Why can't business journalists and PR people get along?

Paul Furiga, former editor of the Pittsburgh Business Times and now president of WorldWrite Communications, writes that PR people should work better at understanding what business journalists need to do their job, and vice versa.

Furiga wrote, “No journalist wants to deal with a PR person who’s primarily unavailable, and when he or she is available, has a vocabulary limited to phrases such as ‘no comment.’

“All other things being equal (including working for an organization or a leader who doesn’t communicate) journalists still give the benefit of the doubt to a PR person whom they know to be an advocate of communication.

“That doesn’t mean someone who’s going to speak at inappropriate times about subjects that aren’t in the best interests of their organization. It means someone who understands deadlines, editors, the competition and the other pressures that journalists face while trying to do their jobs.”

Read more here.