James Mills is a web developer in the North East of England and founder of Refresh Teesside »
Mike Hughes is the Head of Business for the Evening Gazette. He will be blogging on all matters of importance to Teesside businesses - and some that are just worth knowing »
Jez Davison, business writer at the Evening Gazette, is a regular blogger on all things business - particularly finance, entrepreneurship and the state of the Teesside economy » 
Karen McLauchlan is the Evening Gazette's deputy business and features editor - with special interest in all things industry, property and arts related » 
Jeremy Middleton is a venture capitalist and the co-founder of FTSE-200 company HomeServe » 
Deloitte, which has 23 offices across the UK including Newcastle, is among the country's leading professional services firms » 
ClimateNE & Climate Change Schools Project support the move to a low-carbon, resilient economy and help businesses avoid risk and realise commercial opportunities. Posts by Jen Atkinson, Krista McKinzey and Harriet Thew » It's tricky being thanked by a PR company.
As the Gazette's business editor I use plenty of press releases - but either because they are of a high standard or because I can quickly chop them around, add a little bit of background and make them worth the space.
I treat the good PR companies as district offices. There are quality writers out there who happen to be sitting in a PR office and not a newspaper office, but that doesn't mean they can't write for my paper.
So when a company rings up and says 'Thanks for the good show this morning - the clients are very happy' it bothers me.
If it's a good story it will get in the Gazette and if it isn't - either because it is badly written or an obvious plug - then it will go straight in the bin.
I appreciate being appreciated, but I'm not being nice, I'm doing my job.
Any journos or PR firms care to discuss?
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