Probably all PR pros have received random interview requests from reporters. Such incidental interviews are tangential in nature and not really germane to a PR pro's overall goals, asking about everything from the local economy to whether your company uses recycle bins.

January's QuickPoll asked PR pros whom they use to speak on their company's behalf during such interviews: an executive, who carries much weight but is arguably wasting his/her time; a PR pro, who can easily handle the inquiry but doesn't necessarily advance the relationship with the reporter; or nobody, the interview request is declined.

The results from the QuickPoll were nearly evenly split between using an executive or PR pro as the spokesperson. 48.9% of respondents would elect to have a PR person interview with the reporter while 46.8% of voters choose to elevate the inquiry to an executive for response.

Surprisingly, only 4.3% of voters chose to decline the interview request, perhaps signaling a pretty strong hunger for communications teams to get coverage--any coverage--nowadays.