16 ways reporters drive communicators nuts

They misspell your client’s name, go behind your back to schedule an interview for a story you pitched, skip an event after asking for a coveted ticket.

One TV reporter even marched into a company massage room after being told to stay out. Never mind the privacy of the employee whose aching back the masseuse was kneading.

We at Ragan.com have run stories warning communicators about things they do that risk angering the media. But how about the other side of the coin: What do reporters do to make you crazy?

The question is particularly relevant after Washington Post columnist Gene Weingarten—in a witty and incisive column that manages to mention poop, pee, sex, snotballs, loogieballs, and flack yourself in the first 80 words—offers this encouragement:

“To most of the media, communications from PR people are as welcome as mosquitoes at a hemophiliacs’ picnic. A PR pitch tends to be an enthusiastic description of a product or service that is so lame it actually needs the help of a PR professional. As pitches go, they’re particularly slimy—not like spitballs so much as snotballs. Loogieballs.”