Blog written by Angela Loiacono
When blog PR Watch posted a harsh attack against a particular public relations professional Jan. 27, it definitely caught my attention. Judith Siers-Poisson’s post titled “When Flacks Attack, We Bite Back,” is yet another rant about how PR professionals are nothing but annoying senders of unsolicited e-mail.
Well, Judith, I’m glad you decided to join the ranks of journalists/bloggers who feel that near libelous language is the best way to handle the situation. Since taking the high road obviously escaped all parties in this situation, let’s just jump to the chase. Siers-Poisson received an unsolicited e-mail containing an embargoed press release from a PR professional who I will not name. In retribution for the e-mail, Siers-Poisson posted the embargoed release, in its entirety, in her blog post out of spite.
Now, let’s understand something right off the bat. The fact that Siers-Poisson received this news release in the first place is just bad PR practice and most likely the result of not conducting any research. I will not defend the actions of this PR practitioner, and in fact, I get a little heated when people in the industry feed the PR flack stereotype.
Regardless of what the e-mail contained, however, none of this warrants the unethical actions of Siers-Poisson. While she may think she taught the PR industry a good lesson with this one, she really just lost a lot of respect. Two wrongs don’t make a right; and PR watchdog or not, acting ethically is still important.
P.S. If you want the entertainment to continue, read the childish, he said, she said playground banter that follows the post.