News release
Encyclopedia
A press release, news release, media release, press statement or video release is a written or recorded communication
directed at members of the news media
for the purpose of announcing something ostensibly news
worthy. Typically, they are mail
ed, fax
ed, or e-mail
ed to assignment editor
s at newspaper
s, magazine
s, radio station
s, television station
s, and/or television network
s.
Websites have changed the way press releases are submitted. Commercial, fee-based press release distribution services, such as news wire services, or free website services co-exist, making news distribution more affordable and a level playing field for smaller businesses. Such websites hold a repository of press releases and claim to make a company's news more prominent on the web and searchable via major search engines.
The use of press releases is common in the field of public relations
(PR). Typically, the aim is to attract favorable media attention to the PR professional's client and/or provide publicity
for product
s or events
marketed by those clients. A press release provides reporters with an information subsidy
containing the basics needed to develop a news story. Press releases can announce a range of news items, such as scheduled events, personal promotions, awards, new products and services, sales and other financial data, accomplishments, etc. They are often used in generating a feature story
or are sent for the purpose of announcing news conference
s, upcoming events or a change in corporation.
A press statement is information supplied to reporters. This is an official announcement or account of a news story that is specially prepared and issued to newspapers and other news media for them to make known to the public.
. Lee's agency was working with the Pennsylvania Railroad at the time of the 1906 Atlantic City train wreck
. Ivy Lee and the company collaborated to issue the first press release directly to journalists, before other versions of the story, or suppositions, could be spread among them and reported. He used a press release, in addition to inviting journalists and photographers to the scene and providing them with free samples of valine, as a means of fostering open communication with the media.
Public relations
pioneer Edward Bernays
later refined the creation and use of press releases.
Some of these common structural elements include:
As the Internet has assumed growing prominence in the news cycle, press release writing styles have necessarily evolved. Editors of online newsletters, for instance, often lack the staff to convert traditional press release prose into more readable, print-ready copy. Today's press releases are therefore often written as finished articles which deliver more than just bare facts. A stylish, journalistic format along with perhaps a provocative story line and quotes from principals can help ensure wider distribution among Internet-only publications looking for suitable material.
ing announcements to a small number of local media, this approach now tends to rely on e-mail and web distribution. Some hybrid models also exist, which pay for distribution through established networks, but otherwise follow the do-it-yourself model.
TV news viewers can often detect the use of VNRs within television newscasts; for example, many movie-star "interviews" are actually VNRs, taped on a set which is located at the movie studio and decorated with the movie's logo
. Another frequent example of VNRs masquerading as news footage is videotapes of particular medical "breakthroughs," that are really produced and distributed by pharmaceutical companies for the purpose of selling new medicines.
Video news releases can be in the form of full blown productions costing tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands. They can also be in the TV news format, or even produced for the web.
Recently, many broadcast news outlets have discouraged the use of VNRs. Many stations, citing an already poor public perception, want to increase their credibility. Public relations companies are having a tougher time getting their pre-edited video aired.
VNRs can be turned into podcasts then posted onto newswires. Further to this, a story can be kept running longer by engaging "community websites", which are monitored and commented on by many journalists and features writers.
Unless the journalist has voluntarily agreed to honor the embargo in advance, usually via a legally binding non-disclosure agreement
, the journalist is under no obligation to honor it. However, even in the absence of any obligation, news organizations generally do not break the embargo for sources that they wish to cultivate. If they do, then the agency or client that sent the release may blacklist
them. A blacklisted news organization will not receive any more embargoed releases, or possibly any releases at all.
However, it is very hard to enforce embargoes on journalists, as there is constant pressure by editors to scoop
other news outlets. It is unlikely that a PR agency will blacklist a form of media, as other clients may want to be featured in this publication. This problem is sometimes overcome by controlling the timing of a release via email rather than relying on the journalist to do so.
Communication
Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...
directed at members of the news media
News media
The news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public.These include print media , broadcast news , and more recently the Internet .-Etymology:A medium is a carrier of something...
for the purpose of announcing something ostensibly news
News
News is the communication of selected information on current events which is presented by print, broadcast, Internet, or word of mouth to a third party or mass audience.- Etymology :...
worthy. Typically, they are mail
Mail
Mail, or post, is a system for transporting letters and other tangible objects: written documents, typically enclosed in envelopes, and also small packages are delivered to destinations around the world. Anything sent through the postal system is called mail or post.In principle, a postal service...
ed, fax
Fax
Fax , sometimes called telecopying, is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed material , normally to a telephone number connected to a printer or other output device...
ed, or e-mail
E-mail
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
ed to assignment editor
Copy editing
Copy editing is the work that an editor does to improve the formatting, style, and accuracy of text. Unlike general editing, copy editing might not involve changing the substance of the text. Copy refers to written or typewritten text for typesetting, printing, or publication...
s at newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
s, magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
s, radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
s, television station
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...
s, and/or television network
Television network
A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...
s.
