If there is one button journalists love to push more than any other button it has to be the “reply” button in Microsoft Outlook.
Believe it or not, journalists often get emails that they enjoy making fun of. Be it a press release about a person’s garage sale or a reader letter lambasting them for their improper use of the term “populate.”
To relieve a little stress journalists do what they do best in these situations and write sarcastic comments about the original email and fire it off to the newsroom email list.
Usually a millisecond after clicking send, reporters realize they accidentally hit the reply button and their witty comments are in route to the very person they are lampooning.
This, as one can imagine, makes for some awkward interviews down the road. It can be difficult to call a source after referring to them as a blowhard in an email they were clearly never meant to read.
Fortunately, journalists handle these types of situations by doing another thing they excel at – keeping cool in a tense situation.
It may be overtly clear in a snide email that was erroneously sent back to a PR crony that the reporter thinks the event is as exciting as lighting their own hair on fire, but no one would otherwise know by the concise insightful questions the reporter asks with a smile plastered on their face.
Perhaps the only thing worse than at replying someone is when a journalist accidentally sends out a reply all on an internal email about some embarrassing mistake such as misspelling the mayor’s name or the DUI they were attempting to cover up.
In these unfortunate situations journalists resort to another one of their favorite activities: drinking.
Topics:
I love reply to all button
I’m going to play the devil’s advocate here. I’ve studied in PR and if I were to work in my field, I would love to get one of those accidental replies. At least, I’d be able to tell when my corporate language will sound gobbledygook or figure in advance which journalist is going to “kill” my message.