Sorry, no, you can’t
Freelance CARRIE DUNN is riled by PRs who demand a sight of copy about their clients
I am basically a nice person, but sometimes I get angry, and it’s usually PRs who light the fuse by fundamentally misunderstanding their role, my role, and the media in general.
One PR officer got in touch with me to offer her client as an expert for an article I was writing. He was eminently suitable, with a distinguished career in the field I was researching and I gladly arranged the interview. I was about to start transcribing my notes, when an email pinged into my in-box.
“Hope the interview went well. We will allow you to use the comments from our client on the following conditions.”
What was that faint clanging sound? Ah yes, the worryingly familiar symphony of instinctive alarm bells.
“The ideas will be attributed to our client.” Obviously, fine.
“Our client’s contact details will be provided in the article.”
As long as the editor doesn’t chop it out, fine.
“We will have a sight of the article when written to check accuracy of the content.”
Um — sorry? No, you can’t “have sight of the article”. I’m not writing copy for you, I’m writing it for my editor, and I will be quoting exactly what your client said.
I replied thanking the client for their time, assuring them that all quotes will be attributed, but that I could not guarantee publication of any part of the submitted piece, and neither could I allow them to have a read-through of my work before I gave it to the editor.
Not only did I feel it was unethical, but also pointless because the article could be edited or amended, so even if they thought it was a brilliantly accurate representation of their client, it might not come out that way on the page – in fact, it might not even end up on the page at all.
Unsurprisingly, I got an extremely snooty reply: “I am sure you will understand that in the absence of a fee our client needs to derive some benefit from the work they have put in.”
But much as I appreciate PRs sourcing experts and information for me, that does not give them the right to dictate what my article should contain.
I know PRs are trying to do their job, but they could do that better if they understood our job a bit more. My friend and fellow freelance Anne Wollenberg quite rightly suggests: “PR people need to ensure their clients have sufficient media training to come across the way they want them to.
“If I’m being interviewed as a case study, I think before I speak and make sure I don’t say anything I’m not willing to be quoted on. PR people need to train their clients to do the same.”
And if they did, it would save us all the embarrassment of rejecting requests for copy approval.