Last week the WannaCry ransomware raged around the world. I go into some of the specifics, and have more on my blog if you want links to the exact operations of the malware who has been hurt by its attack. There are several great stories from the media about how one British researcher accidentally tripped a kill switch and gave American IT managers a bit of a breather, and how Microsoft has created patches even for Windows XP versions to try to stop its spread. But there are some important lessons for PR pros who want to become newsjackers. Both Paul and I received dozens of emails with insipid quotes and me-too “sky is falling” non-news releases. Instead, the next time one of these events occurs, try to be fresh, be quotable, be unusual, find the story within the story. Don’t just trot out your CEO or expert, but look for something specific that your client can leverage.

Next, we pay homage to Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal. We reference this article in Recode.

Both Paul and I owe Walt a lot in terms of how they approached their own work over their decades in tech, along with how reviews were constructed and how sources were accessed. The Recode article looks at the current crop of mass media tech reviewers and what they owe to the great man himself. We also talk about how reviews have changed over the years and the prominence of Google and the crowdsourced reviews sites. Sadly, vendors today are getting too sensitive about negative reviews, don’t understand that good reviews take money and experience, and think that “placement” is more important that the actual content of the review itself.

Listen to our 21 min. podcast here: