Get out your hatchets

There are things that PR people are never meant to do, or at least, be seen to do. One of the most important, is to avoid ever whingeing about the media.

I'm sorry, on this occasion, I just can't.

Before I start, I'd like to note that I have worked with very talented and insightful people from all sorts of cultures, and managed to communicate a company's story (with the help of bilingual colleagues) in many languages. It's one of the things I love about living abroad.

But too often, we hear yet another rant from regional journalists on the dire state of regional PR. By and large, I think they have a lot of valid points. There is too much release-spam being issued on a daily basis, there are too many clueless execs following up with pointless phone calls, I agree, I agree, I agree.

However, I would ask these journalists to take two minutes at the next pointless press conference that you attend (I promise, the spokespeople will be at least 30mins late, you have plenty of time) to look around and observe the activity of the average lesser-spotted-Dxb-journo.

Many of these people walk in, say "Where's the press release" and walk out again. Many interrupt your spokesperson to say "What does your business do?" Questions, if there are any, are rarely informed.

I have come to terms with all of these idiosyncrasies, and accepted this as my lot. Fine. I'll even accept the accusation that the PRs should have briefed these people better (though I'd argue that most of the time, we've tried, and given them as much info as possibly can.)

But the hatchet job, no, that pisses me off. Just as it is common courtesy for PR people to give journalists a story in good time to research, write, edit and file, it is common courtesy for journalists writing a story on a company to give the company a chance to comment. And if you don't, don't expect me to come running back and with exclusives and interviews - I've got enough of a battle on my hands trying to educate my execs on why they shouldn't go to your boss.

Rant over.