Though I consider myself a recovering journalist, I still get plenty of press releases.
Did you know that today is National Walking Day? It is also National Foot Health Awareness week, National Infertility Awareness week and Sexual Assault Awareness month, among – no doubt – other such things. And those are just the announcements that have landed in my inbox during the last hour.
Back when I was a youngin’ in journalism school, one of the first assignments was to write about “The Great American Smoke Out,” a public awareness campaign to get people to quit smoking. Any student who was naive to cover this as a straight story got mocked.
Still, pr folks continue to fabricate these days so they can have a “hook” to pitch articles they then claim are timely, relevant stories.
Actually, it might be fun to write a story that incorporates each manufactured occasion, which in this case would be easy – take a walk while providing good protection for your feet and carrying mace, all the while contemplating the challenges of infertility. (Note: I am not trying to trivialize sexual assault; just the concept of “awareness” days.)
That said, I have just declared this “Sit on Your Couch Awareness Day,” where activities include figuring out how to post on your new website and sharing a heating pad with a somewhat pushy cat.
Though I consider myself a recovering journalist, I still get plenty of press releases.
Did you know that today is National Walking Day? It is also National Foot Health Awareness week as well as National Infertility Awareness week. And those are just the announcements that have landed in my inbox that have come in during the last hour.
Back when I was a youngin’ in journalism school, one of the first assignments was to write about “The Great American Smoke Out,” a public awareness campaign to get people to quit smoking. Any student who was naive to cover this as a straight story got mocked.
Still, pr folks continue to fabricate these days so they can have a “hook” to pitch articles they then claim are timely, relevant stories.
Actually, it might be fun to write a story that incorporates each manufactured occasion, which in this case would be easy – take a walk while providing good protection for your feet, all the while contemplating the challenges of infertility.
Alas, I have just declared this “Sit on Your Couch Day,” where activities include figuring out how to post on your new website and sharing a heating pad with a somewhat pushy cat.
