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Write
your own media release
Not everyone has the means to engage a professional PR consultancy such
as Shoemark & King to plan and implement a media campaign, but you
can improve your chances with the media by going the right way about writing
your own media releases.
Shoemark & King provides this page as a do-it-yourself guide to producing
a media release (or, if you prefer, “news release”, or even
the old-fashioned “press release”) in the form which is most
likely to be accepted and used by the media.
(A word of acknowledgement here: we first saw a feature like this on the
website of CPR Communications, which has since discontinued the feature.
It was such a good idea that we felt someone else should do something
similar, so this is it.)
Follow these easy steps and you will be on your way to producing a professional
media release.
To make full use
of this feature, we suggest you open a word document and build it piece-by-piece,
using the directions below.
Letterhead
Always use your organisation’s letterhead – if you are already
known to the media, then this makes for easy recognition, and if you are
not already known, this is your first step towards becoming known.
If you don’t already have a letterhead or a logo to use on one, then
create one, even if it’s just simple type. You might want to dress
it up a little by using a distinctive typeface or putting it in a box,
just so it looks a bit different from the type you will use in your heading
– but you need not be too fancy to achieve the right effect.
Date
Always include the date of your release.
The date tells the recipient how current or fresh the release is, and
it helps with filing for future reference or re-use. It also helps to
clarify the meaning of terms such as “tomorrow” or “last
week” (although these terms are best avoided – better to use
actual dates). Use any accepted date form, although those that name the
month (15 June 2001; June 15, 2001) are clearer than just numbers.
Embargo
(if any)
If you don’t want to see (or hear) your release published before
a certain time or date, then say so here by stating an embargo. If you
are happy for it to be published without delay, you can mark it FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE or simply not indicate an embargo. Do NOT impose an embargo unless
you have some good reason – news is not news unless it is fresh,
so don’t risk making it stale!
An embargo is helpful when you are having a media conference, a formal
announcement or an unveiling. Remember, ALWAYS indicate both time and
date in your embargo, so it should look something like this:
EMBARGO: NOT FOR PUBLICATION BEFORE 10.00 AM, THURSDAY 23 AUGUST 2005
Heading
This is where you get your journalist’s attention, so state your
business clearly and briefly. Don’t try to be “clever”
with your heading – leave that to the sub-editors who do it as part
of their job – but rather, make sure it tells the key point of your
release. Think in terms of “Man bites dog” rather than “Canine
role reversal has real bite”.
Make sure your heading is brief (fits on one line, preferably no more
than five or six words) and has a verb or part of a verb (someone does
something). Write it in lower case with just a capital for the first letter
and any proper nouns or acronyms.
Your heading should be at least 16 – 18 point bold type – we
will use 18 pt bold Arial.
Intro
(first paragraph)
Tell the essentials of your story in one short sentence. Try to tell the
“five Ws and the H” – Who, What, Where, When, Why and How.
If you can’t manage them all, then at least include the Who, What,
Where and When in your intro, and then follow up with the Why and How
in the next par (but don’t leave it any longer than that).
Remember: in journalism, and therefore in media release too, one sentence
equals one paragraph.
Be very clear about what you really want to say. Give serious thought
to the one and only key message you want to deliver in your release –
because you must stick to just one message to avoid confusing the issue
– and make sure you deliver that key message in your intro. Do not
leave any doubt about what your key message is.
As with the heading, be clear rather than clever. A journalist who has
come this far will soon lose interest if the intro is not clear or the
subject matter is not of interest to the journalist and to the readers/viewers/listeners
whom the journalist serves.
Second
par (usually)
This is your chance to give a little more detail about your key point
– but do not be tempted to try to introduce another, different point.
If you have not included the Why and How in your intro, include them here
(unless for some reason they are not to be included in the release at
all – which would be fairly rare).
It may be where you name your organisation if you have referred to it
generically in the intro (“A national community welfare organisation
has announced …” or “A new drug promises relief for arthritis
sufferers …”) or it may be where you give a little more detail
about Who, What, Where or When (sometimes one or two of these may be more
important than the others).
(On rare occasions, you might skip this par and move straight to the next
one, where you introduce a spokesperson.)
Introducing
the spokesperson – indirect quote
Almost every news story quotes a source (because journalists cannot report
what you tell them as though it is undisputed fact – they must quote
who said it).
This is where you introduce the spokesperson who will represent your organisation
in your release (and it should be someone who will be available to the
media for further comment if required).
