there is a story/ article that i want people to read, i wrote it. i want newspapers , radios, and tv to report on it too. is this where a press release comes into play?what exactly is a press release. ? is it when the press releases stories and information?
2006-06-28 16:00:08 · 7 answers · asked by Pussycat 4 in News & Events ➔ Media & Journalism
A press release, or a news release, is information that is given to the press, or to the news media. Most often they come from corporations, charities etc. who want to get their message out. But there is no reason why a private citizen can not also send out a press release.
Write it, with the most important information in the lead paragraph. It should tell who, what, where, why, when and how the event happened (or will happen). Then you amplify on the bare bones, and add a few interesting details.
Keep it brief, it should be no longer than half a page.
Place your name, your e-mail address and a phone number where you can be reached, at the bottom of the page.
Then send it to the your local newspapers, radio and TV stations and make sure you address it to the person who will be most interested. That is, if it's a story about sports, send it to the sports department. Finance and business goes to the financial pages or business editor. Editorial matter goes to the editorial page, and news goes to the news editor.
Good luck!
2006-06-30 10:10:43 · answer #1 · answered by old lady 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No, a press release is where an individual or organization releases information to reporters. You can certainly announce your own press release. You just call all of your local media offices and tell them that you will be announcing an important story about [fill in the gap], at a particular time and place. If any of them think it is interesting, they will send a reporter and maybe a cameraman.
Most likely, they will not send anybody (unless you are a credible source). Even if they do, they will not just take your story and print it in the paper! Instead, they may do their own story about your story. If that is not what you want, then you should try taking it directly to the local newspaper. Most will print reasonably short opinion pieces from people in the community. If it is not an opinion piece, then they may also run it as a straight news story or a general interest article in a non-news section of the paper. (Especially if they don't have to pay anything for it!)
If they do run it, and it is really well written and interesting to a lot of people, then they may also put it on one of the national press wires. (Originally sent by telegraph, hence "wire".) Then that agency will offer it to papers, radio, and TV news organizations all over the world.
2006-06-28 23:17:50 · answer #2 · answered by pondering_it_all 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The shorter and more succinct the better. Hit your main topic in the first sentence... you only have 10 words to get their attention. Stress the positive news and spin the negative news (the Bush Whitehouse would say the President's approval rating is 30 percent, they would NEVER say the President's DIS-APPROVAL rating is 70 percent.
Once you're written your piece, go over it and remove every "THAT" in it... Americans overuse pronouns and "THAT" is their favorite.
Obviously, make certain your spelling and punctuation is correct and DON'T USE LOWER CASE "i" for the first person pronoun... because this is the MOST stupid thing young people do... the second is starting a sentence with a LOWER CASE letter or using a LOWER CASE letter for the first letter of a Proper Name.
This may surprise you to learn this, but back in the "Olden Times"... say in the 1980's... when Americans actually KNEW how to write proper English, it was considered an INSULT to begin someone's name with a lower case letter...
If you want your press release to stand out then do it the right way and NOT the American way.
2006-06-29 09:27:39 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
A press release tells people what you want them to hear. It answers the six journalistic questions: who, what ,where,when, why, and how in peppy motivational copy and it does all this in one paragraph. In example, here's a hypothetical PR: Paris Hilton has written a book entitled "Birds Do It" about her life to date with all the proceeds going to support the Audubon Society, a nude book signing at the Chicago Zoo on Wednesday, March 14 should draw plenty of pigeons to the park to see this "heiress extrordinaire".
Keep it upbeat, humorous, if possible, or at least warm-puppy touching. Write what would draw your attention if you were to read it. And keep it short, If the people want more info they will call you. In some cases, you can do a follow up call to ask them if they've seen the release. Courteous agressiveness can take you very far if you have a good phone personality. Hope this helps.
2006-06-28 23:21:27 · answer #4 · answered by hickcrazy1 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If you just want the media to run your story you may want to pitch them, using a cover letter and a copy of your story.
Press releases usually announce news like mergers, product releases, etc.
Look at some press releases at www.prnewswire.com
2006-06-29 12:59:37 · answer #5 · answered by ballerina_kim 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A press release is basically a statement written and distributed to media outlets. The issue is whether the media decides it is worth printing. If you are not sure, try releasing it to local papers, especially free ones in the smaller communities. Be sure to do this well enough in advance so that is larger media outlets decide they want to run it, you can get it to them in timely fashion.
2006-06-28 23:06:22 · answer #6 · answered by But why is the rum always gone? 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes. I would make sure all the info is accurate and ok to publish a press release through whatever you are putting info out for. Just type press release in a search engine, you should see several options. try www.prweb.com
2006-06-29 00:07:19 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