Dave,

It will never change. PR firms hire young inexperienced people who don't take the time to read the magazines or blogs they are pitching too. They are too scared to pick up the phone, and will use email and press releases to cover their ass.

There are great PR pros out there, unfortunately for you, they are few and far between.

Worse yet Dave, they charged the poor company a boat load of money to do this. Perhaps Ms. Cohen was shortcutting because she forgot to do a proper release?

Good Afternoon,

I have just noticed this post and I would like to apologize for the overload. I was the PR Assistant and I was doing what I was told and with the information I was given. I tried to make everything easier on the bloggers especially by placing press releases on an FTP site instead of sending 6 Megabytes worth. I was given PDFs, in which I was not able to change into Word Docs, and I only request to send out word docs because that is what works for the press. I am very aware of the presses needs and how to handle it, but because of the position I held I was not able to summarize the releases in my own words because I am a "young inexperienced " employee. I am not playing the blame game, as I do have respect for this agency, but remember don't always shoot the messenger.

Dave,

You are one of many (journalists and bloggers) who are singing the same tune -- that most pr people are simply spammers, and refuse to conduct themselves professionally.

Samantha's comments are simply amazing. She threw her agency under the bus, rather than falling on the sword herself, and admitting her tactics were weak.

In some PR circles, it is still honorable to fall on the sword for your client or employer. Samantha obviously does not belong to one of those circles.

If it were me, I'd make sure my name is removed from all pre-registered trade show lists, unless you want to deal with more of the same in the future.

Reid