High Road president Mia Wedgbury recently started a PR column in the Small Business section of The Globe and Mail’s online edition. This is her second column.

What to do when a reporter calls

Our popular perception of journalists has largely been shaped by movies and best-selling novels. For some, it brings to mind the image of the fedora-wearing, whisky swilling newspaper man who loves a sensational headline. Or perhaps it’s the unscrupulous, pit-bull TV news reporter that comes to mind, followed by her camera person as she barges in on some hapless executive.

These popular—and often misleading—notions might explain why a friend of mine, who is the president of a small technology company, recently called me. I could tell from her voice that she was concerned. Turns out a reporter’s curiosity was piqued by her business and, as a result, he called looking to set up an interview for an article. "What do I do?" she asked me nervously.

Read the full column at Globeandmail.com.