144 Part 2: Media Institutions Tools 2: How to Write a Media Release Liz Tynan Introduction Public relations practitioners, whatever else they do, are primarily in the business of information ﬂow: they move information around various audiences (often referred to as ‘publics’). Given the extent of this activity throughout Western society, the best PR Media release: a document people have it in their interests to make sure that the informawritten by a public relations tion they provide is presented efﬁciently and instantly usable by practitioner in journalistic style that provides a story intended its recipients. These days there are many forms of PR practice, for use by the media. and many recipients of the work of PR practitioners, but a prime Diary note: a document used method for dissemination of information remains the media by PR practitioners to alert release, also known as the news release or press release. journalists and editors to a This tools section will explain how to create a successful forthcoming event, often a media release that stands a chance of being read by the target media conference or a speech journalists and editors. The sheer volume of such material by a prominent person. It is a form of invitation tailored to arriving in newsrooms makes the task of being noticed the needs of the media, and is challenging but not insurmountable. We will also need to look generally distributed by email at a lesser-known document, the diary note or media alert, a or facsimile up to one week form of media invitation that often precedes a media release. before the event. Diary note or media alert The diary note serves a speciﬁc purpose, related to but separate from the media release. It is used to let journalists and editors know about a forthcoming event, often a media conference or speech by a prominent person, and to ensure that they have all the information necessary to attend. It is a special media form of invitation. There are two keys to preparing a successful diary note or media alert: Your note must be absolutely clear, with easy-to-follow directions and all relevant information prominently displayed. It should not reveal too much information, because you don’t want the story to be released before the media conference and hence compromise its news value. This document is usually sent out one to seven days before the event it refers to. Effective PR practitioners always follow up the distribution of media alerts with phone calls to all media outlets to ensure they have received the information. You should make a list of likely media attendees and brief your spokespeople, the senior people from your organisation who will speak at the news conference, on what to expect. BAIN_MAJ_text4pp.indd 144 6/8/08 10:32:26 AM Example of an effective diary note or media alert Media alert Journalists are invited to attend a media conference featuring Nobel Laureate Professor David Evans from the University of California at Los Angeles. Professor Evans will announce a signiﬁcant initiative concerning Mark Oliphant University (MOU). The head of the MOU School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Dr Helen Jacobson, will also be attending, and will be available to answer questions. The media conference will be held at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, 8 April 2009 in the foyer of the Isaac Newton Auditorium, just off the main campus ring road on entry to the Mitchelson Campus of MOU. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT: Tools 2: How to Write a Media Release Tools 2: How to Wr ite a Media Release 145 Ms Julie Bloggs, MOU science communication manager PH: 06-5781 0099 Mob: 0419 666 888 Email: [email protected] Dr Helen Jacobson, head of Mathematical and Physical Sciences PH: 06-5781 0088 Email: [email protected] 2 April 2009 Example of an ineffective diary note or media alert Media alert Professor David Evans will announce at a media conference next week that MOU’s Physics School will merge with the Physics School at the University of California at Los Angeles. This new development is expected to cost about $15 million and will take place over three years. Professor David Evans’ announcement will take place at the Mitchelson campus of JCU. Speak to Ms Julie Bloggs for more information, or call the head of Physics. Liz Tynan BAIN_MAJ_text4pp.indd 145 6/8/08 10:32:26 AM 146 Part 2: Media Institutions Note that the ineffective example of a diary note or media release both gives away the main part of the story and makes it hard for the journalist to follow up, as it does not provide contact details or information on how to reach the venue. Unlike the effective example, the bad diary note does not show the date of its release. Dating your media alerts and media releases is essential; otherwise they will lack sufﬁcient context, and will be disregarded by journalists, who will not want to be bothered chasing up this level of detail. If you wish, you could place embargoed information about the substance of the media conference into the media alert, as metro journalists in particular will not commit to an event unless they know exactly what is being announced. However, as a PR person you must ensure that your announcement is not pre-empted in the media, thus rendering the media conference redundant and probably ensuring that no one turns up. Remember always the purpose of the diary note or media alert: to get media representatives to come to your event and report on it. They won’t do this if the story has already been released, you make it too difﬁcult for them to reach the venue, or they become confused about dates. The media release Once your diary note has done its job and enticed members of the media along to the media conference, you will pass around copies of the full media release, containing all the information you want journalists to have. Of course, you may send out a media release without a prior diary note, depending on the kind of story you are dealing with. A diary note will only be needed if your story is connected with an actual media event where journalists will be in attendance. Writing an effective media release is simple. That doesn’t mean that it is easy. There are many formats and styles that are perfectly acceptable, and the exact look of a media release is often a matter of the style and taste preferences of the organisation issuing it. However, there are still some rules that apply in all cases, and which are known to assist in the uptake of material from releases. Media release versus press release While many people still refer to the press release, in fact this term is held by many industry practitioners to be outdated, as it seems to refer only to the print media (the ‘press’), excluding the electronic media. While not everyone sees this as an important issue, it is wise for PR people to be as inclusive as possible, which is