Will journalists and PR pros ever play nice?

PR consultant and Ragan editor Chris Kent takes a look at the current controversy sparked by Wired magazine and sees the middle ground

What set off Anderson was a constant stream of untargeted PR pitches. Anderson announced that anyone who sent him anything less than a personalized note would have their e-mails blocked and to make his point, he posted a list of several dozen e-mail addresses of the purported spammers. If their addresses get harvested by spammers by being published here, so be it—turnabout is fair play, said the editor.

The ensuing crapstorm (as evidenced by the flurry of postings responding to Anderson’s post, and even a story in The New York Times) has pitted journalists and PR people squarely against each other—as usual.

PR people tried to defend themselves, many thoughtfully, some coming off as big whiners. More typical was the response from PR person (and PR blogger) Kevin Dugan, who expressed frustration that poorly trained PR people taint the entire profession. “I’m in PR and I’m tired of holding my tongue as my industry takes a hit because of many of the folks on the above list—folks that have sent me ‘news spam’ as well,” Dugan posted.