THAILAND'S GHOST JOURNALISTS
My friend Khun Napacha works in public relations and has recounted experiences in her blog about Thailand's ghost journalists. These are individuals from non-existent publications who attend press conferences with, it seems, the sole intention of grabbing the free goodies on offer.
Khun Napacha writes: "Thai ghost journalists are getting scarier every day, while the media landscape is also getting more diverse and wider. Therefore, PR people must know their operating landscape well to be able to detect scams. Some say the number of ghost journalist can indicate how famous an event is, and some say having them would add more media to the headcount and make an event look like it gets a lot of media attention. For me, I would rather not have any."
I've not yet come across any, but after tweeting about Khun Napacha's experiences on Friday it seems this is not an isolated occasion. There could be more than a few ghost journalists in Thailand.
5 comments:
You should read "The Uninvited" by Geilin Yan, a dark comedy set in China about this very issue.
Thanks so much .. I will try and find a copy. It sounds like an interesting read.
What I don't understand about this whole 'ghost journalist' thing is how they get to hear about the press conferences in the first place? It's hard enough being an editor of a real magazine and trying to get information, let alone being from a fictitious publication. :-)
Dear Andrew,
These 'ghost' get the news from calendar news published in newspaper and websites. Thaipr.net is the number one source of event checking.
Perhaps, PR shouldn't plant release too much ?
My view is that PR should always be targeted. You're wasting your time (and money) if you have people attending your event or conference who have no intention or interest in writing about what you've got to say.
I've been to events already relating to the property sector that are examples of the two extremes. On the one hand I have been to an event were just six of the top property journalists have been invited, but I have also been to events where there have been upwards of 20 members of the press. I would guess all of the six journalists at the first event will be writing something, but I doubt more than 20 per cent of those at the second event will be writing a thing. Having smaller numbers also allows those journalists covering that specific topic more opportunity to get deeper into your story.
I know numbers look good but isn't it coverage that counts more?
Judging by the numbers of magazines actually sold in Thailand, word of mouth ("there were 20 journalists at my press conference, but just 6 at theirs") seems to be more powerful than print. Pictures go a long way, too...But the key here is image, not substance.
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