Shock horror – journalist embellishes hospitality news story?

Every day we get bombarded with recycled PR.  Usually, it’s useful, allowing firms like ours to find out what’s happening in the world of hospitality.  However sometimes, as I’ve written before, the press release that landed on the desk of the journalist who has then recycled it (sadly in some instances with virtually no additional input), is embellished to make it seem a better or more relevant story. 

Take the example of the research done by COMRES for Whitbread and the CBI.  It is generally useful and informative, telling us that businesses need to do more to help school leavers (16-19 year olds) plan for their careers.  Some of the results may seem a bit stark staring obvious, such as the ‘key finding’ that 81% of school leavers have given considerable thought to their future career.  I would hope they would!   

That’s perhaps a bit carping of me, but I do have a much more serious complaint.  When I first read the story, on one of the hospitality industry’s main news sites, I noted it begins “Hospitality bosses need to ‘step up’ and do more to recruit ambitious school leavers in to the industry, the Head of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has warned.”    

Actually, “Hospitality bosses” haven’t, at least not according to the actual press release on the Whitbread site. It’s clear that the press release does not identify any specific industry sector, but rather presents a generalist report that applies across the economy as a whole. Moreover, as the hospitality site’s story makes clear, it was actually the CEO of Whitbread, not the Head of the CBI, who was quoted as saying that businesses need to ‘step up’.   

Does this matter?  Not really in some ways, because the overall results of the research probably apply to hospitality as much as industry in general. However, it’s the second time in a year I’ve come across industry sites extrapolating research that is not specific to hospitality and claiming that it is.  I appreciate that journalists do make little adjustments to make a story more plausible (aka never let the facts get in the way of a good story!), but I do wish they wouldn’t! Is it just me, or should journalists get away with claiming something is true when in fact it’s not? 

Finally, it’s worth having a look at the original story (via the link above). If you hadn’t seen it before, then it’s interesting to see that of the next generation to leave secondary education, 86% would like to work for an employer who offers them a clear career path and 90% would be willing to undertake training/further study to help their careers.  Despite my quibbling at the way it’s been reported, this is a valuable study, telling recruiters and employers that a structured, demonstrable career path, ideally with additional, professional training, will help attract the best young talent around.  That makes sense, and it will help firms like ours to sell the vacancies our clients bring us if we know we’re offering candidates a real career with training and the potential for progression rather than ‘just a job’.  

Paul Wilson, Director, Xpress Recruitment