Accountants Ernst & Young issued a press release today (Sunday) but the named PR, Vicky Conybeer, did not have access to a photo of those quoted in the release because she was not in the office.
Why bother releasing it on Sunday or being the named PR if you can’t help working hacks?
You get this – usually I have to say with government PRs rather than commercial sector ones. National Rail was a recent example, proving unable to answer any questions at the weekend.
The out-of-hours press officer cannot actually help in anyway unless they go back into the office. And they’re either not prepared to or it would take so long as to be pointless.
The 24/7 society
I work from 6am weekdays and I may be working evenings and weekends. The web is seven days a week and often 24 hours a day. To news organisations and the journalists who report for them, there isn’t actually an out-of-hours time any more.
So duty PRs either need to be in their office while on duty or have access to their office via their laptop or mobile. Anything less is less than useless.
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