Categories: OLD Media Moves

What’s inside a Microsoft dossier on a Fast Company reporter

Sophie Kleeman of Gizmodo wrote about what was inside a dossier of Fast Company senior writer Mark Sullivan compiled by Microsoft.

Kleeman writes, “The writeup on Sullivan is both illuminating and entertaining—insofar as a corporate dossier can be ‘entertaining.’ It includes Sullivan’s areas of coverage, details on his ‘writing style,’ and his thoughts on Microsoft’s bot competitors, including Alexa and Siri. (According to the dossier, he has ‘mixed feelings’ on the Amazon’s bot, while he has an ‘overall positive opinion’ on Apple’s.) In a bit of PR person-as-Sherpa maneuvering, the rundown notes that Sullivan doesn’t cover Skype news regularly, ‘so will be important to make sure you’re setting enough context to bring him along on the journey.’

“Oh, and then there’s this tidbit: ‘Off the record, he finds Facebook bots to be boring and not very smart.’ Better luck next time, Zuck.

“The thread, which carries the subject line, ‘RE: UPDATE: Skype Bots Announce,’ includes big-name Microsoft employees, including Kim Stocks, director of corporate public relations, Frank X. Shaw, corporate vice president of corporate communications, and Gurdeep Singh Pall. It also includes employees from WE Communications, including the person who apparently sent the emails to Gizmodo by mistake. (WE Communications helps handle press for Microsoft.)”

Read more here. Kleeman reports that Sullivan was “remarkably chill” about the disclosures.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.

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