It’s happened to a lot of us. You’re told to start pitching a topic in earnest. Your pitch gets a reporter’s attention. After the usual exchange, you set a date for the media interview. The adrenaline begins pumping as you e-mail your client the details. Then suddenly the client bails on the hard-earned media opportunity, leaving you in a tough spot. The end result? The client loses the story, the reporter has a news hole to fill and your reputation with the reporter is damaged. MORE

The post below inspired us to create a Top 10 List of Things You Never Say to a Reporter. We''re getting some great entries so far and want to encourage everyone to keep them coming. Post them in the comment section of this post or the BusinessWeek post. Tomorrow I head to The University of Georgia to present at Connect. So the Top 10 List and the winner will not be posted until Monday, October 18. MORE

If you haven’t seen the BusinessWeek redesign, head to your nearest news stand this afternoon and grab one. Homework from the Bad Pitch blog? On top of all the other reasons to buy this national business magazine, it’ll give you something new to discuss with your BusinessWeek reporter. BusinessWeek''s Stephen Baker is wishing some PR folks took this advice. Baker just received another bad pitch and provides the following exchange with a person pitching him. MORE

Karen Russell is one of several teachers I’ve met online and off that have a passion for social media and bridging the gap between practitioners and students. Yeah, students are digital natives, but that doesn’t mean they’re born with a blog and Twitter account. Via Colin McKay, I saw Karen’s request for “a dozen things I wish PR pros would blog about.” So I picked “3 things you should know before you write a cover letter.” It’s been a long time since I wrote a cover letter. MORE

The Bad Pitch Blog will be on the BlogTalkRadio program "The Rundown" with Luke Armour. Armour is one of a handful of Ohio-based PR bloggers, which is just one reason I’m looking forward to this internet radio show on Tuesday, November 13 at 1:30 PM ET. The other half of this blog, Richard Laermer, will be joining us. And, best of all, you can join in too. We’ll be talking about (really) bad media relations amongst other things. MORE

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Author and Wired editor Chris Anderson caved under the weight of endless PR spam -- more than 300 emails a day. So he published 328 email addresses – the latest batch of offenders – hoping the spam bots will teach these folks a lesson. And you thought Slick was a pain in the arse. Whether or not you agree with Anderson’s approach, I’m here to tell you the problem is JUST. Read his post and the comments. Read the other media blogging about this increasingly common reaction to bad pitches. MORE

This may fly in the face of Richard’s Pepto-Bismolic plea, but before everyone gets all Shiny Happy People, I must vent. Someone sent us their second bad pitch. Both pitches start with the salutation: To Whom It May Concern. TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN!? First of all, this isn’t a salutation. To Whom It May Concern reads more like “F&!k k it, I can’t find the remote so could you just publish this for me so I don’t have to get up and walk all the way across the room?” MORE