Few topics can whip a group of public relations professionals into a lather faster than news clips .
For the uninitiated, news clips refers to the regular and systematic collection and analysis of news stories. It harks back to the bad old days when entry-level public relations people would spend most of their time scanning newspapers and magazines for mentions of their clients or companies. These stories would be clipped, copied, stapled, and distributed to senior mucky mucks as a testament of how much the public relations department or firm was doing. Never mind that many of those stories were not actually a result of any proactive work, but more reaction to reporters' queries for information or interviews. Clipping went digital a while ago with services such as Bacon's and Luce Press Clippings .