Flaks are getting it right in the neck from hacks for the crime of sending too many emails.

This isn’t a new complaint, but some have decided they are mad as hell and aren’t going to take it anymore.

Jay Rayner, the star food critic at The Guardian and son of famed advice columnist Claire Rayner, writes:

“The way far too much of the PR industry behaves has been driving me nuts for a long while now… I receive literally hundreds of emails from PRs a week. And what staggers me is the vast number that have absolutely nothing to do with my beat.”

Hundreds? What a wimp.

Over at the BBC, the equally excellent tech editor Zoe Kleinman takes up the story.

“I have around 4,000 unread PR emails in my BBC inbox. My LinkedIn private messages overflow. I get pitches via Instagram DM, WhatsApp, text message. I don’t have open DMs on X but I get pitches there too. I am utterly overwhelmed by people digitally shouting at me for their client (or themselves) to be heard, 24/7. It’s out of control.”

I’ve sympathy with the hacks here. But I think when I personally get most cross about email overload is when I’m already stressed about something else, and the flaks are a convenient punching bag.

The irony here is that the hacks have forgotten how they got there.

Unless you come from a well-connected media family, landing a job as a journalist at a top media outlet is hard.

It takes years of knocking on doors, of ringing people who don’t want to speak to you, and yes, sending loads of emails most of which will be ignored.

All of this can be dispiriting, even a bit embarrassing. You have to do it so often you’re no longer cowed at the thought of asking the powerful person the difficult question.

Junior flaks are only going through the exact same thing. Shouting for attention in an overcrowded market.

It is possible of course to delete or ignore emails. No one is seriously expecting me to reply to every email I get.

The senders are just fishing, just trying it on. Like good hacks do all the time.

Perhaps the lessons to be learnt here are that flak bosses should take some time to see that their emails are better targeted, rather than just hitting Send All.

Hacks could maybe take the odd day off the self-important juice and remember what their own job entails.