A organization can shape and control the news releases it delivers to the media.
Regardless what the organization might want, however, the media shapes and controls the
message it passes on to its consumers. You can prepare releases that increase the chances
of getting your message out to the public in the way you want it presented. At times it is
even possible to circumvent the media entirely and take your message directly to the
public.
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1.
News Releases (Print, Electronic, and Video)
organizations use news releases to get their messages—or their side of a story—to
the public. Whether it’s print, electronic, or video, a news release is a story
that a organization wants to tell; an attempt by the organization to explain itself to the
outside media and, it is hoped, the world at large.
A organization can shape and control the news release it delivers to the media.
Regardless of what the organization might want, however, the media shapes and controls the
message it passes on to its consumers. As a rule, the media uses those releases as only a
part of the final story that the public sees. You can prepare releases that increase the
chances of getting your message out to the public in the way you want it presented. At
times it is even possible to circumvent the media entirely and take your message directly
to the public.
A news release is best looked at as a form of organizational journalism. Like a news
story, it must answer the basic questions of journalism: Who, What, When, Where, Why, and,
if known, How.
A journalist will usually use the news release as a starting point for a story.
Sometimes the reporter will just rewrite it, using some or all of the information the
release provides. More often, however, the reporter will have more questions—sometimes
for the organization and sometimes for others outside of the organization who could be expected to
comment on it. These questions might take the reporter and the story anywhere, and lead to
questions the organization might want to ignore or downplay.
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2. You Want Publicity. The Media Wants…
organizations send out news releases in order to get their stories told. They want publicity. To get publicity, your story must be newsworthy. It must meet one of the media’s three goals: to inform, educate, or entertain—and do so in a timely fashion. It must be something that their readers, listeners, or viewers will be interested in. Just because you think a story is important and newsworthy does not mean it will be used.
Before sending out a news release—by mail or electronically—ask yourself the same questions reporters ask. You have to answer “yes” to the first question, and at least one other, for it even to be considered. Even if you get a number of “yes” answers there is no guarantee that the story will be used. It might be similar to something they recently did, the editor just might not like it, or there might not be time or room for it.
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3. How NOT To Write a News Release
If you can’t get an editor interested in your news release in the first paragraph, it will not be run. Editors look at hundreds of news releases, and they don’t waste time on the ones that don’t grab their attention immediately. Here are some other common mistakes:
The release lacks a local angle. Editors look for stories that will interest their audiences. If it is not about someone local, or a local organization, there better be something really interesting. If there isn’t, they won’t bother with it.
The release is confusing, poorly written, or hard to read. If it doesn’t make sense at the beginning the editor won’t even read through to see if it does at the end.
The editor has to know who it is from, what organization or organization they represent, and how to contact them. If there is no contact information, the editor will throw it away. If you are sending something to an editor on the other side of the country, it helps to have a toll-free number. After all, you’re the one who wants the editor to call.
The best news releases are one-page long. They can even go to two pages. Anything longer will tempt a busy editor to just ignore it and go to the next one.
It’s late. Had you gotten it there earlier, they might have used it. ~ ~ ~ ~
4. The Tool Box
Before we look at how to write a news release, let’s look at what you’ll need first. All of these should be in your office. If they are not, get them.
· Computer: You need a word processing program and a good printer. Use 12-point type in a standard typeface, such as (SET UNDERLINED WORDS IN SPECIFIED TYPE FACE) Times New Roman, or Courier. Do not use fonts like Old English or Stencil. They make you look like an amateur.
· Stationary: It should have your organization name and the PR department phone number on it, plus the name, number and e-mail addresses of the person or persons to get in touch with for more information.
· Dictionary: Reporters and editors know and respect words the way a master cabinetmaker does tools. If your release has spelling mistakes, or uses words improperly, the editor will think you are an amateur and probably ignore it. Grammatical errors can also kill your chances of getting your release used.
· Stylebook: Is it 10 or ten? What about 9 or nine? 47 or forty seven? Is it 6 p.m., 6 pm, 6 PM, or 6 o’clock this evening? Every publication has a consistent style, a way of spelling certain words, using abbreviations and titles, and so on. Lack of consistency can be jarring for the readers. Having one, 2, or III different ways of using numbers can confuse people. So can saying Mr. Smith here and Mister Jones there. Most professional writers use the Associated Press Stylebook. The Associated Press (AP) is the largest news gathering organization in the world, with bureaus in almost every country in the world. The AP has developed its own stylebook. Professionals in journalism and public relations use it. So should you.
