The judge’s decision on Arizona’s new immigration law came down Wednesday. About an hour later, a woman emailed reporters, saying she had an expert for comment. She included background on her client and pasted an Associated Press article about the judge’s decision. She was quick, to the point and appeared to be successfully courting the media.
But this was a short-lived affair. She sent at least one of her messages to a Phoenix reporter and her email signature included no more than a number with a 212 area code. The reporter asked about the expert’s location and found out he was based in New York available via satellite. Arizona includes an array of lawyers, college professors and politicians desperate for TV time. The reporter wasn’t interested in a long distance relationship. There are plenty of local fish in the sea.
And the woman (who never made clear her title and profession) forgot about the foreplay. When her email reached the Phoenix reporter, his TV station already had an expert in house analyzing on the airwaves, making his moves. The judge’s decision was breaking news, but just about everyone knew a ruling would arrive before the law went into effect the next day. Media planned ahead. Romancing reporters began days earlier. In this case, PR pros needed to wine and dine (not literally), not expect wham, bam, thank you ma’am.
Many PR-media encounters are like one-night stands: quick satisfaction and everyone walks away happy without investing too much time. But in this case, for a news story with worldwide interest and big opportunity, some flirting needed to come first. And a two thousand mile relationship just wasn’t going to work.