PR pros should sit in on media interviews
Some journalists hate it when PR professionals monitor in-person or phone interviews, others don’t mind. Either way, the author argues that it’s a necessary evil.
They chose not to tell the reporter that the PR professional was on the line. At some point during the interview, the reporter picked up that someone else was in the room—and he exploded: “Who else is on the line? My interview is supposed to be with [NAME]. Get that other person out of the room!”
I thought of that story recently when a Sports Illustrated writer named Richard Deitsch sent his followers the following tweet:
To the journalists here: How do you react when a PR person insists on monitoring an in-person or phone interview with a subject? Curious.
— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) December 11, 2012
Some of the journalists who responded didn’t seem to mind very much:
@richarddeitsch As long as they weren’t butting in or interrupting, I usually didn’t mind.
— Dale Blasingame (@normalguyguide) December 11, 2012
@richarddeitsch That’s life in the NASCAR world. PR people probably sit in on 90 pct of driver interviews.
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