I have a dirty little secret. I like PR people. OK, I don't like all of them, but I must admit that a lot of publicists have helped me in my quest to speak to the right person, set up an interview, give me background info. This might sound strange to fellow journalists (or may secretly ring true), but a few of my best story ideas came from flacks.

The dance between PR person and reporter is one of those push/pull, love/hate relationships, with many journalists looking at ear-bending PR reps as a necessary evil -- or worse. With the advent of the Internet and e-mail, PR people have more efficient weapons at their disposal, while journalists can reap the benefits of filtering e-mail or finding info quickly on corporate sites.

Sam Whitmore is someone who has seen both sides of the relationship. He was the longtime editor at PC Week who now runs an independent Web service to help publicists understand what technology publications are covering and why. I participated in one of his regular teleconferences, where a journalist tells a group of PR people how they like to be pitched, what they cover editorially, etc. He told me recently that journalists covering technology prefer to get e-mail pitches rather than phone calls.

"Journalists get a bad rap for not wanting to talk to PR people on the phone," he said. He said that a colleague told him that when she gets a phone call, she scribbles down the information on a piece of paper.

Then, Whitmore said, "She probably loses it, and it's not easily searchable, like an e-mail. Let's face it, it's less confrontational for a reporter to just hit delete."

Dan Fost, media columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, echoes that sentiment. "I prefer e-mail -- it's easier to ignore!" he joked in an e-mail. "Seriously, we are inundated with pitches. At least e-mail is searchable. I don't mind phone calls if they're fast, or if they're important. Many of my colleagues hate the phone calls, but I view it as a necessary evil, especially since my e-mail inbox backs up so badly." 

Of course, if publicists depend heavily on e-mails to journalists, they have to worry about getting their message through the deluge of spam, viruses, worms and whatnot. "The subject line of an e-mail is critical," said Whitmore. "And only one in 10 PR people understand that concept." Also critical is writing for the short-attention-span e-mail reader, something that both PR people and e-mail newsletter writers should take into account. Short, punchy prose works better than long-winded press releases that don't get to the point quickly.

Jennifer Fan, director of marketing communications for Web research and ratings firm Nielsen//NetRatings, said her company's e-mail pitches are sent to reporters in a more informal tone, and they never send attachments or HTML mail. Even charts and tables are converted to text format for e-mails. Nielsen doesn't send any faxes or snail mail to journalists, making its e-mail releases and Web site even more important.

Fan told me that reporters might even use instant messaging to contact them in a pinch. "When we have a close relationship with reporters, we might exchange IM screen names," she said. "That way, if they have an ad-hoc inquiry -- 'Do you have data on that?' -- we can respond quickly yes or no. The technology is great, but it will never take the place of knowing someone and having a personal relationship."

Site design matters

One bugaboo for journalists going online for company information is a poorly designed online "pressroom," with unclear lines of contact, and hidden press releases. Nielsen//NetRatings probably has more journalist interest than most services, but it does a fantastic job of putting links to the pressroom front and center on its home page -- and even a list of the most current releases.

"My biggest beef is sites that make it impossible to find the PR contacts," said the Chronicle's Fost. He said he likes Hallmark's pressroom and the Sun Microsystems corporate site.

Whitmore said he likes Microsoft's PressPass site for journalists, with its deep, searchable information, including executive speeches. If you can't get an exec on the phone, at least you might be able to quote from a speech. But why do some corporate sites obscure PR contact information online? Whitmore said it might have to do with competitive reasons -- that agencies don't want headhunters stealing their top people.

"The stated goal of PR is to help journalists do their jobs, but what's really important is how quickly they get back to journalist queries," Whitmore said. "As far as Web sites and static info is concerned, PR people are not publishers and are not well groomed for that."

The Web is a two-way street for journalists and publicists. Journalists can use it to research companies, and PR people can use it to research publications and find editorial contacts.

Paul Krupin is the author of "Trash Proof News Releases," and helps run IMediaFax, a service that sends out faxes and e-mails for PR people. Krupin advises publicists to study publications online -- their editorial style, how they present material -- and ape their style in PR pitches. "Use the publication as a guide," he told me. "You can save the editor a tremendous amount of time and effort. If you nail the readership, content and style, it's going to go to you instead of someone else."

Deeper searches online

Krupin also said that publicists could do a better job searching online. He's been helping develop a search front end called Search Word Pro -- which you can try in beta -- that guides you through the process of doing advanced searches for information. While it's a bit simplistic, the service helps searchers think beyond Google, taking into account databases, government resources and beyond. It's something that would work equally well for PR folks and journos.

Publicists have also benefited from various online databases, such as Lexis/Nexis and MediaMap, which provide important contact listings and story tracking. ProfNet is a pre-Internet solution that matches reporter queries with expert sources on the subject, though the lengthy response rate is a limiting factor. "ProfNet and SourceNet work better for in-flight magazines or for reporters who aren't on a fire-breathing deadline," Whitmore said. "Broadcast bookers use it when they need an expert on an obscure topic."

Of course, all this technology has a downside for the publicist. Nielsen//NetRatings' Fan said that these deep databases and online services are convenient for PR people, but that there's added pressure to do more work even faster. "Someone can e-mail you pretty quickly," she said. "But you have respond pretty quickly as well. You have to be even more responsive than before."