The cringe-worthy things journalists do

This week marks four years since I became a PR professional after spending nearly two decades as a newsman.

Since going down with the ship when the Rocky Mountain News stopped the presses after 150 years, I’ve had few regrets about my career move to PR. Sure, I miss the big news stories, the energy of election nights, and the irreverence of the newsroom, but witnessing from a client perspective how the changing news media operate makes me even more comfortable that I’m no longer a journalist.

While most of my friends continue as journalists and I continue to be a news junkie, I am disheartened by the direction of aspects of the profession. It is even clearer in my job as a crisis communication practitioner.

Yes, there are still good reporters, editors, and producers out there, but there don’t seem to be as many as there once were. I don’t take questioning the Fourth Estate lightly, so I have put together some firsthand examples of practices that made me cringe as a PR professional, and as a journalist.

Numerous reporters have told me point blank that they did not care about my client’s point of view or response because they felt they had a better story without it.