PhoneBoy’s Rule on Press Embargos

Jeff Pulver had an interesting post about embargoed press releases being sent unsolicited to bloggers. The general point he raised was: don’t send unsolicited embargoed information to him. The comments on this post helped flesh the point out more.

My general rule on embargos is that I honor them, even if they’re not solicited. I understand why embargos are important. However, I tend to work with PR firms that have established some sort of relationship with me. They might send me “unsolicited” information at times, but they usually send stuff they know I will be interested in. Why? Because they’ve taken the time to get to know me.

As for unsolicited embargos from PR firms I’ve never worked with before, while I may not necessarily breach your confidence, you’re generally asking for trouble. My information security background suggests that sharing information with people you don’t know and trust is simply asking for that information to be mishandled. Most people are honest, some make honest mistakes, a few aren’t.

Andy Abramson summed it up best: “giving the details of the embargoed information in the request and not realizing that without agreement there’s no embargo.”

As for this embargoed news from GIPS? Until I see more details, I’m not going to comment.