Journalists reject news releases for many reasons: They are too long; they are not newsworthy; they are poorly written; they fail to include important information; they have not been localized; they arrive too late; they are mailed to the wrong person; they are written more for clients than for journalists and the public. The following suggestions describe how to write a successful news release for print media but they also apply to writing releases for broadcast news.
List a Contact Person and a Follow-Up: Reporters may want to follow up on a news release to verify information or answer a question. They need to know whom they can call to get more information. Thus, effective news releases list a contact person, someone familiar with the subject of the release who can answer questions. The release also lists a phone number for the contact person.
Reporters often complain that no one is available to answer questions about a release. If contact person is not available, then another person in the organization should be briefed about the release and given authority to respond to questions.
In the case of some news releases, such as those for a new organization or product, the practitioner may include a cover letter to the editor telling more about the sponsoring company. Some practitioners include a cover letter as a way to suggest ideas for using the attached release. Such suggestions may help the editor decide whether to use the release, or may help developing story ideas involving the organization or product.
Send the Release on Time: Public relations consultant Dick Elfenbein found in a national survey of editors that they prefer receive news releases in the morning the day prior to their likely publication. Furthermore, many editors prefer to receive news releases by fax. However, whether releases are sent through conventional mail or faxed, practitioners need to be aware of news organization procedures and deadlines. A news release mailed late or faxed too close to deadline is less likely to be published or broadcast because editors have little or no time to verify information or get answers to questions.
Use Journalism’s Five W’s: The opening paragraph, or lead, of a news release should provide the who, what, when, where and why of the subject of the release. Journalists respect public relations practitioners who understand their definitions of news. Journalists want to be informed about major stories. They do not want to be bothered with stories that are obviously not newsworthy. Unfortunately, the majority of news releases either does not contain any news or are written so poorly that the news is buried near the end of the release.
The best news releases are so good that it is difficult to distinguish them from the stories written by a news organization’s own staff. Here are three examples:
Helping Hands, a support group for physically and mentally challenged young adults, will meet at noon Friday at the Carmichael Rehabilitation Center, 1450 N. Walnut St.
Deborah Eschelmann, assistant professor of history at Clarkson College, will speak about the historical role of women in politics at the Clarkson Public Library at 10:30 a.m. Saturday. St. Joseph Medical Center’s Women’s and Children’s Services will present “Confident Parenting I,” a program about children’s physical and social development, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Monday in the hospital’s Reed Memorial Annex, 805 S. Virginia Ave.
Analyze those leads. Notice that, like good news story leads, all three emphasize the news-and are clear, concise and factual. They also follow Associated Press style in regard to addresses, time elements and sentence structure.
Write Well
Editors complain that many news releases are poorly written or written for the wrong audience. Newspapers have a very diverse audience whose reading abilities range from elementary to college level. For a news release to be used in a newspaper, it must be written so that the average reader can understand. News organizations usually write for an 11th-grade reading level. Journalists will throwaway difficult-to-understand releases. News organizations would reject this news release:
Systems Status, Inc. (SSI), developers of fully integrated, Y2K- compliant PCI/release shipping control applications for the food service industry, announces that the National Food Service Industry Council (NFSIC) has approved Auto Ship Version 7 for SRO (Stock Replacement Optimization) PCIFACS processing and that on-site testing of the shipping processing software for PCIF ACS (Personal Computer Interface for Acquiring Continuous Supplies) will begin in January at 250 fast-food restaurants throughout the United States.
Editors would reject it because it is written more for the client than the public and contains jargon that few people would understand. When writing a news release, practitioners should write as journalists. Words should be simple, and the average sentence length should be about 20 words. Practitioners should write in the active voice, using the passive voice only when absolutely necessary.
Practitioners should keep their copy clear, eliminate unnecessary words, write short paragraphs and get to the point immediately, keeping the news release as short as possible.
