Well here’s a highly fraught debate: to what degree should PR pros manage the message in content created by the journalists they pitch? When does “making helpful suggestions” turn into “telling journalists how to do their jobs?”

This week journalist Jim Romenesko (who everyone in media should follow on Twitter and Facebook) brings us a couple of cases in which he and some of his colleagues believe that PR pros went too far.

In the first instance, a reader who is also a newspaper editor received an unusually bold pitch from a man who claims to transcend the traditional role of the flack:

“I would like to propose engaging in a relationship where once in a while I supply you with fully developed stories (completed articles) that you can publish under your byline, with or without editing, at no fee.”

That’s right, this guy will write full articles (for a real physical paper, no less) and the writer will get credit for them. No real work necessary. Oh, and also:

“I placed a few expert quotes by some of my clients into the piece, so I am not looking for compensation or acknowledgement.”

Ah yes — there we go.

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Jim Romenesko has spoken with a press pool full of journalists who report on the craziness of dealing with the Fox News PR department. More specifically, dealing with the shadowy figure that is Irena Briganti, the Fox News and Fox Business SVP of media relations.

Much like Nikki Finke, photos of Briganti are hard to come by, Romenesko writes. But her presence is certainly felt if you’re ever trying to do a story about Fox or interview one of its journalists. Reporters tell tales of blacklists and being “iced”; of insults and transgressions that happened when they weren’t looking.

Not all of the criticism is negative. And, on a certain level, reporters seem to realize that working with the Fox PR team is like working with any other — publicists are advocating for their clients and you shouldn’t expect otherwise. But the tales these reporters tell fly in the face of the common PR goal of building strong relationships with journalists.

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The media was a big presence during Occupy Wall Street’s “Day of Action,” which also marked the two-month anniversary of the movement. Some of the coverage was had the same level of confusion that was present on the ground.

Newsweek/The Daily Beast had some high-profile departures this week.

The Early Show is being overhauled with a new studio and new talent, including Oprah’s friend Gayle King and media vet Charlie Rose. Chris Wragge, who was brought in from WCBS/Channel 2, will not be the primary host of the show starting next year but has a contract through 2014.

And Jim Romenesko‘s resignation from Poynter.org, following criticism from the site’s online director Julie Moos over “questionable attribution,” sparked plenty of discussion across the media.

Ryan Gosling fans are pissed off that their guy wasn’t chosen to be People‘s Sexiest Man Alive. Fans protested in front of the magazine’s offices to let the editors know that they made a mistake putting that other gorgeous man (French-speaking sexy master Bradley Cooper) on the cover. We’ll call it a dead heat. BuzzFeed organized the faux-test.

Joy Behar‘s HLN program was cancelled.

More media moves after the jump.

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Hurricane Irene Photo: NOAA

Hurricane Irene coverage is coming on as strong as the storm is. A state of emergency has now been declared in five states.

Jack Shafer and three other staff members have been laid off at Slate. Fellow journalists are not reacting favorably.

Jim Romenesko, Poynter’s popular media blogger, is going into “semi-retirement” starting January 2012. He’ll be launching his own site, JimRomenesko.com, and working part-time at Poynter. He’ll still be tweeting under his usual handles, and will continue with his other websites.

ABC News and plenty of other media outlets have announced their planned 9/11 coverage.

Bloomberg is acquiring BNA, a company that provides legal and regulatory research and analysis. The deal is worth $990 million and should close this year.

Thankfully, journalists held in the Rixos Hotel in Tripoli have been freed. CNN’s Matthew Chance offers a first-hand account.

More media moves after the jump.

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