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The Importance of Press Releases
September 29, 2008 | Tagged Auburn, press releases, student | Leave a Comment
Press releases are very important in the world of public relations. I honestly had never even heard of a press release until I started taking public relations classes. Now that I know what they are, I see them everywhere.
Almost every company uses press releases. I see a lot of press releases on city and county Web sites. I want to get into a job with a city or county so it is very important for me to know how to use a press release the right way.
Cities and counties use press releases, for the most part, to highlight events that will be taking place in the area. They are usually posted to the city/county Web site and are easily viewable from the Web site.
A press release is a “pseudo-news story, written in third person, that seeks to demonstrate to an editor or reporter the newsworthiness of a particular person, event, service or product.” Press releases can be either written/typed, on audio or can be in the form of a video.
Video news releases are very interesting to me. Now that I know what a press release is, I see these all the time. Interviews with celebrities on entertainment shows, such as Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood, would be considered a video news release. The celebrity comes on the show and does all he/she can to promote the movie, even if it involves talking about their personal life.
There are different types of news releases. The announcement release just lets the audience know of changes in an organization. Reaction releases are used to respond to something that might have happened and gives the organization a chance to defend or give a stand about what happened. Spot announcements are useful when something outside of an organization has an effect on the company. A bad news release is just to give the audience the truth in a bad situation. A hometown release talks about things going on in the local area. Feature releases focuses on the human-interest side of a news story.
Press releases are probably the number one tool for a public relations practitioner. The press releases are usually sent to the media and then printed for distribution. Anyone writing a press release needs to be careful of AP style. AP style is the writing guide for both journalist and public relations practitioners. It is important that we, as PR practitioners, use AP so that when we hand our press releases over to journalist, they do not have to change it into AP style. So getting this step done for journalist will better ensure that the press release will end up in print.
There are certain guidelines and rules to follow when writing a press release. There are always some differences but overall it’s the exact same thing. Press releases include having a headline, dateline, introduction, body, close and contact information.
Even for those who have no idea what a press release is, everyone comes in contact with a form of a press release almost everyday. It is important for public relations practitioners to know how to write a press release so they can relate information better to the public.