DRAPER, UTAH - February 20, 2001 - "'Don't waste my time,' is very clearly the message technology journalists are sending to public relations professionals everywhere," said David Politis, president of Politis Communications.

Politis' comments were made today in connection with publication of the results from an online survey of technology journalists asking for their feedback on "How to Tame a Junior PR Professional."

According to the Politis Communications survey, 87 percent of the respondents prefer to be contacted via email and their top five PR pet peeves are:

1. Irrelevant story pitches (80 percent),
2. Annoying phone calls (74 percent),
3. Not understanding the publication/station/e-zine/etc. (63 percent),
4. Not understanding an editor's/reporter's/writer's beat (54 percent) and
5. Email attachments (45 percent).

The online survey drew from a targeted database of more than 1,750 journalists covering various technology beats, was conducted during a three-week period at the end of 2000 and the beginning of 2001, and received more than 180 responses from media professionals representing national and international print, online, television and radio media.

The questionnaire allowed media members to identify their public relations pet peeves, rank their overall experience with PR professionals and confirm the best way to contact them. The survey also asked the journalists to answer how strongly they agreed or disagreed with the following statement: "My job would be difficult without the input of PR professionals."

"The results of the survey both surprised us and confirmed some of the things our agency had already experienced with media professionals," Politis said. "Both media and PR pros have difficult jobs to do and in the end, it is better to understand how to work together rather than continuing on a course that creates tension between the industries. We were also pleased with how candid the journalists were with their answers, and how willing they were to provide positive feedback as well."

A summary of the survey results is found below.

Several journalists gave additional feedback when asked to list other pet peeves. Some of their responses are also found below. Identities of the respondents have been kept confidential.

"It's best if press releases are kept very short. If the subject sparks our interest, we'll be sure to call. But if the main information is buried in a long press release, we're less likely to use it."

"I hate attachments."

"PR people have a bad habit of making it seem like the magazine should be happy getting in contact with them when it is the other way around. I find that PR people are young, pushy and unresponsive at the same time. I don't appreciate calling a company and not having the PR person call me back by my deadline because their egos make them feel as if they are too important to call me back."

"Calling to ask what or when I'm going to use the info you sent me, especially if it was unsolicited. We get hundreds of these (calls) a week. Most of them get thrown out or filed. We don't have time to talk to you about it."

"If you don't know what each department of Business Week e.biz does, don't pitch. It's a waste of time on both sides unless you do."

"Hard to find contact information on Web sites and on press releases."

"PR reps seldom pitch story ideas, which are what editors seek."

"A lot of press releases are for trivial things, and some companies send out nearly one per week. If I get that many I treat the sender like any spammer and ignore future emails."

"In addition to the above responses, there were several responses that we saw that suggested a lack of training and/or understanding the true needs of the media," Politis said. "Comments like 'don't use faxes,' 'PR people have poor written and oral communication skills,' 'lying to me,' 'lack of understanding what makes a story,' and 'lack of understanding of product specs or features,' were answers that came across quite frequently."

When asked to rank their overall experience with PR professionals in 2000, 82 percent answered fair or good, while only 15 percent answered very poor or poor. And when asked "How much do you agree with the following statement: 'My job would be difficult without the input of PR professionals,'" 60 percent strongly or somewhat agreed with this statement, while 21 percent strongly or somewhat disagreed.

"I think it's a positive sign that so many technology journalists have had relatively good experiences with PR pros in 2000 and feel PR input is needed to do an effective job," Politis said. "If we learned one thing about the high-tech media from conducting this survey, it is that it's imperative that PR professionals understand the journalists and the media they are contacting. If PR pros can conquer that hurdle, it is more likely they can create a positive relationship with that journalist and that media outlet."

About Politis Communications
Founded in 1990, Politis Communications (www.politis.com) specializes in providing public relations, investor relations and marketing communications services to organizations in the Internet, high-tech and life-sciences industries.