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Stop the press – why media organisations should be wary of using PSTs

For the Record! Mark Mulcahy – Waterford Technologies For any journalist, and the media organisation they work for, keeping a record of

For the Record!

Mark Mulcahy – Waterford Technologies

For any journalist, and the media organisation they work for, keeping a record of research, including written and electronic correspondence, background notes and other documents, is one of the essentials of the job.

Making sure these records are clear, accurate and safe is paramount and, as has been seen in recent court cases, can save both careers and reputations.

More and more of a journalist’s output  is now recorded, broadcast, tweeted or posted on the internet, meaning that scrutiny on what is being reported and its accuracy can be far more widely checked.

Dont Trust PST’s

Journalism is all about building up trust with your audience and you need to be sure that what you’re saying is accurate and not misleading. As a journalist the news and information you gather and share must be accurate.

For most reporters their first tool is the notebook, handed to you by an editor who will tell you to guard it with you life, date it and never throw it away. Notes must be accurate, reliable and contemporaneous if they are to stand up in a court of law.

These days, while a notepad is still a vital aid for any journalist, much of their research and enquiries will be carried out online, via email and saved in folders and files.

In an industry where it is vital that this kind of information is kept, the thorny subject of PSTs will undoubtedly come up. And this is where any media organisation needs to be wary.

Searching for that all important email could be a matter of huge importance for both a journalist or media organisation facing a damaging court case. Even when indexing is available through Outlook mailbox it can sometimes take ages to find the mail you are looking for. Now compound that type of issue with half a dozen, or more, PST files and searching for a particular mail is going to take a very long time.

PSTs are easy to be corrupted and can often become unusable. Add to this the fact that users could easily delete them by accident, or even take them when they leave the company and it’s easy to see the dangers.

Put simply, no one working in a media or publishing organisation should be using PSTs and, if you are, you need to get them under control to save potentially serious legal problems further down the line.

We Have The Solution

Our MailMeter product eliminates mailbox quotas since it captures every email and stubs attachments. As such, it also eliminates the need for PST or NSF files. Emails and their attachments are archived and easily searched through a browser or Outlook Add-In. The software gives users an almost unlimited space in which to store emails and attachments while remaining in-line with compliance rules, thereby negating any need for PSTs.

What’s more, when you install MailMeter, it imports emails from all existing mail servers as well PST and NSF files – so it really helps you to get your email and PSTs under control.

We’ve helped a variety of organisations including Donegal County Council massively reduce their email footprint and stop using PST files, so if you would like us to help your organisation as well, contact us today.