The Real Steve Jobs Teaches a Lesson About PR to Student Journalist

Steve Jobs has always had a reputation in Silicon Valley as an asshole. A brilliant asshole, and one that I greatly admire, but an a-hole none the less.

So it was almost refreshing to know that some things don't change, when a Long Island college student shared with Gawker her exchange with Jobs about trying to get someone from Apple PR to comment for her story about her college giving incoming students an iPad.

Until now, I did not know that Mr. Jobs actually engages with some of the people who send him email to his Apple email address, sjobs@apple.com. So that's interesting. You can read some of his replies to people at a site that compiles them, Emails From Steve Jobs (what a world, eh?).

Anyway, Jobs decided to respond to this young lady, who was complaining to him that the PR department wasn't answering her emails and calls, and that this meant she would not get an A on the assignment from her teacher. Jobs actually writes to her that "Our goals do not include helping you get a good grade" and ends the exchange by saying, "leave us alone."

There's the Steve I remember from my days in the Silicon Valley press corps.

This isn't really a lesson for PR people, because every CEO is different when it comes to media relations. But this is a good lesson for aspiring journalists. The lesson is this: the PR department is not the only place to get a comment from a large corporation. In fact, a good journalist uses the PR people to get an interview with actual executives and decision makers. Furthermore, why not go down to the local Apple store and get a comment from the store manager? Why not do some research and find an Apple exec who focuses on the college market and contact them directly. Don't wait to be spoon-fed by the PR department! The most ridiculous part of the whole exchange is when she writes that she has questions that "only Apple Media Relations"  can answer.

But here's a memo to Apple PR: for gosh sakes, couldn't you have written back to the student with a one-sentence answer? Are you really that busy and/or self-important?