
Tomorrow's Business Today
Flak jobs for hacks only
Do hacks make good flaks?
There is quite a lot of evidence in and the results are mixed.
Some excel. Some disappear into corporate land and are seldom heard from again, which is fine.
Some realise within the first five minutes of their first client meeting that they have made a terrible mistake and spend the rest of their lives telling everyone they used to be a journalist.
Cathal Morrow thinks I’m being harsh. Or at least, that there are some PR jobs for which the best candidates are definitely ex-hacks.
He’s one himself having written for The Times, The Observer and The Telegraph, but he thinks there’s a market for his new business – headlinesearch.co.uk.
He notes: “Journalism is on its knees, so I set up Headline Search to find cracking jobs for journalists, and cracking journalists for jobs.”
I think journalism is fine – it’s mainstream publications and TV that are stumbling under pressure from the tech giants, but you see his point.
His plan is to find comms jobs for journalists, and only journalists. He thinks they have the right skill set to excel in an increasingly non-human world.
That’s a nice idea which I hope is true.
I certainly like the idea that hacks are so charming, comparatively, to PR robots that only they can save the day.
That doesn’t apply to the hacks I like best, but it is possible there is something seriously wrong with all of them.
Morrow says: “It’s editorial nous that’ll increasingly be the key to getting great client coverage. Journalists are going to play a massive part in the future of PR.”
Not all journalists will have to fully relocate to the Dark Side as there will be contract and freelance assignments on offer as well as permanent positions.
That’s his pitch.
He must be right that there are more ex-hacks floating around the ether than before. At least some of them must be square pegs for square holes.
There is every reason to wish him well.
Please send candidates for press release of the day to: Simon.english@roxhillmedia.com

Press release of the day
Homeowners could use the money saved from Dry January to overpay their mortgage, says this from Santander.
If they put the equivalent cost of three pints of beer a week into the lifetime of their mortgage, they’d save £13,000 and knock two years off the term.
Graham Sellar, Head of Intermediary Channel – Mortgages, at Santander, said: “Whatever the reason for doing Dry January, there’s an indisputable benefit to your bank account. It’s tempting to spend that extra cash, but for those able to put even a small proportion of it aside, starting a habit of overpaying on your mortgage could reap huge benefits in the long run.”
