.
by disguising their identity, you still save them face to screw up again.

Spelling error aside, taken out of context this could be in reference to fur-wearing celebutants or people that don’t clean up their dog poop forcing you to be ostracized in your office when you step in it rather than someone that was a bit careless and hasty to hit the send button while doing their job. I am not saying that this isn’t “embarassing” – it pains me just as much to read these terrible pitch letters as it does to watch the aftermath of “PR is the bane of the my existence” posts – but I am often floored by the anger directed towards the PR industry. I don’t want to get into a huge discussion about why this is, or a debate about the validity and need for public relations–if you are reading this blog, you probably understand the value that we bring to our clients–but I do want to suggest two things.

One: If you work in PR, pull yourself together. These slipups happen, but our industry is under constant scrutiny and there are journalists out there just WAITING for an opportunity to pounce on you. Social media means they can do so immediately, with no cooling off period. Take your time in doing your research and writing your emails so you aren’t pitching an infrastructure software product upgrade to Wired magazine or Oprah, or addressing a journalist as “insert name here.”  It is that simple.

Two: this goes out to those that take sadistic pleasure in these types of mistakes. To you, I also say pull yourself together. The anger is bizarre and actually scary in the “I will hunt you down” sense. Seriously. I’ve been doing this a long time and I have seen my fair share of journalist errors, including those that have sent my client into a furious frenzy or a legal scramble. I can also bet that the crazies ardently posting response after response to every entry from Michael Arrington shouldn’t be throwing stones in a glass house either.  Every well-known brand I can think of would be nowhere today without a solid communications strategy. To compete in this crowded marketplace, companies big and small must be able to communicate their value proposition and differentiators. (So I lied; I dabbled into the value of PR just a bit. I couldn’t help myself. ) So to the crazies: PR is not going away. For the health and safety of others, please redirect your energy into something more productive, like your own business, or learning to be more accepting of people less perfect than yourself.