No-one should completely rely on the internet

We all love, admire and are aghast at the dynamite world of the internet. Emails, google, blogs, youtube... amazing stuff.

But it bugs the hell out of me when things go wrong as a result of people relying on it too much.

We had a good story the other day which a reporter was trying to stand up. He called the orgainsation we needed a quote from, and nothing was forthcoming.

The story was quite big and the organisation's part was quite crucial, so the reporter called them again and explained the need to provide information.

They still did not respond and so the reporter filed his story... with a par saying the such and such organisation was unavailable for comment.

The reporter took care in telling the organisation that he was then off... and so if they did have anything to say could they call him at home or on his mobile.

Anyway, later, much later, the organisation finally go itself together to make a full comment. And they emailed this to the now absent reporter. Did they call him as requested? No, did they heck, they assumed that the email meant everything was now done and in order.

Did they call the newsdesk, or even me, to make sure we were aware that a response was now available? Er, no.

And then, when the story the next day was published in the Birmingham Mail, the said organisation's press office goes mad, saying we ignored their response.

Tough. I'm sorry, but replying with an out of hours email when a reporter has called at least twice and left home and work numbers is a naff response.

Yes, we will carry a follow up now reflecting the fuller version.

But don't rely on unreliable communications.

The only way to reply or respond to an important press inquiry is to speak personally to the journalist or newspaper responsible. To relegate such responses to the email process should never happen.

I hope now that this organisation, for whom I normally have a tremendous amount of respect, will learn this important lesson.