18 Jan Crabby journalists
I think one of the things that made my transition from working mainly with technology managers to working with journalists is that they share alot of the same traits. They’re typically over-worked, under-appreciated, single-minded people whose jobs require them to multi-task. And that can make them really crabby. This week I got reamed on the phone by a print reporter who insisted that I needed to pitch him much, much earlier in order to get a story. What he failed to acknowledge were the handful of emails and phone calls I had left him over the past month or so.
This attitude can sometimes make it a little scary to call these folks, who tend to either bark at you, give you a lecture, or worst case, give you a lecture in a barking tone. But you STILL have to contact them, and face it, when they get up to 400 emails a day you HAVE to call them. So remember the next time you get your head bit off, it’s not personal. Journalists have a tough job with deadlines and demands we can only imagine. And you know what, they’re almost all actually great people.