Richard Edelman moderates comment... ha!

Edleman moderates comment on his blog... ha! way to go authenticity!

here's my comment:

Richard,

Shouldn't you be writing fake blogs for Walmart and your other big money clients instead of defending the failures of the PR industry?

Seriously Richard, I know there are some PR folks who do a good job. I've met all both of them in fact, and I really like them. (zing! pow!)

No, seriously... PR folks are really loved by journalists.... love sending them to VOICEMAIL! (zing! pow!).

Seriously, nothing is better when you're on deadline than having to go through a PR person who tries to spin the story and protect their client. It's just sooooo much fun.... we love it!

You can defend PR folks all you want, but you should know that when you're not at the table journalists and bloggers are making fun of you and shaking their heads in disgust at the horrible inefficiency you bring to the world. 99 times out of 100 PR people slow bloggers and journalists down.

I know you've PR 2.0-ed Edelman and you've got a blog (yes!) and some of your folks are using Twitter (wow!), but the fact is the days of PR are numbered. Folks are realizing that spending $15-20k a month on a PR firm is a total waste of money. Better to hire a $40k blogger for your company, and spend the rest on going to a couple of events and being a real human--as opposed to some PR creation.

The best PR is no PR.

Be yourself, be authentic and do great things. If you do that you don't need a PR firm.

If you're lame and inauthentic? Well, then hire Edelman to make you a fake blog like they did for Walmart.

The PR industry has the reputation it has because they've spent decades trying to manipulate the press and public... as the playing field is leveled your access and process becomes worth less and less. A new process is brewing... it's call authenticity and it's everything PR is not.

all the best,

Jason