Don’t Knock the Hustle…

Today, Gawker’s Ryan Tate posted a story entitled “Three Annoying Habits of the Laziest Journalists on Twitter.” In a nutshell, Gawker hates journalists who (1) Tweet a “barrage of rushed, repetitive questions,” (2) Make their “heartless pursuit of the story totally obvious” and (3) rhyme gratuitously on Twitter. Being the unapologetical bunch they are, they’ve named names. Most horrifyingly…USA Today’s Barbara De Lollis.

Is this not why there’s an “unfollow” button? If people are so annoyed by these journalists’ tweets, why are they following them? I’m sure many PR professionals will agree that Barb and her cohorts make it easier to track what they’re writing about, thus enabling us to send appropriate information. Other professions are using Twitter to communicate directly to their trade audiences and gather feedback and research more quickly, so why can’t journalists?

Sure, Barb could be more engaging and interactive with her followers and show some more personality in her tweets - that’d probably make her queries more appealing to her readers and would probably generate more responses from them. But hey, from a professional standpoint, her tweets serve their purpose to the PR community. So, to answer Tate’s question “Do any of De Lollis’ followers actually answer…?” Yes, we do!

As for the rhyming lady, well unless her followers are all in kindergarten, that’s just not cool.

-Andréa S.

Forbes….Oh No You Didn’t!

On Monday, The New York Times reported that Forbes planned to layoff a number of its staff members on both the editorial and business sides. No shocker there. The fact that most print publications are like sinking ships in the night right now is no secret.

What I wasn’t expecting was for much of the staff who run ForbesLife and ForbesTraveler.com to also get the boot! Say what? Isn’t the digital/online media realm supposed to be experiencing rapid-fire growth right now (or did I dream that)?

I had a minor conniption when I saw that Lauren Sherman was one of those who were let go. Does this mean no more “ForbesLife Find of the Day”? I can’t deal with this torture. Forbes: I’d like to see some kind of public statement, please. Thanks.

-Andréa S.

Free Press Junket in Jamaica….You’re Fired!

JetBlue and Thrillist saw a lot of buzz over the past week or so with their Jet Mystery trip that took lucky Thrillist readers and an apparent airplane full of bloggers and journalists on a luxe, all-expense-paid trip to Jamaica.  Media getting a comped trip, go fig?

As a travel PR gal, it certainly is never a shocker when major publications like Conde Nast Traveler & The Wall Street Journal decline to participate in these familiarization trips to learn about the amenities, culture, attractions, or whatever it is destinations are looking to market.  But when Cision’s weekly Media Updates reports the following about a New York Times freelancer….wowza!

Mike Albo, a fashion and travel writer for The New York Times, has been fired by the paper. In what can be considered a violation of ethical standards against accepting free trips, Albo accepted a trip to a media junket in Jamaica hosted by JetBlue and Thrillist.

-Sally