Press Releases

Introduction

A press or media release is pseudo-news story intended to demonstrate to an editor or reporter the newsworthiness of a event, service, product or, in our case, a situation we want publicized. Writing a press release entails generating a persuasive communication to be delivered in a traditional news story format. The author must resist making sensational statements such as "our drug will cure anything that ails you", etc. Editors discard press releases that contain outlandish promotional remarks. Reading "10 Essential Tips to Ensure Your Press Release Makes the News", will give you some insight into how one writes a successful press release.

Press Release Format

A press release will have contact information and an indication of publication priority followed typically by four elements

  • the headline
  • the summary lead
  • the body
  • the closing paragraph

Press releases are generally written in the third person.

The Headline

The headline should summarize, in a dynamic way, the information contained in the press release. In general, you want your headline to be ten words or less. It needs to communicate your message like the wording on a billboard communicates a message to the drivers of cars speeding down the freeway. Your headline needs to make your press release standout among the many similar pieces that cross an editor's desk each day. It is often desirable to include a subhead. The subhead allows you to further elaborate on the angle of your story.

The Summary Lead

The summary lead is actually the first paragraph of the body of your document. It and the headline are the most critical parts of the press release. This paragraph must include the 5 "Ws" of the story -- who, what, when, where and why. It must also contain the H of the story -- how. The summary lead summarizes the press release and is intended to hook the editor as well as your future intended audience into wanting to know more about your subject. The hook should not be a sensational statement but an interesting factual statement.

The Body

The body of a press release is written using a journalistic strategy called an inverted pyramid. The most important information and quotes are incorporated into the story first. The reason this is important is that sometimes editors need to cut the story to fit into available space. You don't want critical information to be lost if the story is abbreviated.

The Closing Paragraph

The closing paragraph will often have a sentence or two which promotes your company or organization. This may be a boilerplate (old newspaper terminology referring to a block of standard text that is used over and over again) developed for such purposes.

Three #'s denote the end of a press release. It is usually a good idea to follow the ### with a statement that says something like

"If you would like more information or to schedule an interview with ***** "

followed by the appropriate contact information.

Read more about writing press releases and see how one is formatted here.


Direct suggestions, comments, and questions about this page to Arlene Courtney, courtna@wou.edu.
Last Modified January 17, 2015