The Smart Bitches and Diana Peterfreund have some interesting posts up regarding a letter a journalist from the Washington Post sent to a group of romance writers asking for information for a Valentine’s Day piece. Go read it for yourself.
As a professional journalist, I would never, ever send anyone a letter like that. I don’t even know that I’d send my friends a letter like that.
As a journalist, you don’t try to be funny. Professional? Yes. Respectful? Yes. Funny? No. You tell people what you’re doing and then ask them for their input, even if it ends up being no comment.
Geez. To the person who wrote that letter: you work at the Post. You should know better.