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5. Writing a News Release
The most important sentence you write in a news release is the first one. If you don’t get an editor’s interest, the editor will very likely throw your news release away for two simple reasons:
1) Editors are not required to read what you write.
2) Editors have hundreds of other news releases to go through.
The way to write a news release is the same way a reporter writes a story. The process is the same. The basic formula of news reporting is the inverted pyramid. It calls for putting the most important information at the top of the story. This way people who have time to only “scan” the news can find out what they need to know in the first sentence and then decide if they want, need, or have the time to read the rest of the story.
That is why the first sentence, known, as the “lead” is so important. A lead should deal with the Who, What, When, Where, Why and (if possible) How of the story. It should answer the following questions:
1) Who is the main person or people involved in the story? (“Who” can mean a organization, government, team, organization, hurricane, etc.)
2) What happened to Who, or what did Who do?
3) When did it happen?
4) Where did it happen?
5) Why did it happen?
6) How did it happen?
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6. Journalistic vs. organizational Style
Here is an example of poorly written organizational news release:
ROME—Consolidated
Widgets’ Chairman of the Board Robert J. L. Sandiego, Jr., and Chief Executive
Officer Daniel Alorton, along with Board Members Russell Gregory, Anita Copeland, Mario
Marino, and Darryl Norton, have announced an innovative and profit-centered new approach
to widget management that will keep Consolidated Widgets an sector of activity leader and a Fortune 500
organization.
Consolidated
Widgets is the world’s leading widget manufacturer and the developer of widget
management and networking software systems used throughout Europe and North Africa and is
committed to widget excellence (with more than 500,000 widget-controlled communication
networks currently in use and more under development and construction with a total
combined value of € 546.5 million).
Consolidated
Widgets is committed to environmentally responsible management, with the highest
minorities-and-women-in-middle-and-upper-management-positions ratios in the sector of activity.
Ludwig Kleinham, president of
German subsidiary, Widget Meister, of
It is highly doubtful that an editor would even read far enough to find out just
what it was they developed. Here’s why.
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7. Journalistic vs. organizational Style (Continued)
organizational style often calls for making sure that whenever there is good news, all
of the important people get their names mentioned, in order of importance, so they can all
“claim,” or at least “share,” some of the credit and glory for the
good news. It’s one of the privileges that is part of the title. organizational style
also often insists that the organization’s importance and mission statement have to be
mentioned, or at least referred to, in everything said about it, along with its volume and
value.
So then, once all the egos have been stroked and the mandatory laudatory organization statements made, then they can finally get to the reason for the release.
Their assumption is that of course everyone will read—and believe—all of the words between the opening and the actual reason for the news release.
That is not going to happen.
Since there is nothing newsworthy in the first paragraph—the vague promise
of an “innovative and profit-centered new approach to widget management” is not
newsworthy—the editor will have tossed it into the extra-large wastebasket that
editors keep just for news releases, or, if it arrived by e-mail, hit the delete key.
A organization’s public relations (PR) department has to be able to ignore those aspects of “organizational style” that interfere with its ability to function. Those people outside of public relations who approve news releases—and get to say that changes must be made before they will approve them—have to trust that the people in PR know what they are doing, even though it could mean that they won’t see their names in print.
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8. Journalistic vs. organizational Style (Continued)
Let’s take a look at how that news release could have been written to get an editor’s interest:
Dr. Helmut Craig, the organization’s
chief scientist, said the new widgets would… (Information about the new widgets;
their use and technical potential. This could run for two or three paragraphs.)
organization president Ludwig Kleinham
said… (Talks about profit potential.)
Widget
Meister, a subsidiary of Consolidated Widgets, is one of
This does not mention the chairperson, CEO, or board members. Nor does it talk
about the organization’s earnings, worldwide reputation, mission statement or commitment
to fair hiring and promotion practices. It doesn’t even mention
The question every organization has to answer is: What is more important, seeing
executives’ names on news releases or seeing the organization’s developments in the
media?
You might want both, but the odds are definitely against your getting it.~ ~ ~ ~ ~
9. Video Releases
More and more organizations are sending out video news releases; video footage in the form of a TV news story demonstrating new models, technology, and operations, including videotaped interviews of organizational executives, scientists, and such.
When you send out a videotaped news release, include a great deal of footage. This will give the TV station plenty to choose from so its story does not look exactly like another TV station’s story, even though they all came from the same release.
Your tape will be edited. Make sure you include a written transcription of everything said on the tape. TV reporters will usually record their own commentary, and will often make it look as if they are actually interviewing the executive themselves.
