NBC Tests Media Relations Email System, To Annoyance of Some Reporters

Many reporters have been receiving the following email from NBC Universal today:

—–Original Message—–
From: PressRelease@nbcuni.com [mailto:PressRelease@nbcuni.com]
Sent: Friday, February 26, 2010 2:39 PM
To: xxxx@mediabistro.com
Subject: Please Disregard This Email

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

Press Release
818-840-7705
PressRelease@nbcuni.com

Please Disregard This Email

Please disregard this email as we perform a test of our email systems.

Thank You

Our editorial director Chris Ariens received six of them, which was fine, until the seventh and then the eighth arrived. We reached out to an NBC spokesperson who confirmed the company is testing their “Press Express” media relations distribution system.

PR hater and TechCrunch Editor Mike Arrington took notice of the emails as well, and wrote, “There’s no shaming this industry [PR] into normal human behavior.”

Of course, one can’t help but point out that “normal human behavior” at TechCrunch has recently included having a 17-year-old intern ask startups to give him free laptops in exchange for coverage on the site.

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