the(new)mediaslut

Both the Asian Sentinel and Think Happiness are right.

Speaking of stories appearing because of freebies, PR sources have told themediaslut that there are some media personalities out there who will only attend a press conference because of freebies.

No, the first question is about what the press conference is about. themediaslut has been told that the first question being asked is "what’s the freebie"?

Pens as freebies don’t make the cut these days. Neither do paperweights. 128MB thumbdrives, nay… 1G thumbdrives, maybe.

What makes the cut? Mobile phones are high on the list.  

Especially when it comes to attending the launch of the new series of mobile phones.

Invites which say "1st prize - Mobile phone. Winners will be announced after the press conference" usually get a high RSVP rate.

There are some editors out there who even dare to put in their monthly column that it is they are four times lucky to win the phone.

However, there are journalists who return the door gift or even the lucky draw prize to the vendors.

themediaslut know for a fact that publications like CNBC, Bloomberg and Reuters have this strict policy in place where the journalist have to return the door gift or not take part in the luck draw at all.

These companies will even pay for the junket.  

Speaking of freebies, another freebie that journalists get are paid junkets to an overseas destination.

When a journalist attend a press junket, one would expect the journalist to write a story about the junket right? Yes, they do write about the junket but this is where it gets a bit twisted.

themediaslut heard of a story where a journalist was given a overseas junket to an exotic destination.

When the journalist return, all he did was do a press release re-write and a stock photo of a speaker.

One would immediately think that the PR will got pissed because all they got for sending the journo to a junket was a press release re-write instead.

However, this was not the case.

In fact, the PR was so happy that it was a press release re-write as all the messaging from the company stays intact within the story.

Ironically, a fellow Thai journalist friend was send to a junket to the US and wrote a very questioning, possibly damming, story about a certain vendor embracing an open source OS as its new business strategy.

Unfortunately, the PR was disappointed that this thai journalist wrote such a story and even reply to him, "I wonder if my bosses will like it".

As themediaslut ends this post, here is a clip of five Singapore-based journalists going wild (over Balut - a Philippine delicacy) during a junket to Manila. Enjoy.