Make sure a standard news release acorganizations the videotape. If the editors are
not intrigued by the written news release they will not even look at your videotape. Also,
make sure the videotape is professionally shot and edited; otherwise it will be
ignored.
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Bypassing
the Media
One way to bypass the media is to post your news releases, including video news
releases, on your web page on the Internet.
When you do so, make them interesting!
The public is more interested in news than it is your mission statement. The reason editors set the standards they do is because that is the only way their stories will be read or viewed. The public will switch to another screen as quickly as an editor will stop looking at a press release—sometimes even faster.
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10. Effective Writing
All of us
learned how to write in grade school, but some of us have never learned how to do so
effectively. Writing, like carpentry, is a learnable skill that requires a few basic tools
and the ability to figure out in advance exactly what you want to say.
You cannot write
something and make it clear and easy to for your readers, or listeners, to follow until
you understand it yourself and have worked out what you want to say—and how you want
to say it. As Albert Einstein put it: “You do not really understand
something unless you can explain it to your grandmother.”
Here are 10
steps to help you improve your writing: (Include
all 10, if space permits)
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1. News
releases
A. The lead
2. Media criteria B. The story the organization wants to tell.
3. The first sentence C. Newsworthy, interesting, timely
4. The first paragraph D. Detailed organization information.
5. Journalistic style E. Includes most important information
6. organizational style F. Brief and to the point
Multiple-Choice
1. News releases are usually presented
a. In print
b. Electronically
c. By video
d. All of the above
2. Consumers see messages shaped by
a. The organization
b. The
media
c. The public relations department
d. All of the above
3. The media’s goals when printing press releases are to:
a. Inform
b. Educate
c. Entertain
d. All of the above
4. The best news releases are
a. Timely
b. One
page long
c. Of local interest
d. All of the above
5. Video news releases when received by the media will usually be
a. Presented in full
b. Edited
c. Re-enacted by professional actors
d. Shown on all news programs
6. All press releases should include
a. organization name
b. Name of Writer
c. Phone
and email
d. All of the above
7. The preferred stylebook for journalists is
a. Webster’s Dictionary
b. Associated
Press
c. International Press Association
d. Strunk and White
8. A good press release should answer
a. Who and what
b. When and where
c. Why and how
d. All
of the above
Summary
Aside from
advertising, the news release is a organization’s primary tool for reaching the media and,
through them, the public. While a organization can shape and control the news release that it
sends to the media, it has no control over what the media does with or to it—or even
if the media will do anything with it.
Most news releases are ignored. In order to get and keep an editor’s attention, a news release must read like a news story, and start off with something newsworthy; something that is timely that will also inform, educate, or entertain.
The best way to learn how to write a news release is to learn how to write a news story. This is why so many public relations people are former reporters and editors. They know what the media want and how to give it to them.
A major problem that many PR people face is getting “permission” to write news releases in a journalistic instead of a organizational style. Executives and managers who order a news release rewritten to make sure that they—or their bosses—are mentioned, or that the organization is presented “properly” at the very beginning of the story, are often making sure that the editor will never read all the way through to the “news” it contains.
One way to circumvent the media is to post news releases, including videotaped news releases, on the organization’s Internet site. Just because it is posted, however, does not mean anyone will read it. The public will switch to another screen as quickly as an editor will—sometimes even faster.
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Module
Test
1.) A organization can shape and control the news release it delivers to the consumer
True
False
2.) It is possible to circumvent the media and go direct to the public
True
False
3.) Many public relations people are former reporters and editors
True False
4.) organizational style is best when writing news releases.
True
False
5.) Editors will read whole releases before deciding to print
True False
6.) Spelling and style are very important when writing press releases
True False
Bibliography
McIntyre, Catherine V. (1992). Writing Effective News Releases Picadilly Books:
Aronson, M and Spetner D
(1998). The Public Relations Writers Handbook
Loeffler, Robert H (1993). A Guide to Preparing Cost-Effective Press Releases
Glossary
News Release: A story that a organization wants to tell to the public via outside media.
“Lead”: The first sentence in a press release
Stylebook: Used by professional journalists for consistent writing style.
Learning Objectives
Q&A
1.
Why do organizations send out news releases?
organizations use news releases to get their messages to the public. A news release is a story the organization wants to tell to world at large via the media.
2. How
do we ensure that news releases are accepted by the media?
A news release must read like a news story and be newsworthy. It must be brief, succinct, timely, and also inform, educate and entertain.
3. How
can we circumvent the media and go direct to the public with our messages?
News releases, including videotaped news releases can be posted on the organization’s Internet site.