This week's herogram goes to


My herogram this week goes to Dave
Smith, a member of Co-op’s in-house PR team, for his act of supreme bravery. What
did he do to win such an accolade? Drum roll please... Dave took a call from a
journalist. That’s right, not all superheroes wear capes!
Within minutes of my request for
information about the Co-op’s work on modern slavery, Dave was on the phone. There
was none of this ‘Let’s set up a call for two weeks’ tomorrow at 9am’, even
though I promise I need no more than five minutes of their time (in fact, less
than the time it takes to synchronise diaries). Nope. Dave simply dialled the
number.
And guess what: he didn’t ask for
a list of questions in advance. It was just like the old days. He briefed me on
the subject. I asked questions. He answered. And, like the old pro that he is,
Dave knew all the answers. He didn’t need to get back to me with further
information or because he needed to refresh his knowledge of the facts.
And finally, he didn’t ask to view
the article before it appeared. I know! I nearly fell off my chair too.
Admittedly, I have known Dave for
more than 20 years, so perhaps he trusts me, but it is increasingly rare to
find people working in public relations who don’t want to control a journalist’s
output.
In the early days of my career,
PRs would cheekily offer to ‘check’ my articles to ensure I didn’t ‘look silly’.
I fell for it a couple of times, only to receive a ‘checked’ article that bore
no resemblance to the one I had sent. As I got more experienced, the PRs wouldn’t
dare. Now, it seems to be a standard request.
As for the list of questions, the
request usually follows a detailed conversation whereby I explain what I am
looking for. ‘That’s really interesting,’ says the PR. ‘Could you put that in
writing with the questions, please?’
And the real problem with submitting
questions? The answers! Ten questions can be distilled into a bland corporate statement
that addresses none of the issues raised. It’s not fake news we should be
worried about: it’s faux news.
Thanks Dave. It was nice doing
business with you.