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Why is it that when we make mistakes in our outreach to reporters we get outed and shamed by them? It’s obvious there’s a double standard in this love-hate relationship we have with reporters. Take for example the extremely shoddy reporting about Nike and convicted felon Michael Vick of The Philadelphia Eagles.
The news broke on Wednesday, September 30, that Nike has re-signed Vick to an endorsement deal. The announcement made by Vick’s sports agents took NFL fans by surprise. Fans were on fire talking about Nike’s decision on Twitter, blogs and social networks. Many felt this was truly an evil decision by the big bad corporation. What I find amusing is that it didn’t seem as though reporters tried to reach Nike’s spokespeople to verify the veracity of this announcement. In the Associated Press reporter Rachel Cohen’s article, which was the first one I saw cross on my news feed, she references that Nike declined to comment. It made me wonder though how much time she gave Nike to respond. I get the sense that to scoop everyone else, reporters have become careless in their reporting.
Of course, now we all know that Nike never re-signed Vick to an endorsement deal.
My question is who’s outing these reporters? And where’s the pubic flogging that our fellow PR pros endure because we are trying to get a pitch out fast? Seriously, the way the Vick-Nike marriage was reported made it look like anyone can just hold a press conference and announce whatever they want and reporters will write about it without checking the facts.
So here’s my little advice to my friends in the press, Do Your Homework! Isn’t that what you tell PR pros over and over again.
If you want to out a reporter, comment and I will keep your identities anonymous.