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PR Writings: Press releases and conferences

Nora Nailul Amal

PR Writers

You may be writing for a company Web site, a blog, a social Web site, facebook, a live chat, or the PR war room of a large company facing a public relations crisis. In every case, clear, persuasive written communication, the stock in trade of the public relations writer, is the core skill that can be leveraged by each new technology and technique.

Whether you are writing for newspapers, broadcast outlets, books, or public relations purposes, the basics of good expository writing remain the same and never go out of date:

Clarity Accuracy Vividness Aptness of details, examples, and quotations Correct grammar A clear, varied style

Any good writing is probably 20 percent writing and 80 percent rewriting. In public relations, expect 90 percent rewriting because a number of people will make suggestions and changes during the approval process. You have to be willing to work toward clarity. Even with the pressure of instant deadlines, you must insist on making and then taking the time to create readable prose that achieves your communications goals. Then proofread, proofread, proofread! Once your writing is sent digitally into cyberspace, an error is forever.

When you become adept at writing newsworthy press releases, informative biographies, fact sheets, media kits, and stories that are specific to a newsletter's target audience, you will find plenty of new challenges ahead: speeches, multimedia presentations, broadcast scripts, event presentations and time lines, as well as Internet communications, editorials, opinion pieces, crisis communications, and official statements.

Whatever digital distribution channel you may be usingyour main responsibilities as a public relations writer: Clearly understand your product, client, company, or message. Know your target audiences. Write clear, engaging prose that effectively communicates your message to your audience.

News releases, press conferences, official proceedings, and other nonspontaneous events continue to make major contributions to news coverage in newspapers large and small, with the percentage of nonspontaneous material in smaller newspapers being even higher than in larger ones (Song, 2002). In other words, many journalists are receptive when a story comes to them from businessespecially if it is well written and particularly if the reporter or editor has a prior relationship of trust with the public relations practitioner (Curtain, 1997).

The media are inundated by dozens of news releases every day. If your release is to be read and considered for coverage, it must offer a newsworthy story, stated clearly and simply, long on information and short on adjectives. A news release typically introduces a new product, service, or idea; reports new findings from a survey; alerts the media to an upcoming event; announces a staff change; or simply presents new information. Sometimes a release is the basis of an entire story. More often, an idea in it suggests a related story or affects a story an editor or reporter already has in progress.

Before you write, ask yourself:

Is this story truly newsworthy, and will it interest the intended audience? Much has been written on the subject of what is news and what should be covered. Some say news is anything people didn't know about yesterday or anything that affects their lives. The late newspaper columnist Walter Winchell used to say that news is anything that protrudes from the ordinary. The debate about judging news value is sure to continue as long as news is reported, but you can begin to measure the news value of your story by asking if it offers any significant information that was not available before and whether anybody will care about this information.

Does this story answer all the questions it is likely to raise? Will this story, if covered, advance my client's objectives? Are all the facts and figures in the story accurate? Has every name, date, and piece of information been double-checked with a reliable source?

The Appointment Release

State the appointee's name and title, and attribute the announcement to an official from the company. Also state the name of the person to whom the appointee will report and when the appointment becomes effective. (If this last fact is not included, it is implied that the appointment is effective immediately.) State the name of the person being replaced (optional; it may be a touchy subject), or, if the position is new, say that the subject of the release ''has been appointed to the newly created position of...''

State the scope of the appointee's responsibilities in relation to the company or client, and describe the nature of the business. Sometimes a quotation from the appointee's boss is used in this second paragraph; rarely, however, is the quotation used by the press unless it contains newsworthy information about the company's new initiatives and not just boilerplate praise about what a wonderful person the appointee is.

State the appointee's professional and educational history, covering the most recent position and accomplishments first and working backward in time. This conforms to the inverted pyramid news style of summarizing the most important information at the top and supporting the lead with, first, the most relevant or important details and, then, details of lesser importance. The inverted pyramid allows the story to be cut to any length; if only the first paragraph is used because of space limitations, the whole story is still conveyed. You may also offer a few personal facts, such as his or her place of residence, place of origin, and, sometimes, marital status. Although such details are rarely covered in a news article, they are helpful for individualizing the appointee and establishing common ground between the appointee and someone who later accesses the release from your company Web site.

Include your client's approved company description, also known as boilerplate including trademark, registered, and copyright designations, as well as the company's Web site address. End with the name, telephone number, and e-mail address of the designated media spokesperson.

The Product Release Lifestyle, Trend, and Survey Releases Quotations

Barack Obama, Russell Simmons, B. B. King, Harry Belafonte and Isaac Hayes Lend Their Voice to AOL Black Voices Celebration of Black History Month January 30, 2006 AOL Black Voices, the premier site for African-American culture and community, celebrates Black History Month with an interactive look at the lives, stories and contributions of significant African Americans in history (http://0blackvoices.aol.com.library.newcastle.edu.au/black_news/black_history _month). Through a partnership with The HistoryMakers, the nation's largest African American video oral history archive headquartered in Chicago, IL, users can watch video interviews from significant figures including Senator Barack Obama, Russell Simmons, B.B. King, Harry Belafonte and Isaac Hayes, among others. ''As one of the most comprehensive news organizations bringing Black culture and information to millions of people each month, AOL Black Voices is thrilled to focus a six week campaign looking at the contributions of Black Americans,'' said Nick Charles, Editor in Chief, AOL Black Voices. ''Through video, audio and exclusive articles, we are bringing our community closer together to debate and rejoice in the rich history of black people.'' [AOL 2006]

Photos, Samples, and Review Copies

Whenever appropriate, you should state that a photo or color slide, a sample, or a review copy of the subject of the release is available on request or downloadable from a specified Web address (if it is not already enclosed with the release). Music critics complain that publicists will call and ask if they want to interview band members. If a music critic has never heard the band, has no idea what the group sounds like, and has not received a compact disc, been directed to a sample on a Web site, or been invited to hear the band perform, there is no chance the reporter will know if he has an interest in writing about it, let alone whether he wants to do an interview.

