PR Newswire, one of the primary pipelines for press releases, has been scrambling to apologize for a gaffe committed by one of its staffers yesterday.
Huge numbers of press releases from companies, governments and nonprofit organizations flow through the PR Newswire system each day. Editors and reporters often judge a press release by its name, or "slug" in journalism-ese. Most barely warrant a raised eyebrow.
However, on Monday, the service sent out a press release about a rally at Broad and Snyder in the city today at noon by a coalition of homeless advocacy organizations.
The slug? "loony-bin-rally."
At 10 this morning, PR Newswire issued the following:
PR Newswire deeply regrets an error that occurred yesterday in a news release, re-sent below. A PR Newswire staff member incorrectly slugged the release "loony bin rally." PR Newswire understands that such terminology feeds the prejudice and discrimination associated with mental illnesses and will take steps to ensure that nothing like this occurs in the future.
Dan Gross, of the Philadelphia Daily News, says the female staffer was fired.
All of which brings up the question: Have you seen similar instances of lack of judgment in your workplaces? Career-ending lack of judgment? If so, send a comment.
