Call me when you have found the cure for cancer: Ajay Muliyil's Candid Take on Media Followups

That is what one sarcastic senior journalist told me during my early days in PR. I was a little taken aback by this statement, a complete tangent to what I had called him for in the first place. I thought it was rather rude. It took me some time to register what he meant. In hindsight, I am quite bemused by that remark. I was reminded of this statement in a book I was reading recently, and there was a complete flashback to this incident.

I am sure that each PR person out there have their own unique stories to narrate. Some may be hilarious. Junior PR professionals are often taught to follow up on press releases, and articles, sent out to journalists, almost immediately. They have seniors and account heads who need to be updated on the status of whether the journalist plans to publish the story or not. 

Some of the journalists are polite enough to respond and be courteous in their exchange, but others would be rather sarcastic with remarks like, “If you have sent it to me on my correct email ID, I most probably would have received it, hence there is no need to follow up.” Which makes sense, but the tone conveys disdain for the caller. You then place these journalists in your Excel sheet with a remark – ‘do not call or follow up,’ unless you want to be berated (that is my addition). 

Then there are these other journalists who neither respond to your emails or calls, and it seems like you are communicating with the black hole, all your messages seem to just vanish into nowhere. So, you keep these people in your media list, until you receive a ‘mailer daemon’ message, which essentially means the star finally faded and died, consumed by the black hole eventually. But just when you think they do not exist, you receive either a one-liner mail or a call from these ‘enigmatic people,’ for inputs for a story. These are generally urgent, and often there is no acknowledgement thereafter. It is back to square one. You learn to deal with them.

Over a period, you understand where these journalists are coming from and what is the subtle message that they are involuntarily conveying. 

You will come across journalists who are extremely approachable, some who become great friends, who add so much value to your journey; and then some who you are always wary of. 

You do not know where to slot them, so they lie in the grey area. It is part of growing up in the field. 

I have read a million commentaries on the dos and don’ts of a PR professional while dealing with media, which will stand you in good stead and which is mostly basic hygiene. The basic tenets are - ‘Know your media,’ ‘Know your journalists,’ and most importantly, ‘Know your client’s business.’ All this should be at your fingertips. There is no excuse not to know any of these, it is called ‘professionalism.’ 

You do not need to unnecessarily schmooze and be all goody-goody with journalists to befriend them. You are not on a date. It does nothing for you but makes them feel that you are ‘good for nothing,’ and have no competence in your work. Rather they would respect you if you are sincere, knowledgeable, and professional in your approach. You do not have to be a ‘know it all,’ and can be honest in what you know and what you do not. That is how you build trust in the first place. While this is only one side of the coin/story, don’t you think journalists and media folks too need to get their act together? Yes, they do.

In the PR realm, seniors do not give their subordinates too many options on who to call and who not to. We had a job to do and we did it. They did not tell us to call a certain X or Y if we figured out the ‘cure for cancer.’ You know if I happened to figure out the cure for cancer, you would be calling me instead, because your editor would shoot you for competition picking up the news before you did. So, that explains this dilemma.

Essentially the PR folks get it that not all that we share with journalists can change the world or the course of history and not all content is newsworthy, but then again how much of what we read and see in media is newsworthy? It is not that you will not receive newsworthy content, you do. There would be so many PR people, especially the juniors who might have felt belittled and lost confidence in themselves when journalists put excessive pressure on them for an inbound query where they are pressed for time. 

Before knowing the constraints of the agency, which could be either - delay in approvals from the client side, unavailability of the spokesperson, or maybe a certain confidentiality attached to the story, they come pouncing on the hapless executive who is at the receiving end. What you often see is that the journalist quickly escalates the matter to the seniors, belittling the junior executive for any kind of mess-up. 

Good managers stand up for their employees, but the ones without a spine end up ruining many-a-career, and some good talent eventually ends up leaving this fascinating field. 

Not to mention, some journalists keep promising to file a story, for an interview that happened in BC, but you are sure that it will not be filed before the Lord’s second coming. The PR folks just do not understand what is the harm in them saying that a particular interaction unfortunately will not result in a story. Is there some sadistic pleasure to this? No one knows.

So, after close to two decades of being in the communication field, I can proudly say “I haven’t found the cure for cancer,” and most certainly I will not in the next decade as well. But we all happily co-exist and that is how it should be.

Ajay Muliyil, former Partner and head of PR, Ogilvy South India