by David Safier
Do journalists get pissed when they get almost daily variations of the same press release over and over and over again, from the same candidate? Or do they let the repetition sink into their brain pans and say, "Geez, I've heard this so often, there must be something to it. Maybe I should write about it."
I'm thinking about the incessant drum beat of press releases I've been getting from Paton's campaign. It's the same anti-Giffords message repeated ad nauseum. Paton doesn't even get points for varying his attack a bit to keep things interesting. You know exactly what he's going to say after you've read the first sentence — or even after you've read the subject line.
I'm not a journalist, but if I were, I think my reaction would be, "I'm a busy man. All day, every day, people are trying to get my attention, hoping I'll cover their story from their angle. This Paton guy is taking up too much time and space, bombarding my In Box with almost daily hit pieces disguised as press releases, all saying the same thing. I think I'll start hitting Delete whenever I see the damn things."
I could be wrong, of course. It could be like a friend of mine told me who used to sell vacuum cleaners. "It takes seven No's to make one sale. So the faster I get the No's, the sooner I make the sale." I just have a sense that journalists are smarter than the average Electrolux customer.