Man bites dog: Edelman tells reporter, ‘not interested.’ Can anyone explain why?

When should a PR agency turn away a reporter? And is there a right way to say no to media coverage? UPDATED

I assigned a story to Ragan.com reporter Matt Wilson on Best Buy’s new video network for customers. I thought the company had done an admirable job parlaying its tech expertise into a news and information site. It offered an example of the cliché now being bandied about—’content is the new marketing.’ The story also fit neatly into a trend I see emerging throughout corporate America—the company as publisher. We planned to post the article on Ragan.com and its daily news feed. We would also include the story and a link to it on PR Daily.

Ragan.com and PR Daily can’t claim the readership of The New York Times. But visitors to our daily news services number well over a quarter-million, including thousands who access our site through our new Ragan News iPhone app. Most of these readers work in the PR, marketing, social media world. So, why would the company’s agency, Edelman, turn us away?

Here’s how the rejection unfolded:

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