Will PR pros ruin newspaper’s ‘digital first’ strategy?

As the Guardian opens its news coverage to the public, this PR pro wonders if his industry will ruin the experiment.

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When I first heard that the Guardian would post its daily news list online—basically, a list of stories it’s covering that day and who’s covering it—I was impressed.

I wasn’t sure whether the average reader would care about the Guardian’s newest demonstration of its “digital first” strategy, but I thought it was a great, brave idea.

Then, I got to thinking more about it. How will the list be used by the PR industry?

What if, despite national news editor Dan Roberts’ insistence that journalists won’t “pay much attention to pestering from PR people,” we uncharacteristically ignore this and bombard them with offers of expert opinion related to their news?

Should we PR pros feel we shouldn’t approach journalists with spokespeople or other information, even if it’s relevant? Or should we worry more about whether pressed PR people, desperate to get results for clients and placate bosses, will take advantage of the daily news list to tenuously pitch and in doing so, ruin it for everybody?

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