Let’s sum up my Monday with this email exchange, shall we?

Me: requesting for an interview with this firm because of a new development.

External PR: responds and feeds me questions to ask in the interview.

Me: sending my own questions and say if the firm is not ready to answer my Qs, then there will be no interview.

Toink!

This is not a Philippines-based PR. Thank goodness, PR people here in PH are much better.

When I received that email with the questions feed, it took me a few minutes to process what the PR firm wants me to do. Then I was flabbergasted (“how dare these guys!” *deep inhale*). Then anger had set in. Then later I had this urge to laugh hysterically due to the absurdity of it all.

This is exactly the reason why there is zero journalism skills in Singapore. I mean, the PRs are even feeding journalists questions to ask during an interview. 🙄

And also this is a reflection of how clueless Singapore-based PR firms are when it comes to how real journalists work (and not the state-controlled hacks). YOU. DON’T. FUCKING. DICTATE. TO. A. JOURNALIST. WHAT. QUESTIONS. TO. ASK!!!

If you are pushing a certain narrative, you give the journalist who is going to do the interview a press release with your narrative/the client’s narrative. You leave the journalist the choice if she would use it or not. If the journalist is lazy, she would just take it, hook, line, and sinker.

This is why we jokingly say that Singapore journos are copywriters—they just copy the press releases. I receive 50 press releases in 24 hours (from different time zones) and I see how the regional (Southeast Asia) media outfits publish them. Some have journo bylines but the copies that have been published are just rehashed/paraphrased PRs. No new inputs to make them exclusive or fresh.

The PR firm has not come back after I replied to that bizarre email (in the most diplomatic way I could). It still hangs if the firm wants the interview or not.

And that, folks, is how the rest of my week will go.

I just want to have my Christmas vacation!!!

I must to go Marriott tomorrow for a conference and grant me, O Lord, patience. LOTS AND LOTS OF PATIENCE because that annual conference is always known to be chaotic.