The Battle of the Bad: Two Blogs You Never Want To Be Mentioned By

There are two blogs no one, unless they're a complete glutton for punishment, wants to find themselves mentioned by.

The first is The Bad Pitch Blog, which is one month old today. It's aim?

We’re tired of the public relations industry taking the blame for a minority of its members that pollute communication channels with bad pitches, poorly written news releases and useless phone calls asking "did you get the release?"

So we’re outing the guilty parties in full view of the highly-networked blogosphere. It’s our hope that the Bad Pitch blog will entertain the true victims of this practice, the PR industry, and it will help the guilty parties improve.

The second blog is badhack, which piggybacks on The Bad Pitch Blog's approach, but without naming names.

...it's fine for blogs such as the Bad Pitch Blog to highlight less than exemplary PR practice, but there are two sides to every story, right? It's not like our journalistic friends always demonstrate the highest levels of professionalism, is it? Badhack aims to redress the balance.... And don't worry, we won't name names.

Neil MacLean of The Travel PR blog, where I first learned of badhack, had this story to share:

My contribution of the day - if I can offer it from a distance - concerns a journalist on a press trip to the Phillipines who smuggled a prostitute into his room at the very smart Manila Hotel.

Read the rest of Neil's story here.

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Update: In a comment to this post, Kevin Dugan points out that Bad Pitch Blog has actually showcased some good pitches in addition to bad ones, adding that "a mention on our site does not spell certain doom for your career, it could be a badge of honor." 

Additional Info:

Todd Defren of PR Squared offers an acronym for staying out of The Bad Pitch Blog's clutches: H2H (via On Message from Wagner Communications).

Comments

[Neil MacLean]

Thanks Andrea
You know I kind of wish they would name and shame on that site. Why hold back? There are nearly always witnesses after all:-)
Personally, I would have revealed more about the Manila man in my story but I really can't remember his name. Ships that pass in the night...

[Kevin Dugan]

Neil - Bad Pitch names some offenders, but not all. Loyal readers tell me that the more thorough offenders can be found via Google if you're that interested.

Andrea - Our main goal is to entertain and educate with bad and good pitches alike. In fact, we've already singled out some folks for their good pitches. So a mention on our site does not spell certain doom for your career, it could be a badge of honor.

Thanks for the mention!

[Andrea Weckerle]

Kevin, you're right, it's not all doom and gloom on the Bad Pitch blog! You *have* been praising the right people lately. Everyone loves you site and you fulfill an important function ... even if you make us quake in out boots because we don't want to make it to the "bad" side.