An Open Letter from Jay Rayner to the PR Community

It is clear that media relations has a problem. Jay’s letter demonstrates the emotion stirred up when journalists are constantly bombarded with inaccurate information in the form of irrelevant pitches and press releases.

At Synapse, we count this as undeniable evidence that the industry must change. Our platform offers PRs and journalists a different way to operate that doesn’t provoke journalists or leave PRs without any feedback.

On Synapse, journalists openly share what they are looking for and give PRs valuable feedback. This is far more productive than antagonising follow ups into an email black hole.

We are sharing this letter to encourage greater debate and widespread behavioural change from both the media and PR.

With best wishes,

Charles Russell

Founder and CEO, Synapse

Dear PR colleagues,

Synapse recently emailed me (multiple times, somewhat ironically, given their mission to stop this) about how you all deal with rejection. I thought I’d give my thoughts from the other side.

The way far too much of the PR industry behaves has been driving me nuts for a long while now. I am the restaurant critic for The Observer. A quick google would make it clear that this weekly column is my main job. I also write a monthly column in OFM and very occasional features, all of them around food. Nothing else.

I receive literally hundreds of emails from PRs a week. And what staggers me is the vast number that have absolutely nothing to do with my beat. I just had a look over the last 24 hours. They include releases and emails about a children’s festival in Leicester, the odds on Robert Downey Jnr returning as Iron Man, something from a wellness guru, stuff on celebrity real estate, a few financial analysts reports on a greetings card company, and another on car production. In truth this was quite a small crop. Usually it’s worse. It is clear to me that a staggering number of you put together random, unfocussed lists of journalists and then just send them everything, despite it being irrelevant to them.

And then you send follow up emails. So many damn follow up emails. The record is five, but three is common. If I replied to every single PR email that was of no interest to me I would literally have no time to do my job.

What do those of you who send follow-ups think happens? That an email which is entirely relevant to our work has come in, that we’ve looked at it, but then gone out on the lash and completely forgotten what our job is? If I don’t reply it’s because it is of no interest. This, I should say, also happens with emails about restaurants and food which arguably are relevant to me (though many of those aren’t either). A side issue where restaurants are concerned. I am always amazed by the PRs who email me, inviting me to review a restaurant I have already reviewed. And then there are the enormous number who offer to book me a table, when I have made clear many, many times that I book my own tables, under a pseudonym, give no prior warning of a visit and that we do not accept comps. The latter is even in my social media bios. It would take a minimum amount of research to check any of this out.

As a journalist I work with a lot of very good PRs. I trust and respect them. I should also say that as a writer of books, presenter of tv and radio and as a live performer, I am regularly PRd. Good PR is a serious and vital skill. But I am constantly astonished by the amount of unfocussed drivel sent my way, accompanied by follow-ups. I am sure the clients who pay for it would be equally appalled if they knew what was being done in their name.

In short, if you don’t want to deal with so much rejection, target your message.

Jay Rayner

The Observer

Mark Borkowski, PR expert and Synapse board member gave the following feedback:

” I invested in Synapse because I believed contemporary media relations required a reboot. We must face the stark reality: journalists are drowning in a deluge of irrelevant pitches, often numbering in the thousands daily. This chaotic approach is not just inefficient—it’s a disservice to all involved. With the advent of Synapse, something that I am passionate about, we now have the tools to transform media relations into a more constructive and streamlined process. By adopting this innovative solution, we can move beyond the antiquated dance of endless emails. It’s time to champion quality over quantity and push back against tired habits and meaningless metrics, ultimately elevating the craft of media relations for everyone involved.”