Several PR blogs are talking about San Jose Mercury News tech columnist Dan Gillmor’s item about a PR pitch he received. The pitch reflects on a client and a counselor with no clue about the world of blogging or what constitutes effective public relations. In case you haven’t read it, here’s an excerpt: “(Person’s name), CEO could talk to you about ‘What F1000 Companies are doing to take action against bloggers’ and ‘How companies are taking steps to protect their corporate reputations from bloggers/digital influencers.’”

Worse than the pitch is Gillmor’s reaction: “This is a remarkably myopic view of the blogosphere, but it reflects what I frequently hear from PR folks.”

That’s scary, but not hard to conceive. In my comment on Jeremy Pepper’s entry, I note that most of the people I know in PR are intelligent, thoughtful professionals who behave ethically, do their homework and engage in multi-directional, symmetrical communications. (Just read the many blogs produced by PR professionals to get an idea of how smart and savvy these people can be.) Why don’t they get coverage from Gillmor and others who report on the scum of the profession? Because people going about their jobs just isn’t interesting, nor is it news.

I wish we could keep people like the huckster who pitched Gillmor out of the business, but there are bastards and idiots in every line of work. Those working in public relations stand out because their efforts are designed to be visible. I don’t question that Gillmor hears a lot of stupidity from uninformed and low-rent PR people. I don’t doubt there are a lot of them out there. But can’t the profession do something to offset the impression they create that all PR people are like this?

Pete Shinbach wrote about this The Bach Door: “If one of the reasons to hire a PR staffer or agency is to get people to better understand whatever it is that you do, why is it that so many PR people persistently whine that their business is so misunderstood?” (From the entry, “Why not to hire PR people or agencies.”)

Part of the problem is that practitioners are busy representing their clients; they can’t bill anybody to do PR for the PR profession. On the other hand, we have two large professional associations in IABC and PRSA that are supposed to represent us. Is it asking to much to expect them to do something about the way we’re perceived by the public?

There’s another view on Gillmor’s piece from Tom Murphy.