The ole Ketchum-Rosen-Gate wrap up…

Tom Murphy

Yesterday there was a great example of the potential of blogs.

Jay Rosen (the post has since been edited) made a flawed attack on all the people who write PR-related blogs (see the list on the left of this page) for not covering Ketchum’s recent VNR incident. The problem was that Jay’s thesis was created, breaking one of the cardinal rules of journalism: check your facts.

The incident was in fact covered by many PR blogs and what followed yesterday was a whirlwind of content, e-mails and comments.

If you get a moment I warmly recommend you read through the links in the footnote of this post and also the many links in the previous post.

This response is a better illustration of the power of blogs than Jay’s original thesis on the failure of PR blogs.

“A blog is simply electronic paper on a network. Other than the laws on libel, invasion of privacy, and copyright, bloggers have no obligations. That is the beauty of blogosphere, it is entirely up to the reader to judge what, if anything, is worth reading.”

– Alice Marshall

“Part of me is thinking what the f_ _ k, when did I sign up to become a PR industry watchdog? I didn�t get that memo. And quite frankly, I don�t have the time to police the industry. I�m having a hard enough time making time to walk my dog.”

– Mike Manuel

“So. What’s the takeaway for PR bloggers?

  1. Some of us should have reacted to this issue. Myself included.
  2. Our associations have been silent/obtuse on this issue.

What’s the takeaway for Mr. Rosen?

  1. A Technorati search is not sufficient research.
  2. Maybe an update/correction to that first post is in order?

– Marc Snyder

“Rosen and Technorati stuffed up. At least four prominent PR bloggers posted on the subject and apparently didn’t get picked up in the Technorati seach. Dave Sifry of Technorati is looking into this, see PS at the end of the previous post on this site.”

– Trevor Cook

“My apologies, Mike (Manuel). You are certainly part of the PR Blogging Mafia and will be a keynote speaker when I organize the PR Godfather Summit (think 1950s Appalachian Mafia Summit) where the boss’ will agree on PR territories and which industries we control moving forward. Steve Rubel won’t be there since he’s graduated from blogging only about PR to focusing on the intersection of PR and blogging. Perhaps he, Scoble and Doc Searls will be part of a similar summit on controlling blogosphere territories.”

 –  Matthew Podboy

“Thus, the assumption Rosen makes that all PR bloggers who failed to address the Ketchum story are culpable is flawed. Only those who position themselves as watchdogs of the profession should suffer that rap. Second is the issue of accuracy in reporting. Like many in the PR business, I got my start as a journalist. I have a degree in journalism and put in time at weekly and daily newspapers. I was trained�both in school and on the job�to check the accuracy of my reporting before I submitted it for publication. Then my editor would question statements to ensure they were correct. If I were covering the tale of the failure of the PR blogosphere to report on Ketchumgate (sorry), I would have contacted some PR bloggers and asked if they knew of anyone who had posted on the topic. In short order, I would have had a list of names. Rosen, however, conducted a Technorati search, found two posts, and went to press.”

 – Shel Holtz

Footnote: