Broadcasting and Cable’s blog BC Beat pointed out how PR contacts at YouTube were recycling generic quotes from executives to drive their positioning message home in a variety of otherwise unrelated stories.

One would think the hot new kid on the block would be more familiar with the new media behemoth Google. It might once have been possible to get away with parroting sound bites for every situation and not get caught, but today there are web surfing specialists who live to catch this sort of thing…and it’s not hard for them to do so.

The temptation for companies to repeat themselves until their remarks become a mantra is hard to resist. But offering comments like an actor reciting the same lines will lose credibility with reporters quickly when they realize what they’re hearing is exactly what you told their competition last month.

A big part of the problem is that these quotes aren’t really coming from the mouths of the people that allegedly say them, of course. They’re manufactured by certain types of PR ventriloquists who spout “on message” comments when reporters call looking for a quick quote.

Though it may first seem safe to serve up a platitude on a platter, it’s always better to get a human being on the phone to talk to a reporter and bring some personality to the proceedings.

At the very least, when doing interviews with multiple publications in the same editorial space, it’s a good idea to develop some variations on the same theme. Reporters are more apt to respond positively to an interview subject who appears spontaneous and genuine as opposed to a glorified telemarketer.

The key is to keep the message congruent, yet flexible. Maybe the person who’s available isn’t the highest profile executive, but that could be the tradeoff that a responsible reporter will have to settle for in order to get something real and not canned.