The Guardian: There has always been an uneasy rapport between journalists and PRs

Weighing in on the debate of whether it was right or wrong for Wired Editor-in-Chief Chris Anderson to publish the “banned” email addresses of some several hundred pr folk who have spammed his inbox, the Guardian‘s Mark Borkowski gives his take:

The web is a powerful tool but one which is being abused by the PR industry. This has resulted in a distancing in media relations between the PR and journalist. In a world where texts and emails abound, there is little time for connection or building back up those relationships. It’s partly the fault of the media and partly the fault of PRs, but I fear this is only the tip of the iceberg.

Mark is right about how there are bigger issues afoot that cause things like the Wired incident to happen. This ties back to Anderson’s original post, where he stated, “Fact: I am an actual person…”  Next time you send out a pitch, remember there is a person on the other end, not just an email address.

WIRED EIC to PRNewser: My tastes are arcane and geeky

Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of WIRED magazine, Long Tail blogger, and best-selling “Long Tail” author created a minor stir in the PR world yesterday when he published the email addresses of over 300 “lazy” PR people guilty of invading his In box. There are a lot of ‘info@’ and other newsletter-type address on the list along with dozens upon dozens of brand-name tech PR shops, some with multiple addresses.

Instead of adding to the flurry of opinions, we contacted the man himself who kindly responded with further context to help the shamed understand. He did after all, say ‘sorry’ in the subject line, and did not use full names and full pitches to in his spammers-delight list. By the way Todd, though we appreciate your honesty, we don’t think lobbing a generic pitch via Facebook ranks alongside the Edelman/Wal-Mart story.

We can’t go in to PR lessons here. Read Anderson’s note and take it to heart. There are real reasons to pitch him, and there are slews of other editors, writers and contributors you could try first. The commenter who complained about the staff directory is really missing it. The magazine has a masthead, and many of their contributors have personal blogs…nevermind, no lessons.

Since Anderson’s Gladwellian transition to Long Tail superpundit, he’s busier than ever. We were pleased he took the time send his comments to PRNewser (quick disclosure: I did PR for Wired in ’03-’04). We hope they help:

Jason, Happy to chat about this. Some thoughts for starters: Of course many pitches have “worked”, which is to say that I have a great relationship with many PR people, mostly because they’ve taken the time to get to know my interests, read what I write, and otherwise contact me with ideas that are relevant. The best of them do such a good job at working with me on things I’m following that I think of them as friends and colleagues.

Wired EIC Chris Anderson: Sorry PR people: you’re blocked

And we thought CNET’s CEO dropped a bomb. That statement is nothing compared to the firestorm Wired Editor-in-Chief Chris Anderson just unleashed. 

Sick of getting pummeled by spam, Anderson published a LONG list of PR people who will be permanently banned from his inbox.  The list includes both agency and internal folk.  Are you on it?  Check it out here. (Thanks for the tip, Kyle.)