The best way to do it is with an indirect quote, which allows you to give
the person’s title and name (and some titles can be terribly long!)
before going on to paraphrase or summarise the key point of what you want
them to say in the release.
(An important point here: you may well write the words for them –
“put words into their mouth” – but those words become a
legitimate quote once the spokesperson approves them for release.)
First
direct quote - attributed
Now it’s time for the direct quotes, and the first one must be attributed
– that is, you must indicate who said it.
Many people will argue about where the punctuation belongs in such quotes,
but a quick read through a newspaper will reveal a standard style which
is use almost universally in mainstream publications, and this is it:
“Blah, blah, blah,” so-and-so (or he/she) said.
Following on from the previous, indirect quote, what your spokesperson
says will expand further on the one central theme of your release. It
will not go off at a tangent or try to “sneak in” an extra point.
You might use your spokesperson’s direct quotes to deliver more emotive
or less formal language than you would use in the indirect quotes or other
parts of the release.
Unattributed,
direct quotes – up to three pars
Now that your spokesperson is introduced and being quoted directly, you
can follow through with up to three pars of direct, unattributed quotes
by the same person. Three is a good number of direct quotes to use because
it gives people enough direct speech to add interest and information,
but it avoids the risk of the reader forgetting who the quoted speaker
is.
This is the correct form of punctuation for these three pars, combined
with the previous par:
“Blah, blah, blah,” so-and-so (or he/she) said.
“Blah, blah, blah.
“Blah, blah, blah.
“Blah, blah, blah.”
If anyone tells you otherwise, they are not following normal journalistic
style.
Again, your quotes must add to the key point of the release, embellishing,
explaining, expanding or emphasising – but never diverging or trying
to “sneak in” an extra point (yes, we are hammering this, but
it really is terribly important).
Repeating
the quote cycle (if necessary)
Sometimes a release will require more than the six or seven pars we have
included so far. If so, a good way to keep it flowing is to repeat the
cycle of quotes by returning to another indirect, attributed quote (but
just with the person’s name this time) and following through with
the direct, attributed quote and up to three direct, unattributed pars.
(You may choose to introduce a second speaker if there is a compelling
reason to do so. It is best to stick to one, but if you must have a second
speaker, then the indirect, attributed par is an ideal way of making it
clear that you are introducing someone new.)
The correct form is:
So-and-so said blah blah blah.
“Blah, blah, blah,” he/she said.
“Blah, blah, blah.
“Blah, blah, blah.
“Blah, blah, blah.”
Closing
point (only sometimes)
Media releases, like news stories, can get by very well in most cases
without a neat closing point to “sum up” the story.
A closing point can be helpful where is delivers a key piece of practical
information, such as where people can phone for more details – but
even this is often better worked into the flow of the body of the release,
where it is less likely to be cut out.
Do not feel compelled to have a “last par” – but consider
if you have a final piece of information such as “The book will be
released nationally next Tuesday.”
Contact
details
Another of the practical elements, like the date and letterhead –
you must include details of someone who can be contacted for further information.
The contact person must be either someone who can be quoted directly,
or someone who can organise a spokesperson or additional supporting information
quickly and efficiently if a journalist asks for a further details or
comment. Usually, this means the contact is either the person quoted in
the release or the PR person who issued it on that person’s behalf
– or both.
In every case, give the person’s name, title (or department) and
phone number or numbers. An office number makes a good impression, but
include a mobile too if the office number does not divert automatically
when unanswered.
…
and that’s it (well, almost)
Now that you have written your release, there are some simple but very
important steps to complete the process:
1. Obtain approvals from every person mentioned or quoted in the release.
If they are people within your own organisation, this should be a natural
part of the way you do business. The same applies if they are associates
(such as a customer endorsing your product or service). If they are not
people with this sort of obvious connection, how come you are quoting
them at all?
2. Obtain any legal checks that may be required – in many organisations,
these are required for any material issued on behalf of the organisation,
so there will often be an established protocol to follow.
3. Check that you have assembled a suitable media list – if need
be, phone the media to confirm that you have the right address, fax number
or email address (depending on how you intend to send your release).
4. Send out your media release by an appropriate means (mail, fax, email)
to your selected media.
5. Make follow-up phone calls to media – especially for a hard news
release – and if they did not receive it, then fax or email it again
(and get the name of someone to whom you can address it, so they will
be expecting it).
Good luck with it!
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