All tagged media relations
Mashable is reporting that Vocus, a developer of software for the public relations industry, will acquire Help a Reporter Out (HARO), the wildly popular service that connects journalists with sources.
HARO, which started out as a Facebook group, quickly surged to be a fantastic resource for both PR professionals and journalists. The service caught on quickly because it is free for both journalists and PR types, whereas the leader in the space, Profnet, is subscription based.
Being that I've been in the news business for about 15 plus years now -- some as a reporter, some as a PR guy for two educational institutions pitching stories and the rest in the agency world developing media strategies -- I always get a kick out of pieces that make fun of the news business.
The industry is not the same as it used to be. However, the way stories are created and how news is developed, reported and delivered (to a certain extend) is pretty much the same.
All the games that PR people and journalists play with each other and against each other still play. If you've ever watched the evening news, especially the national news casts, the pieces always go something like this: