A couple of months ago, someone doing media relations for me got screwed over by a TV reporter. Here’s how it went:

1. We wanted the reporter to do a preview story on a consumer event that one of our clients was sponsoring. The event was targeted to a particular kind of consumer within this reporter’s beat.

2. The reporter expressed interest and said she wanted to interview one of the consumers who would be coming to the show. She laid out a set of criteria for the kind of person she wanted to talk with.

3. Our media relations person said, “No problem, I’m on it!” and set about giving the reporter what she wanted. Since the event hadn’t yet occurred, you can imagine how difficult it might be to find a consumer who was planning to come to an event before the event. Particularly given the reporter’s criteria, it wasn’t easy.

4. Lo and behold, our person scored! She found the perfect candidate for the reporter’s story, which obviously would be a great hook for the reporter’s preview of our client’s event.

5. The reporter was excited to learn that our person had found the perfect interview subject for her. She apparently had been looking for this kind of consumer for some time with no luck. The reporter went to the consumer’s home and interviewed her for more than an hour.

6. When our media relations person followed up to find out when the story would run, the reporter said she “wasn’t sure” if she would be able to do a preview of the event. “What do you mean?” our person asked. “Didn’t the interview go well?”

7. It did go well, the reporter replied. Only she really had wanted the interview for a future story she was planning, and just didn’t have time to do something before the show. In fact, when the story did run, it wouldn’t be mentioning our client at all.

I know how journalists can be with PR people – and I know that PR people sometimes deserve it. But this is ridiculous.

I want to out this $&%#@ so badly I can’t tell you. But I guess I’ll settle for sharing this little story in hopes that it will comfort you the next time it happens to you.