Self-policing PR: Should we out PR Spammers?

There are scads of approaches we can take to rehabilitate the image of the public relations profession. One of them is self-policing. This can be handled by the associations that represent the profession (should they ever decide to put teeth in their ethics policies) or by individual practitioners. I like the idea of speaking up-I've done some of it myself on this blog and in my Jim Horton's modest proposal. Whenever a PR firm spams any PR blogger, we out the firm in our blogs and brand them with a Scarlet S for spammer. I propose that this first S go to the firm that sent the nonsensical release to me today...Maybe if they are shamed enough in public, offenders will change their ways. Jim figures: If PR cannot discipline its own, who can? Reporters have bitched for years about misdirected releases and pitches they get by the pound every day. It's time then for PR bloggers to stand together and to stop this stupidity before it overwhelms our own mailboxes. He then names the culprit who sent the offending press release. Theoretically, this is a good idea. However, the idea of putting negative comments about a named agency or practitioner into the blogosphere without some fact-checking seems dangerous. That's exactly original post about the incident.) I'd therefore propose a slight adjustment to Jim's suggestion: Let's go ahead and out spamming PR agencies, but only after checking our facts to verify that what looks like spam actually is. Holtz Communication + Technology which focuses on helping organizations apply online communication capabilities to their strategic organizational communications.