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	Phil's Blogservations Friday, August 05, 2005 Posted by philgomes 8:00 PM Google Takes PR Ball, Goes Home Google Takes PR Ball, Goes Home Mike Masnick at Techdirt says: A well known reporter recently told me that Google refuses to grant him interviews with their executive staff because they don't see any benefit to the company at all. The company is doing great, rolling in money and everyone knows all about them already. So why should they grant interviews? Why? Two things: No amount of success, no matter how phenomenal, is sustainable. Now, before you flame me, know that I'm not about to engage in the folly of betting against Google. That's foolish. But, for all we know, there are grad students holed up in Santa Clara, Boston, Austin, Beijing, Hyderabad, or any number of cities that, five years from now, will create some smarter-than-Ben-Stein, quantum-based, search engine that will find postings you haven't written yet. That's a competitive threat. If Google's fortune's dip for this or another reason, even just a little bit, they might regret irritating these reporters. These reporters have famously long memories. I know. It was years after the fact before a longtime contact of mine stopped reminding me of the time when I gave him directions to a Hobee's restaurant and he ended up in south bay suburban hell. Oh, but I'm not done. Neither is Mike: Especially if the reporter might (gasp!) ask tough questions? Honestly... When is the PR profession going to get past the fallacy that "success" is defined as the PR pro's ability to turn a smart, critically minded reporter into a typist? True, while PR can't necessarily offer guarantees, it does seek to at least influence an outcome. However, there are ways to accomplish this that both serve the client's communications needs and demonstrate proper respect to the Fourth Estate. At least the rather heavy-handed threat of removing ad dollars isn't involved here. Off to go have a weekend. Catch ya'll later. HOME | OBSESSIONS | FAQ | HEROES | CAREER | BLOG | CONTACT Note that the views expressed on this site do not necessarily reflect those of Phil's employer, its business partners, its clients, or anyone or anything that doesn't come from Phil.	ABOUT THIS BLOG This is the blog of Phil Gomes, SVP with Edelman Digital and senior advisor to the Society for New Communications Research. This blog not only discusses PR and media matters, but Phil's everyday observations about a variety of topics. Phil currently resides in Chicago, IL. EMAIL phil[at] philgomes.com View my page on PROpenMic SYNDICATE Feedburner ARCHIVE YAHOO! IM SKYPE WISH LIST PITCH POLICY MY PHOTOS www.flickr.com Photostream RSS Enter your Email Powered by FeedBlitz COMMENT AND TRACKBACK POLICY Comments and trackbacks are unmoderated, though I will delete the patently offensive ones. Any comments and trackbacks are the opinions of the individual writer of those comments and trackbacks, and not those of Phil Gomes, his employer, its clients, or its business partners. If you have a bone to pick, bug the people who wrote the comment or trackback.