Make it as easy as possible for the journalist to experience firsthand the subject of your press release. If the release is about a speech, attach a complete text of that speech. If the release is about a new fabric, attach a swatch. When a sample cannot be enclosed, invite the reporter to a place where the subject of the news release can be viewed or encountered. Make full use of the capabilities of the Internet to provide compelling photographs, video, and audio to help tell your story and for the media to use as background information or as content for their stories.

News releases style and form


All news releases must have four key elements: Date and embargo. Include a date indicating when the release is issued and another date indicating when it should be made public. Any restriction on when the information may be used is called an embargo. An embargo is usually used when issuing information that can be released to the public only after a specified date and time. Embargoes can be tricky and should be used cautiously. If one member of the press ignores the embargo and breaks the story early, others will probably follow. If your release has no time restrictions for going public, mark it ''For Immediate Release.''

Contact. Include the name, telephone number, and e-mail address of the person to whom inquiries should be directed. For breaking stories of great urgency, you may also want to include a cell phone or home phone number if media may need information during nonoffice hours. Headline. The headline at the top of the release summarizes the story and catches the reader's attention. When the story is complicated, use a subhead as well. Headline information is drawn from the body of the release, because the release must hold up as a complete thought without the headline.

News Conference

Perhaps the most common public relations event is the news conference. To hold a news conference essentially means to gather the media at a designated place and time so that they can hear a significant and newsworthy announcement and ask questions. This is one of the most straightforward methods of generating publicity.

The most important part of a news conference is the announcement being made. Regardless of how much hoopla accompanies a news conference, if the announcement is not newsworthy, the coverage will be minimal at best. Even worse, the media will be angry that you wasted their time and left them with an empty news hole that they had budgeted for your big story.

Covering a news conference consumes about four hours of time for the reporter, plus camera and sound crew for broadcast (travel, setup, one-hour event, additional interviews and B-roll, breakdown, and travel). What the media want in exchange for this commitment of time and staffbesides strong coffee, fresh pastries and bagels, and orange juiceis something beyond the story they would get by saying, ''Just send us the press release.'' This ''something else'' is the challenge for public relations. You'll be asked, ''What else do you have for me?'' or, more likely, you'll be told, ''That's old news. We've done that story already. What else ya got?''

At the minimum, press events should be designed to generate interesting photographs for the print media and great video footage and a sound-bite that the broadcast competition doesn't have. In addition to the speeches, copies of which you will thoughtfully provide in the media kit that the press will receive whether or not they attend, the journalists expect ''something else.'' A Q&A itself can be the ''something else'' (news), when a free give-and-take allows reporters to ask hard-hitting questionsfor example, when a normally publicity-shy CEO banters with the press and gives answers that seemingly are off-the-cuff.

Of course, before the event, you anticipate the most obvious or troublesome questions and provide the speaker with possible answers. You probably also help the spokesperson rehearse answering reporters' questions in a relaxed style that seems impromptu. If your speaker is not willing to take reporters' questions, don't call your event a press conference.

The checklist

Invitation listpress, celebrities, politicians, and others Time and date: possible conflicts On-site arrangements

Venue rental Parking location and validation Security Menu Green Room location (a backstage area for speakers and guests) and refreshments Stage: Company logo, dais, podium, microphones, teleprompter, ice water Press needs: Sight lines, sound plug-ins, electrical, Internet Audiovisual, computer, Internet hookup, duplicate program media, and other electronic equipment Signage Staff communication devices Sign-in book Name badges

Invitations Media alert Photo opportunity alert Book your own photographer and videographer Hire a media monitoring service Callbacks to invited press members to firm up attendance Associated Press Daybook Media kit

Speeches Main announcement release Technology release Executive bios Company backgrounder/fact sheet

Photos/captions (see Chapter Two) Event time line, emcee self-introduction, speaker introductions and talking points Possible questions from the media and drafted answers Staffing assignments Rehearsal The PR Newswire and the Business Wire Follow-up Postmortem

More on Media Relations

Media courtesy Media visit Media gathering

More on PR Writings

Writing biography Financial writing Write the crisis crisis releases Program writings selling your concepts Responding to critical articles Web sites, corporate blogs Corporate brochures, congratulatory letters Etc.

Next assignment

Pelajari materi PR writing, release dan conferences. Bekali diri anda dengan informasi mengenai:

LBPP Lia Surakarta RSUD Dr. Moewardi Surakarta TA TV Surakarta PT Tyfountex Indonesia

Figure out how you can build positive relationship as effective as possible with the media. Anda bisa memulai dengan memunculkan isu2 yang potensial untuk mendapatkan media coverage/publisitas sehingga meningkatkan citra perusahaan.

Kelompok akan saya bagi dalam focus group discussion. Materi UK akan berkisar PR Writing, release dan conference. Sebagai pengayaan, isu publisitas dan media relations berkaitan dengan perusahaan terpilih di atas akan didiskusikan. Prepare the knowledge in your brain, see you on the exam!

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