The Buffalo Blog

There’s nothing more to say but Merry Christmas to all…have a good one!

Journalism and PR – never the twain shall meet?

The ousting of Tim Hoang of Rainier PR from the Response Source service puts an interesting new angle on the relationship between journalism and PR. Usually the argument centres on whether some journalists are overly cosy with PRs and others would rather die than actually listen to us. So someone has become both a journalist and PR at the same time - just what is the problem here?

A guy working in tech PR is moonlighting as a journalist for a new media publication. So he has to be abusing his position doesn’t he? He’s probably writing about his clients on a daily basis, getting free coverage for all, picking up the phone and pitching stories to himself. Now why didn’t I think of this…

These are just the type of worries that spring to mind if one doesn’t seriously consider the issue. When you think about it though, no one can actually think that this kind of arrangement would work or, if it was happening, that anyone would actually read the articles.

For a fact I know this is exactly what Tim is not doing, you only have to read a few articles for proof. Just like any other journalist, he is writing about the topics of the day, speaking to and commenting on the companies and sources that matter not the ones that he is paid by.

At the heart of the issue there really isn’t a problem and it comes down to two issues: integrity and scrutiny. Tim is passionate about new media and obviously wants to write quality impartial articles – thus he shows journalistic integrity. More importantly Tim is still beholden to his editor and any obvious impartiality would soon see him hanging up his writing hat (if such a thing exists) – he is subject to editorial scrutiny. So as it stands, there is no real argument for him not to be allowed to send and receive response source requests – he has an interest as legitimate as any other hack and the rights that go with it. Some policy changes need making perhaps…

On another note, the fact that PR agencies rumbled Tim’s hybrid status is intriguing. Is it that they value so called third party scrutiny so much that they;

· just couldn’t stomach the idea of a hackflack (officially coined just now – I’m wasted I know!)

· were worried about giving away their pitching secrets

· were they ashamed that another PR person might be on the receiving end of their badly targeted replies

Only the culprits can tell what the real motive was. All I know is that in my opinion their worries were gravely misplaced.

Blog Search Engine Optimisation

Is it just me or does anyone else get the feeling they’re being used?

There I was minding my own business when joy of joys our blog got a comment! A rare and special event for me as, alas, we are a relatively fledgling blog in the grand scheme of things.

However, to my dismay it quickly dawned on me that perhaps this posting wasn’t actually a legitimate comment or, if it was, it displayed a rather limited amount of insight compared to previous postings.

To my post on ‘The Balance in Online Advertising’ a user titled ‘Smartfolio’ (a company specialising SEO!) posted:

'yes i agree, well said, great web site’

A fairly innocuous comment you might say. But after my gracious thanks for the comment a strikingly similar comment arrived:

'yes i agree, well said, great web site’

Now this isn’t just me being ungrateful or mistrusting. Take the most recent example in reply to a posting entitled ‘It’s the American way’ someone posted this not-to-be-missed titbit:

'The matter is... Usa don't feel hungry!!’

My conclusion from all this excitement is that either our blog had been overtaken by a clan of random comment posters or, for some reason, was being optimised.

Now I don’t know if this is a regular occurrence for other bloggers so I’d be interested in hearing from you. Is BSEO (blog search engine optimisation) a real phenomenon and how do these people help to get anything out of it with such crude comments? Also, what exactly do they want with our growing but currently low-ranked blog?

Doggy Death Threats

Sorry to stray off-piste here, I’m afraid this post probably won’t hit the heights of Buffalo’s usual hard-hitting reporting, but some things are simply too funny not to write about.

Papers and broadcast are awash with stories about the Hemsley dog – supposedly the richest dog on the planet (although I’m sure there’s probably a hideously rich Oil Sheik-dog lounging by the pool somewhere in Saudi Arabia with a healthy smattering of hot bitches to keep him company).

Anyway, this dog has apparently been receiving death threats of sufficient severity for him to go into hiding – the dear. One can only imagine the ferocity of these letters – I’m thinking paw-prints soaked in blood. Or if perchance these threats came from a human assailant, I wonder exactly how you word a letter to scare a poor Chihuahua in to submission. And what exactly would be the point of killing this dog – jelousy? Traditionally they don’t give the life insurance to murderers otherwise murder would soon become a rather attractive profession.

Siliness aside, where exactly have we got to when doggy death threats make the top of the national news agenda? This is truly a dark day for both wealthy dogs and the news in general…

'Some' people think...

A recent article in the Guardian stated that ‘Israel has a 20% Arab minority who are citizens and can vote, although they are frequently discriminated against and are described by some as a "demographic threat".’ The political beliefs of this blog are neither here nor there, but what we really opposed was last phrase (5 words) of this paragraph.

I believe that these ‘some’ do exist. Some people think the Arabs give a valuable boost to the economy whilst some believe that they are a demographic threat. The problem that I have is to directly quote, using quotation marks, an unnamed source - a mystery ‘some’. It strikes me as extremely lazy journalism to quote a general belief as if it is a stated opinion. I’d have expected better from The Guardian.