What I would tell PR flacks at 'summit' 

It seems inevitable. Just as I’m trying to finalize something I’m working on that takes a lot of concentration, the phone rings and breaks my train of thought. Nothing irritates me more than to have some PR flack from some obscure place like New York City call to see if I received their press release.

Paaaalease. I don’t know who is telling the PR folks that they should follow up their releases with a phone call, but that’s the quickest way for it to find its way to the trash can.

Unless, ahem, of course, it has news value. Which 99 percent of them don’t.

That’s the first message I would tell people at what is being billed as “The Hacks and Flacks Summit,” an Idaho Press Club meeting/discussion between “public relations professionals and working journalists.” That was their wording, not mine. Must have come from a PR person. A journalist would have written: “public relations specialists and professional journalists.”

On the professional journalism side of the fence will be former KTVB news director Mark Danielson (now general manager at Local News 8 in Idaho Falls); Vickie Hollbrook of the Idaho Press Tribune and Kevin Goodwin from Peak Broadcasting.

On the public relations side will be Melinda Keckler , Scott Peyron & Associates; Andrea Deardon, Ada County Sheriff’s Office; and Lynn Hightower, Boise Police Department.

Marc Johnson of the Gallatin Group will be moderating. Since he comes from the dark side of PR, we’ll have to see if he can give the professional press a fair shake.

The showdown will be 6:30-8:30 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 7, at The Linen Building, 1402 W. Grove Street. Call 389-2879 if you want to watch the bullets fly.

OK, I admit press releases serve a useful role in the newspaper business because none of us have enough reporters to cover everything, and the releases often inform us of something we don’t have the resources to cover. Most of them have a phone number to call if we need more information. But if their phone doesn’t ring, it’s probably me. That doesn't mean they should call me to see if I got their release.

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