TechCrunch’s policy on embargoes caused a ground swell of PR chatter last year, as it raised a question mark over whether the rest of the media would follow suit.  Michael Arrington’s latest post, The Last Has Fallen, The Embargo is Dead has caused a stir once again. However, the headline isn’t reflective of the policy.

The fact is.. embargoes aren’t dead, TechCrunch just wants an exclusive and won’t honour embargoes offered to the wider masses. This is fair enough. Most PRs will have been told at some point, that their story will only be covered if that journalist can have it as an exclusive. PRs should therefore consider this during planning meetings when deciding on the best method for maximising a story.

Who will win the embargo tug of war has yet to be determined. Will more publications and bloggers follow TechCrunch. Or, can we collectively keep embargoes on the agenda? Robert Scoble’s post PR people: 10 ways to screw up @techcrunch’s embargo policy makes for interesting reading.

I do agree with Arrington’s sentiment that if we want embargoes to count, we need to punish those that break them. The question is, which PRs are brave enough to do this?