By
George McQuade West Coast CorrespondentPublicists
have to be careful when dealing with bloggers because some of them play fast and
lose with the facts, Bob Werden, co-founder of Entertainment Publicists Professional
Society, told the group's winter mixer held at the Los Angeles Times' Chandler
Auditorium.
Bob
Werden |
A blogger could write that the world
is flat and that nugget could remain forever on the Internet, he explained.
Jim
Arnold, an independent publicist in Hollywood, feels the jury is still out on
blogs, and that it will take years before leaders emerge in the blogosphere.
Technorati
reports there are more than 61 million blogs and about 175,000 new ones created
each day. Thirty-four percent of the group identify themselves as journalists.
Publish
then apologize
While Hollywood publicist Ron Carter criticized
bloggers who publish then apologize, Lance Webster, of LW Communications, noted
that the mainstream media also make mistakes. "Does TMZ.com get it wrong
sometimes, yes, but so do TV newspaper critics, and we've had entertainment critics
since the '20s and '30s."
Amy
Morganroth, a student from Loyola Marymount, won an O'Dwyer's Directory at the
EPPS event. |
Webster, who produces TPEC Guide, a media
reference directorY for entertainment publicists, said it is all about "who
pays attention to the news they generate and which blog gets the breaking news."
The former EPPS secretary provided the following advice for pitching
blogs:
1. Identify and monitor relevant blogs that cover your clients
or industry; 2. Visit about 10 -15 and determine which ones appear to do a
good job; 3. Check back when you find a good match and subscribe to them; 4.
Don't call bloggers, email them they're always online, and 5. Mostly importantly,
update them. Bloggers don't have the same limitation of a newspaper or magazine.
"People
who trust TV critics and writers will trust their blogs, but it is a delicate
dance," said Webster.
He is giving a $50 discount on the $250
cover price of the TPEC Guide to anyone who mentions either odwyerpr.com or this
article. Call 818/787-9550. |