Mr. Wakin, tear down this wall!

In the third paragraph of his August 6th article in The New York Times, Dan Wakin quotes Opera Omnia artistic director Wesley Chinn's press release:

The first news release quoted the founder and artistic director, Wesley Chinn, as saying, "I can't actually pretend to quote myself in a release I'm writing myself just to satisfy the conventions of press-release style."

Fourth paragraph:

If the tongue-in-cheek communiqué was meant to draw attention during the summer doldrums, it worked. But further investigation reveals that Opera Omnia is a serious entry into the ranks of small-bore companies in New York. The troupe, consisting of performers mostly in their 20s and 30s and operating on a tissue-thin budget, plans to stage its first production this month at Le Poisson Rouge (the former Village Gate) on Bleecker Street, starting on Aug. 21.

Well, that's new. Artists and administrators alike have confessed to me that they wrote their own press releases for concerts, CD releases and career moves, admissions always ending with "[dot dot dot] but please don't tell anyone." One artist told me she created a Gmail account under a fake name and pretended to be her own publicist, complete with e mail exchanges such as, "Yes, let me check on Ms. X's availability for that interview."

Why do we feel the need to operate under the paper-thin veil of objectiveness? Artists pay me to represent them to the media; does that make me more or less objective than an artist representing him or herself? Perhaps slightly more, provided you give me the benefit of the outside-perspective doubt, but I'm far from an unbiased presenter of information; hardly a veritable "Wikipedia of media relations".

The Opera Omnia/Dan Wakin piece represents a breaking down of the fourth wall of media outreach. Not only did an artistic director clearly state that he was writing his own press release, but a New York Times writer goes and includes this detail in his feature! In fact, that aspect of the press release seems to be the very thing that led Wakin to research the opera company further. Would the affect (and result) have been the same if Chinn had simply written his release in the first person? "My company, Opera Omnia, will be performing at...on...at this time."? Despite the quality of writing or substance of presentation, a first-person narrative in a press release still has an amateur air, but why? Is it better to have an exceedingly professional release about a project/artist of lesser quality? Of course not, so why the stigma?

Before I fully put myself out of a career, I will say this: one of a publicist's most important jobs is reaching out to the appropriate critics about the appropriate projects in the appropriate tone. If I know a critic, I'm not going to send him or her the formal "attached please find a media alert..." e mail. Similarly, I wouldn't send a critic a press release about a new music project if he or she had never written a new music review in his/her career. Dan Wakin appreciated the candor, drollness and ultimately the subject matter of the Opera Omnia pitch. Perhaps Wesley Chinn did his research, or perhaps he just got lucky. Either way, there's a hopeful message in this: write press releases in whichever voice or from whichever Gmail account you want, just write them well, don't be afraid to show some personality, and do your homework on the critics.