Got Leads? PR Vet Puts Reporters in Touch with Sources

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Less than a year ago, public relations veteran and Web junkie Peter Shankman used his Facebook page to give reporter friends a place to find sources. Since then, www.helpareporter. com has become a daily necessity for hundreds of journalists -- as well as many publicists seeking to get their clients some press, all through a simple Web-based newsletter.

"Reporters who are friends of mine would call me looking for sources," says Shankman, 36. A founding editor of AOL News in 1995, he has since done PR and Web consulting and created the successful Geek Factory public relations outlet. He initially used his Facebook page to match up scribes and sources in November 2007, then …