Websites have changed the way press releases are submitted. Commercial, fee-based press release distribution services, such as news wire services, or free website services co-exist, making news distribution more affordable and a level playing field for smaller businesses. Such websites hold a repository of press releases and claim to make a company's news more prominent on the web and searchable via major search engines.
The use of press releases is common in the field of public relations
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
(PR). Typically, the aim is to attract favorable media attention to the PR professional's client and/or provide publicity
Publicity
Publicity is the deliberate attempt to manage the public's perception of a subject. The subjects of publicity include people , goods and services, organizations of all kinds, and works of art or entertainment.From a marketing perspective, publicity is one component of promotion which is one...
for product
Product (business)
In general, the product is defined as a "thing produced by labor or effort" or the "result of an act or a process", and stems from the verb produce, from the Latin prōdūce ' lead or bring forth'. Since 1575, the word "product" has referred to anything produced...
s or events
Media Event
A media event, as loosely defined by evolving modern usage, is an occasion or happening, spontaneous or planned, that attracts prominent coverage by mass media organizations, particularly television news and newspapers in both print and Internet editions....
marketed by those clients. A press release provides reporters with an information subsidy
Information subsidy
In public relations and journalism, information subsidy is what information sources provide the news media by issuing press releases, purchasing advertising, or sending letters to the editor; this relieves the journalists from some burden of collecting information, and shortens the time to...
containing the basics needed to develop a news story. Press releases can announce a range of news items, such as scheduled events, personal promotions, awards, new products and services, sales and other financial data, accomplishments, etc. They are often used in generating a feature story
Feature story
- Published Features & news :While the distinction between published features and news is often clear, when approached conceptually there are few hard boundaries between the two. It is quite possible to write a feature in the style of a news story, for instance...
or are sent for the purpose of announcing news conference
News conference
A news conference or press conference is a media event in which newsmakers invite journalists to hear them speak and, most often, ask questions. A joint press conference instead is held between two or more talking sides.-Practice:...
s, upcoming events or a change in corporation.
A press statement is information supplied to reporters. This is an official announcement or account of a news story that is specially prepared and issued to newspapers and other news media for them to make known to the public.
Origins
The first modern press releases were created by Ivy LeeIvy Lee
Ivy Ledbetter Lee is considered by some to be the founder of modern public relations. The term Public Relations is to be found for the first time in the preface of the 1897 Yearbook of Railway Literature....
. Lee's agency was working with the Pennsylvania Railroad at the time of the 1906 Atlantic City train wreck
1906 Atlantic City train wreck
The 1906 Atlantic City train wreck happened in Atlantic City, New Jersey on Sunday October 28, 1906 when a West Jersey and Seashore Railroad electric train fell off a draw bridge, drowning 53 people.-Accident:...
. Ivy Lee and the company collaborated to issue the first press release directly to journalists, before other versions of the story, or suppositions, could be spread among them and reported. He used a press release, in addition to inviting journalists and photographers to the scene and providing them with free samples of valine, as a means of fostering open communication with the media.
Public relations
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
pioneer Edward Bernays
Edward Bernays
Edward Louis Bernays , was an Austrian-American pioneer in the field of public relations and propaganda along with Ivy Lee, referred to in his obituary as "the father of public relations"...
later refined the creation and use of press releases.
Elements
Technically, anything deliberately sent to a reporter or media source is considered a press release: it is information released by the act of being sent to the media. However, public relations professionals often follow a standard format that they believe is efficient and increases their odds of getting the publicity they desire. The format is supposed to help journalists separate press releases from other PR communication methods, such as pitch letters or media advisories.Some of these common structural elements include:
- HeadlineHeadlineThe headline is the text at the top of a newspaper article, indicating the nature of the article below it.It is sometimes termed a news hed, a deliberate misspelling that dates from production flow during hot type days, to notify the composing room that a written note from an editor concerned a...
— used to grab the attention of journalists and briefly summarize the news. - DatelineDatelineA dateline is a brief piece of text included in news articles that describes where and when the story occurred, or was written or filed, though the date is often omitted. In the case of articles reprinted from wire services, the distributing organization is also included...
— contains the release date and usually the originating city of the press release. If the date listed is after the date that the information was actually sent to the media, then the sender is requesting a news embargoNews EmbargoIn journalism and public relations, a news embargo or press embargo is a request by a source that the information or news provided by that source not be published until a certain date or certain conditions have been met...
, which journalists are under no obligation to honor. - Introduction — first paragraph in a press release, that generally gives basic answers to the questions of who, what, when, where and why.
- Body — further explanation, statistics, background, or other details relevant to the news.
- Boilerplate — generally a short "about" section, providing independent background on the issuing company, organization, or individual.
- Close — in North America, traditionally the symbol "-30-" appears after the boilerplate or body and before the media contact information, indicating to media that the release has ended. A more modern equivalent has been the "###" symbol. In other countries, other means of indicating the end of the release may be used, such as the text "ends".
- Media contact information — name, phone number, email address, mailing address, or other contact information for the PR or other media relations contact person.
