News releases on life support? Five reasons why.
April 3, 2008 by Gary Schlee
Every semester when it’s time to look at writing effective news releases, I relaunch my search for good examples. It’s not an easy task. Well-written releases seem to be a rarity, even though the World Wide Web gives me access to thousands of them.
Why is that? The chasm between the content of most releases and the information actually used by journalists is usually very wide. Year after year, nothing seems to change; news releases continue to be unclear, wordy, hyped-up missives littered with phony quotes.
It’s worth remembering that the move towards social media releases was not initially prompted by the allure of all the new multimedia tools in the digital world. It was prompted by the sad quality of most current releases. Check out Tom Foremski’s original diatribe that sparked the debate, and a great conversation by Brian Solis and Shel Holtz on the IABC Cafe2Go podcast for more about that.
Ultimately, tools and formats won’t help a poorly written release. Although I realize many releases suffer from endless rewrites and approvals that turn them into semantic mush, we need to do better.
Here are five reasons I think many releases stink:
1. Lengthy, tedious leads. The first paragraphs of most news releases are insufferably long. If published that way, they’d form daunting blocks of text designed to thwart eyeball-appeal. Which, of course, is why most publications have to rework them. In my introductory writing classes, students are not allowed to write lead paragraphs that exceed 30 words. I’ve seen nothing over the years to convince me to stop using that guideline.
2. Phony quotes. The use of quotations can add so much credibility to a news release. Journalists are hungry to have them. We punt this opportunity by inserting quotes that simply aren’t natural. They read like laboriously crafted written statements (that’s because they actually are laboriously crafted written statements). To literally quote from a recent release:
“… we have provided in these documents for a solid long-term framework for the further benefit of consumers, in which we will control rate increases; maintain reliability; introduce competition in generation; require performance standards; strongly encourage renewables; ensure proper regulatory oversight; enhance environmental protection; and encourage efficiency.”
People don’t talk this way (at least, they shouldn’t). Can’t we cut the journalists some slack here and give them something they might be able to use in a story?
3. Unsubstantiated hype. Somehow, we think that if our release says the event was a success (or the new product is the best on the market, or the revised service represents a dramatic improvement), the public and the media will accept these generalizations without any evidence to support the claim. Give your readers some credit; tell them the what and why of your story and let them decide if it’s a success, the best, or dramatically improved. For every newspaper that runs your promotional hyperbole, there are inevitably several others who wonder why you think they’ll run your thinly disguised advertisement for free.
4. Preoccupation with announcements. So many releases kick off with the fact that an announcement is being made, instead of telling readers what was announced. “Convoluted International announced yesterday that it has acquired Baffling Canada.” Why, exactly, are words three through six in this sentence? I’d wager announced is the most common first verb found in news releases. I’d wager that in most of those releases, making an announcement is not the actual story.
5. Gobbledygook. Sure, every field of endeavour has its terminology and jargon. It’s a not-so-subtle demonstration of expertise. But do we really have to lace our releases with it? Can’t we just tell the reader what a renewable is? Can’t we find a nice English translation for “The company will fully commercialize the intrinsic value of its intellectual property.”?
This is starting to sound uncomfortably like a lecture. That wasn’t my intent. I’m simply looking for some examples of well written news releases. Can you steer me in the right direction?
12 Responses to “News releases on life support? Five reasons why.”
Excellent post, Gary. This one will be required reading. Appreciate you sharing it.
I can’t imagine; even theoretically; what it would be like; to talk; like this.
Great post!
Great post, Gary. This morning, our students reviewed how to write a simple media advisory.
Of eight samples we examined (downloaded directly from CNW), only one was writeen and organized for the intended audience: the media.
And, believe it or not, it was from an Ontario government communicator. There’s hope yet.
And, I just sent you a comment with a spelling error in it………cardinal rule of effective news releases just broken. Fire me.
Gary,
If you are looking for a well-written news release, why not turn to your recently turned professional students? We are so new to the profession we still write releases to the standards we were taught, and now have gained experience so our writing makes sense.
I used to get confused when reading releases and think, “Was Gary wrong?” Most of what I read on wire services contradicts the principles of a good release. What do you suggest, stick to the rules or conform?
Megan – I’d suggest always championing the case for a well written release. The battle usually revolves around getting the client or boss to accept a release that meets the needs of the media and readers, not just the vested interests of the organization. You win some and you lose some. But if we don’t keep politely trying, releases will only get worse.
Will – Thanks for the; natural; comment.
Christine – It’s certainly important to catch errors and correct them (in this venue, address them). That’s been done, so your employment status is not in jeopardy:-)
There’s a long way to go. It’s become a bit of a formula for PR people. News releases are our 30-second spots. It doesn’t matter if they don’t work, it’s what people expect and every client is a bit of an expert.
My concession is to at least make the first three paragraphs compelling and to the point. If you haven’t grabbed attention and got the news out by then, you’re dead. If the client demands BS quotes and three-page boiler plates, better they be at the end where no media will go.
Cynical? Guilty as charged.
Gary: I’ve just discovered your blog; wonderful writing as always and I agree 100% with your post regarding news releases. “Writing for social media,” the latest skill-set that I see in job postings, is to my mind remarkably similar to writing for news media — and still boils down to this: “What’s the news?” And there’s the lead. … Is it me, or is everything old new again?
Nice to hear from you, Jane. In many years of teaching, I’ve often been challenged and invigorated by the expanding and changing scope of the communicator’s toolbox. But, the attributes of good storytelling have not changed — and rightly so.
[...] saying what needs to be said clearly. Especially after reading Gary Schlee’s blog post on news releases (FYI I also found (through Gary’s blog) a blog by PR student Megan Ramsay, where she debunks [...]
I was just referred to your post, Gary, from a comment by Robert French on PROpenMic.org (http://tinyurl.com/65bm9b).
As a young professional writing press releases is that they are nothing more than announcements. Being a newcomer to the agency I recently worked at, I felt that there was little interesting information, and they were really ways to simply get information “out there” without reason or aim other than to have it posted on the web site.
I was overjoyed when I saw a presention by Michael Pranikoff of PR Newswire of the many web-based additions that one can and should make to their press releases.
And I hate writing phony quotes.
[...] News Releases on Life Support? Five Reasons Why (Class Act): Most press releases are bad. here are five reasons why. [...]