First, a declaration of interest - I am a fan of The Guardian’s Roy Greenslade. That aside, his comments on the uneasy relationship between journalists and bloggers articulate exactly the dilemma of journalists pre-internet: writing for an invisible body of readers whose views on what you’re writing remain largely unknown. Not so now. With bloggers and, well, anyone with broadband, able to interact with the news and pass comment, the monopoly on the message no longer lies with the “fourth estate”. With the abundance of online channels and social media to participate in, the conversation is gaining currency.

Sally Whittle over at journalism and PR blog, Getting Ink, tells it as it is when it comes to receiving junk (i.e. irrelevant or badly targeted) PR material from so-called PR professionals.

But how many companies buying in PR support are aware that the antics of their agencies might be getting their stories - and hence their reputations - blacklisted by journalists?

Asking who and why agencies are talking to on your behalf (and how) is too important a question not to ask.