There's a Brouhaha Brewing in PR - And I Don't Like It.

There’s a brouhaha brewing in the PR world and I don’t like it. Now, I’m not going to take the side of either party, but as a PR practitioner of almost 22 years, I’m commenting. Like it or not.

One the one side is Peter Shankman, founder of HARO and a vice president of Vocus. Never met the man. Dialoged with him often. We follow one another on Twitter. Peter’s an entrepreneur’s entrepreneur. We’ve exchanged many emails and tweets over the years. Good guy. Lots of Twitter followers (for what that’s worth). He’s got a great rep. Adds value to the PR eco-system. Seems to have his sh*t together and has a stellar roster of clients.

On the other side is Ryan Holiday. Calls himself a media strategist. Seems to have his act together too and I’m sure he knows his stuff. Like Shankman, never met Ryan either. But I don’t like him. Not one little bit.

I’m not here to take side or judge right from wrong and I don’t give a rat’s ass what either thinks of me, but I’m compelled to correct some glaring inaccuracies.

Shankman and Holiday are fighting – see http://huff.to/Ocnn3C and http://bit.ly/Ovwede

Both postings are pretty vicious. Clearly Holiday’s got the hate on for Shankman. And I’m not sure why.

Hey Holiday --- you may want to take note of the following:

1. You say, “HARO is a cesspool of media manipulation and enabler of bad journalism”. I say “Bullsh*t” --- HARO is a legitimate service that matches reporters looking for sources with sources. What’s the matter with that? Why’s it a cesspool? How’s it enabling bad journalism?

2. You say, “Help A Reporter Out embodies everything that is wrong with much of modern online journalism. HARO is a social network that connects reporters with "expert sources" (publicists) so that the experts can shill their products, and thus the reporters don't have to bother doing any reporting. “ --- CRAPOLA dude. Yeah, HARO does connect reporters with sources … and so? There’s no experts shilling their products there – and it does not encourage lazy reporting at all. Sure there are lazy reporters – no question. But they will continue to be lazy with or without HARO .

OK Holiday – now you’re making a fool of yourself --- and then you continue

3. “Putting journalists and sources in the same secret room together does not serve a greater good, it merely services both parties self-interest to the detriment of the readers and their news.” --- Huh --- are you nuts? This has been happening in PR since PR began --- long before you and I were even conceived (For the record, I am 46). There’s nothing secret about this room to which you refer – and putting sources and reporters together is the only way stories get written. Duh!

4. Then you go on to say that Shankman had to attack you to protect himself. Fact 1: Shankman has been successful long before you attacked him 2. Fact 2: Just because he has a VP title, how do you know his job is cushy. Yeah, he logs 300k miles a year --- I did that for a year or two. If you think cushy is waking up in another city 150 days a year, think again. I did that for two years during which I aged 10 – and that was before 9/11. Trust me. It ain’t fun!

5. You conclude with --- “He doesn't want you, the reading public, to know how the sausage is made. Because he owns a sausage factory.” Wrong again – HARO is a transparent service for reporters to find sources. That’s all it is. There’s no secret sauce here --- HARO does what it does well. There’s nothing profound!

Again, gents – I am not going to get in the way between you guys, but Ryan --- stop grinding your axe buddy. It’s getting very blunt now. Rather grab something long, cold and refreshing. It has 4 letters. Starts with a B. Ends with an R. Has two vowels in the middle. Kick back. It’s the summer time after all. Start thinking and stop hating. You’ll be better for it. And so will the world.