> They got a response pretty quick in the forums, why should it be any different if you call / email?
Because:
> The contacts that journalists have can usually give a quick off the record "that's not correct" and kill a story like this.
Note the "off the record" part. You can't do something like that with forums; whatever you write there is public and will be regarded as official statement of the company, whether it is or not.
The contacts that journalists have can usually give a quick off the record "that's not correct" and kill a story like this. Perhaps an on the record quick statement, or a callback within a half hour or so once the appropriate people are consulted.
In cases like this where the morality of the company is not in question, journos don't have any reason to distrust the spokespeople. "That's incorrect. Give me ten minutes to call legal." Bam. Dead story.
You'd be surprised how much you can do once you have the right phone numbers. The main switchboard is never the right one.
The way it works on city desks of good newspapers is, long apprenticeships. It's amazing how deeply knowledgeable long-time reporters can be (not talking about op-ed writers -- talking about journalists and reporters). It's also amazing how much information is known by these reporters and editors, but does not make it into stories because there's no space or because an independent corroboration cannot be found. That background information can help to frame the way the story is written, but might never appear in print.
I inherited my Rolodex from the writer I replaced. Then you just add to it over time. Meet new PR guy for WhizCo at an unrelated story? Another card for the Rolodex. The savvy PR people will reach out to you without prompt, as well, which can be a good sign for a working relationship. Press releases are a 50/50 shot for a good number; depends on the source.
Other commenter's right, too, there is a lot of institutional knowledge at journalism shops. A casual newsroom "who do we know at Acme?" or "who likes us at the Department of Labor?" almost never goes unanswered.
A wise reporter once told me half of reporting is who will answer the phone, the other is deadlines.
Tech people have this stuff, too, particularly in the backbone transit game. White courtesy phone, that sort of thing; BGP flaps don't go through technical support. Those numbers are guarded closely, though, because they usually ring 3-4 feet from a NOC on-duty engineer.