Proofreading is essential. Editors will reject a news release with grammar and spelling errors or missing, buried or erroneous information. Practitioners must care about the quality of the work they produce in order to see it used by journalists. This helps to foster a good working relationship between the practitioner and the reporter.
Practitioners should think of their news releases as a community service providing information the public needs. Their writing should be lively and to the point, not boring and literary.
Localize Information: News releases often present generalized information, failing to indicate how that information affects people in a community. Too often practitioners confuse “localization” and “proximity.”
In fact, localizing can mean reflecting a psychological as well as geographical closeness. A university’s health science center submitted the following news releases, which illustrate that principle:
While many Americans may be eating less red meat to lower cholesterol and fat levels, researchers at the University of Florida are investigating the possibility that older Americans should, in fact, be eating more.
Doctors have some unseasonable advice for pregnant women heading outdoors to enjoy this summer’s warm weather: Bundle up.
Although the risk is small, they could get bitten by ticks carrying Lyme disease, a rare but disabling illness that University of Florida physicians say can be transmitted by infected mothers- to-be to the unborn babies.
The first news release discusses a topic that concerns many adults-their cholesterol level-but it also points out an unusual or unexpected twist: that older Americans may need more red meat. The second news release concerns another unusual topic: the fact that pregnant women need to bundle up, even in summer, to protect their unborn babies from Lyme disease (a disease often in the news). Notice that both these news releases mention their source (in this case, the University of Florida), but are not blatant advertisements for the source. The news element in these releases is more important than the source of the news.
Provide Visuals: Visuals, such as photographs, graphs or charts, catch the eye of readers, drawing them into t story. Visual elements also are used to illustrate a story. Many newspapers use visual elements on their pages so their audience can get the information they need easily and quickly.
Public relations practitioners should think about what visuals might be relevant to a release Can a photograph help illustrate the information in the release? Can an infographic, chart other visual help the audience grasp the information? Thinking visually can help practitioners get their releases accepted by editors. But don’t overwhelm editors with visuals. Keep it simple and to the point. Usually, one or two will do.
Format the News Release Properly: When writing a news release, you should prepare it in a standard format so an editor can quickly determine whom it is from and what it is about.
You should write the complete address of the organization sending the release in the Upper left comer of the page. Along with the address, provide the name and telephone number of contact person the editor or reporter can call in case of questions. It is a good idea to include both a day time and a night time telephone number since many reporters and editors work at night.
A release date should appear just below the address block on the right side of the page. The release date tells the editor when the information can be published or released to the public. The release date can say, “For Immediate Release,” “For Release at Will” (whenever the newspaper or the channel has space and air time), or you can indicate a specific day and/or time. When you indicate a specific day or time, the information cannot be published until then. News organizations are under no legal obligation to adhere to release dates, but they usually do so as a matter of professional courtesy. Failing to honor a release date can cost a news organization its credibility with source: and, perhaps, deprive it of information in the future. Another problem with not honoring a release date is that the information could turn out to be inaccurate. The information in a release may change between the time it was written and the release date. The source of the release may have been prepared to update it in light of changing circumstances. If a news organization, however, has already published the release, both the source and the news organization look foolish.
The body of the news release should begin one-third of the way down the page to alloy, space for the editor to make comments to the rewrite person who will prepare the release for publication. A headline or title for the release should be placed above the text of the release. The headline should be placed on the left side of the page and typed in capital letters. It typically should not extend beyond the address block. If the headline requires two lines, it should be single-spaced. The body of the news release should be double-spaced.
If the release runs more than one page, the word “more” should be placed in brackets or within dashes (-more-) at the bottom of the page and centered on the page. The following pages of the release are identified by a slug line (a word or short phrase indicating the theme of the release) followed by several dashes and the page number at the top of the page, either on the left or the right side of the page.
At the end of the release, type the word “end” or the number “30” within quotes or dashes to indicate to the editor that there is no more text. Some editors use three number signs (###) to indicate the end of the text.
