The seedy under-belly
I'm so excited to find there's a world of scandal and saucery going on that I'd missed completely (obviously) between hacks and flacks. A journalist posted last night on a forum I use complaining about a PR who had attempted to contact her for instant message sex. Meanwhile, a PR colleague tells me that a certain veteran journalist decided to send her some, er, artistic self-portraits from his mobile phone.
Truly, the mind boggles.
Of course, in my day we just got drunk in bars and had inappropriate liaisons - although I remember at my first performance review being told that snogging PR boys at parties was not allowed, as it would compromise my journalistic integrity. So I hooked up with my editor, instead.
Genius Sally - you just had me laughing out loud.
In my nine years in PR, I have never once tried to get off with a journalist or have these interesting liaisons you talk about.
To be honest I used to get quite shy around nice female hacks and often be a little embarassed to ask them out for a drink in case they actually thought I was hitting on them.
That said, we did take quite a lot out and get drunk. I always thought it was interesting to see how people's attitudes changed once they had consumed a few beverages.
Posted by: Chris Norton | July 31, 2008 at 09:51 AM
Clearly I'm missing something here - no-one has ever tried to be 'inappropriate' with me (in a work capacity), whether I've wanted them to or not! Maybe I'm doing something wrong...next blog post Sally could be top tips on how PRs could 'improve' their relations with journalists...
I'm not sure whether I should feel relieved or aggrieved.
Posted by: David Child | July 31, 2008 at 01:43 PM
Back in my agency life, the PRs were all too busy shagging each other (and some clients) to be bothered with journos. Of course at the time I was totally unaware of what my colleagues were up to. I was too focused on deadlines and family commitments I guess. It wasn't until I'd left that anyone shared the gossip with me. The Reputation Managers was name of the firm. BadRep might have been better.
Posted by: Sherrilynne Starkie | July 31, 2008 at 02:07 PM
@Steve - not once? Crikey. I'm impressed.
@David - I seem to remember my last PR/journo liaison was many years ago with "Dan, Dan, the PR Man". We hit it off after realising we were the only 2 straight people on a v drunken press trip.
As for chat-up techniques, my favourite ever approaches both came from journalists.
One editor, hearing I had split from an ex, turned up on my doorstep at 10pm one night with a Tesco plastic bag full of pirated adult movies to "cheer me up".
The other was a reporter who approached a PR for a night of passion, only to be turned down. Gutted, the reporter apparently said: "Oh go on, I said please."
And they say romance is dead.
Posted by: Sally Whittle | July 31, 2008 at 03:11 PM
"So I hooked up with my editor, instead"
Good plan. How did that work out?
Posted by: BF | July 31, 2008 at 03:28 PM
Reader, I married him.
(Then I divorced him. Modern life, eh?)
Posted by: Sally Whittle | July 31, 2008 at 03:32 PM