Sys-Con redefines news into promoting PR professionals

I was astonished today to find this story on SOA World Magazine, an online publication from SYS-CON Media written for IT professionals working with service oriented architectures. Under a “news” banner, the story’s headline is, “Mariana Kosturos of Citigate Cunningham: An Up and Coming High-Tech PR Diva.”

The 425-word story heaps praise upon Citigate Cunningham, one of the many public relations companies that represents companies in the software development market.

The first two paragraphs of the story talks about Mariana, who is described as “one of the most notable new technology communicators in high-tech public relations.”

The third paragraph talks about the PR agency, telling us that, “Citigate Cunningham became a pioneer in high-tech public relations, steeped in the innovative, fast-paced, competitive Silicon Valley tradition and have translated this tradition into a media results-driven culture that combines the depth of a specialty firm with the reach of a global firm.”

The concluding paragraph tells us that, “Mariana is the youngest member of a power house firm in today’s high-tech communications, whose name is mentioned together with other notable technology communicators of the year.”

Finally, there’s helpful information in case SYS-CON’s readers need more information: “To have your company represented by one of the best high-tech public relations firms, you should contact Mariana Kosturos, Citigate Cunningham, (415) 618-8786, email hidden; JavaScript is required”

Who wrote this news story? Here is the author bio published with this story: “Engin Sezici is blogger-at-large at SYS-CON Media where he held corporate positions earlier in his career. Engin likes to travel through Europe and Greek Islands, reports on technology subjects from around the world and lives on a private island in the Bahamas when he is not on the road. You can reach him at engin(at)sys-con.com.”

Thanks, Engin, for sharing this news with us! And congratulations, Mariana, for convincing the editors at SYS-CON Media that you, yourself, are worthy of such a high-profile story written for their audience of software developers. That’s quite a coup for the up-and-coming high-tech PR diva!

>> Update 10/26: You can read Engin’s response to my post here. My only comment is that I copied the author bio verbatim from the story.