Hacked off

I was lucky enough to escape from the office to attend the TCA Conference in Leicester last month and I was particularly looking forward to hearing what was billed as a 'PR masterclass', as I am always looking at ways to get more Dodgi news out there.

However, during the 'masterclass' I was told that when a journalist said 'off the record' it didn't mean it would necessarily stay off the record. Luckily, I speak to real journalists quite a lot so I know they actually do honour 'off the record'.

By his own admission this joker giving the 'masterclass' was, at heart, a salesman and had absolutely no journalism training whatsoever. It made me realise that I'm missing a trick.

I'm thinking of getting on the lecture circuit myself to talk about brain surgery. I have no expertise on the subject, and have never actually been a brain surgeon, but I'm sure I could make some valid points somewhere along the line.