As the Internet has assumed growing prominence in the news cycle, press release writing styles have necessarily evolved. Editors of online newsletters, for instance, often lack the staff to convert traditional press release prose into more readable, print-ready copy. Today's press releases are therefore often written as finished articles which deliver more than just bare facts. A stylish, journalistic format along with perhaps a provocative story line and quotes from principals can help ensure wider distribution among Internet-only publications looking for suitable material.
Distribution models
In the traditional distribution model, the business, political campaign, or other entity releasing information to the media hires a publicity agency to write and distribute written information to the newswires and other networks of journalists. In this model, the business is ultimately responsible for both the creation of the content and the decision to distribute it, which makes press releases self-published. However, within the industry, a self-published press release is a do-it-yourself release that bypasses the pricey newswire distribution networks. In this approach, which is popular with many very large businesses and is nearly universal among small organizations seeking only local media attention, the business' own marketing personnel write the press release and send it directly to their choice of newspapers or other media outfits. Although previously done on a small scale by individually mailing or faxFax
Fax , sometimes called telecopying, is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed material , normally to a telephone number connected to a printer or other output device...
ing announcements to a small number of local media, this approach now tends to rely on e-mail and web distribution. Some hybrid models also exist, which pay for distribution through established networks, but otherwise follow the do-it-yourself model.
Video news releases
Some public relations firms send out video news releases (VNRs) which are pre-taped video programs that can be aired intact by TV stations. Often, the VNRs are aired without the stations' identifying or attributing them as such.TV news viewers can often detect the use of VNRs within television newscasts; for example, many movie-star "interviews" are actually VNRs, taped on a set which is located at the movie studio and decorated with the movie's logo
Logo
A logo is a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition...
. Another frequent example of VNRs masquerading as news footage is videotapes of particular medical "breakthroughs," that are really produced and distributed by pharmaceutical companies for the purpose of selling new medicines.
Video news releases can be in the form of full blown productions costing tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands. They can also be in the TV news format, or even produced for the web.
Recently, many broadcast news outlets have discouraged the use of VNRs. Many stations, citing an already poor public perception, want to increase their credibility. Public relations companies are having a tougher time getting their pre-edited video aired.
VNRs can be turned into podcasts then posted onto newswires. Further to this, a story can be kept running longer by engaging "community websites", which are monitored and commented on by many journalists and features writers.
Embargoed press release
Sometimes a press release is distributed early and embargoed — that is, news organizations are requested not to report the story until a specified time. For instance, news organizations usually receive a copy of presidential speeches several hours in advance. Product or media reviewers are commonly given a sample or preview of a product ahead of its release date.Unless the journalist has voluntarily agreed to honor the embargo in advance, usually via a legally binding non-disclosure agreement
Non-disclosure agreement
A non-disclosure agreement , also known as a confidentiality agreement , confidential disclosure agreement , proprietary information agreement , or secrecy agreement, is a legal contract between at least two parties that outlines confidential material, knowledge, or information that the parties...
, the journalist is under no obligation to honor it. However, even in the absence of any obligation, news organizations generally do not break the embargo for sources that they wish to cultivate. If they do, then the agency or client that sent the release may blacklist
Blacklist
A blacklist is a list or register of entities who, for one reason or another, are being denied a particular privilege, service, mobility, access or recognition. As a verb, to blacklist can mean to deny someone work in a particular field, or to ostracize a person from a certain social circle...
them. A blacklisted news organization will not receive any more embargoed releases, or possibly any releases at all.
However, it is very hard to enforce embargoes on journalists, as there is constant pressure by editors to scoop
Scoop (term)
Scoop is an informal term used in journalism. The word connotes originality, importance, surprise or excitement, secrecy and exclusivity.Stories likely considered to be scoops are important news, likely to interest or concern many people. A scoop is typically a new story, or a new aspect to an...
other news outlets. It is unlikely that a PR agency will blacklist a form of media, as other clients may want to be featured in this publication. This problem is sometimes overcome by controlling the timing of a release via email rather than relying on the journalist to do so.
See also
- Electronic press kitElectronic Press KitAn electronic press kit is a press kit equivalent in electronic form. An EPK usually takes the form of a website or e-mail, though they are also known to exist in CD and DVD form....
(EPK) - News conferenceNews conferenceA news conference or press conference is a media event in which newsmakers invite journalists to hear them speak and, most often, ask questions. A joint press conference instead is held between two or more talking sides.-Practice:...
- Public relationsPublic relationsPublic relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
(PR) - SpokesmanSpokesmanA spokesperson or spokesman or spokeswoman is someone engaged or elected to speak on behalf of others.In the present media-sensitive world, many organizations are increasingly likely to employ professionals who have received formal training in journalism, communications, public relations and...
- Press servicePress servicePress service is typically a department within an organizaton of some kind whose function is to communicate with mass media on topics related to that organization by issuing press releases and using other various means such as public speeches at news conferences, answering questions by telephone or...