AR 101 series: Analyst vs. press (Analyst Insight)

In the Analyst Relations 101 for newbies and useful reminders for others, by David Rossiter @ Analyst Insight:
Analysts v Press…Understanding the Difference

In a nutshell, reporters are paid to increase the readership/circulation of their paper/newsfeed/ broadcasting service, and thus seek headlines and soundbites which can be newsworthy.

Analysts are paid to help making sense of what vendors try to sell to users and therefore to help the latter ones in their procurement decisions.

The question is "why then so many vendors treat analysts like press?", even we're in 2005 and AR is now mainstream and better understood?

In this previous post (AR 101: Measuring Analyst Relations) we argue that when AR is measured on raw clippings and quotes, it does deliver only a very small part of its potential. As a matter of fact, concentrating on getting analyst for hire to publish on new product announcements does little to help creating a positive external business environment, let alone making sure that key analysts influencing sales are properly looked after.