If you want to manipulate a journalist in the UK, you'll find it easier than anywhere else in the world - especially if you are prepared to lay on a free lunch.

A new study has found that when it comes to influencing journalists, none are more corruptible than those in Britain.

More than half of those surveyed by Rainier PR admitted to being swayed by exotic press trips, fancy lunches and pitches from the opposite sex.

Press trips proved to be the most popular form of persuasion, influencing 87 per cent of respondents, while fancy lunches and pitches from the opposite sex had swayed 60 and 40 per cent respectively.

In contrast, 67 per cent of all other journalists said they would never be influenced by anything other than the story.

Paul Allen, director of RainierNet, which conducted the Global Press/PR Relationship study said: "The UK journalists' responses were mostly tongue-in-cheek, but it does illustrate how different approaches can be from one country to another.

"Local knowledge is the key, and a one-size-fits-all approach is unnaceptable for anyone serious about international PR."

The study also found that the average UK PR ranks as the worst in the world.

It said that 36 per cent of UK journalists - the greatest number of all countries studied - felt that on average UK PRs had little knowledge of either client or journalist needs.

But on a positive note, it seems British PRs write the best press releases, with 52 per cent of journalists surveyed rating the majority of releases received as 'okay', with the news angle fairly high up on the release.

The study was completed using the RainierNet international network of PR agencies and quizzed more than 200 technology and business journalists in the UK, France, America, New Zealand, Italy, Spain, Holland and Australia during summer 2004.

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