why many choose to adopt the term media release rather than press release. This also holds for media conference rather than press conference. BAIN_MAJ_text4pp.indd 146 6/8/08 10:32:27 AM Tools 2: How to Wr ite a Media Release 147 The media release is a longstanding method for reaching journalists, mostly because no better way has been found to brief them quickly. Journalists, while often scorning public relations information, do use media releases, because they can save a lot of time and make access to the story easy for someone who is really pressed. Some newspapers even cut and paste media releases and run them pretty much verbatim (often with a reporter’s byline), particularly if the PR person has got the style right. While this is not necessarily journalism, it is a reality in today’s media. Just like a news story An effective media release is much like a well-written news story: it should have a clear opening sentence, then an inverted-pyramid structure that takes the reader though a hierarchy of information from most important to least important. It is best to deal with one fact at a time in each sentence and, as with a news story, make each sentence its own paragraph. You write it this way to match the idiom of the newsroom that you are trying to reach. News journalists are trained to write in a speciﬁc style; if PR people want their material to be used by news journalists, they must adopt the same style. Journalists prize clarity and simplicity, so your media materials should always demonstrate these qualities. Journalists receive a huge volume of media releases each day, and will simply throw out Backgrounder: Material those they cannot understand immediately. provided in addition to a Your media release may be either one or two pages long. By media release or diary note, consisting of important all means go to two pages if the information warrants it, but information that cannot ﬁt never go beyond two pages. If you have other information that within a one- or two-page you must supply, put it into a backgrounder (see below) and media release. attach it as an extra document. Tools 2: How to Write a Media Release The media release: a useful document The main attributes of a media release The release should feature a simple, eye-catching headline in journalistic style. Try not to use clichés or appear too clever. A simple, straightforward statement is all that is required; newspaper subs prefer to be clever on their own behalf. You should address the Who, What, When, Where, Why, How formula that also applies to news stories. Make sure, when you look at what you have written, that all these questions are answered. Your prose should be brief, well-expressed and as much as possible in the grammatical active voice. It should never sound like an advertisement—this is media death. In most cases, journalists are repelled by the advertising writing style, and will only respond to material that is not only written like news but also contains actual news. Your media release must be journalistic in its use of language and its news values, and so it is important to understand the information in Chapters 4 and 14. Liz Tynan BAIN_MAJ_text4pp.indd 147 6/8/08 10:32:27 AM 148 Part 2: Media Institutions Make it look good Your releases should always look good. They must not use hard-to-read typefaces and blocks of impenetrable grey text. Avoid fancy fonts, and stick to easy-to-read typefaces such as Times New Roman and Helvetica. Your text should be surrounded by plenty of white space and have a pleasing, uncrowded appearance. Don’t try to ﬁt too much on the page. If your document looks too busy, do what you can to simplify it. Use your organisation’s logo every time. A consistent look for every release and alert you send out is very helpful. If you are doing your job properly, a quick glance by editors or journalists will assure them that the document they have received from you will be useful. A logo helps ensure both authority and consistency. Ensure your organisation understands the role of the media release It may be necessary for the PR person to counsel senior managers or other colleagues on the need to ensure that the release is media friendly rather than merely satisfactory to the management of the organisation. Management may well be comfortable with dense text, corporate or organisational jargon, and comforting passive-voice sentence structure, but journalists and editors will not read such documents. An important role for the PR person is ensuring that the media documents always match their purpose. Always use quotes You must include direct quotations from a clearly identiﬁed individual in the text, to provide attribution for assertions. Journalists do not like to use unattributed assertions, so there must always be a name to go with the words. Ensure that the quotes are started fairly close to the beginning—usually about paragraph four or ﬁve. There should be more than one direct quote, although there is no strict rule on exactly how many. It is often helpful to quote from more than one source if possible. A key difference between news stories and media releases may well become apparent at this point—quite often the PR person composes suitable quotes and doesn’t rely upon the person actually saying something. But you must—always—check with the person who has been quoted to see that he or she is happy with what you have written. It is essential that you do not place anything into the public domain that is going to embarrass or even surprise your senior management. They must have seen your release ahead of time. Provide contact details Your media release will clearly give the names and other details of several individuals who will be able to assist with further information. The person or people quoted in the media release should usually be on that list, though it is not always possible, and depends upon individual circumstances. You should clearly list all the means by which journalists can contact you, the PR person. With a big story, it is often the case that the senior people quoted are attending to BAIN_MAJ_text4pp.indd 148 6/8/08 10:32:27 AM media queries while other journalists are trying to phone or email them, so you have to help answer that overﬂow. Your role will not necessarily be to become the spokesperson, providing quotes for the journalist’s story. It is more likely that you will take names and phone numbers of journalists, and get your interviewee back in touch with them as soon as humanly possible. Other essential information As with the diary note or media alert, your media releases must always carry the date, and these days a web page address is helpful as well, as journalists like to have a look at an organisation’s web page for additional background before they carry out their interviews. As early as possible in the body text of the release, introduce the name of your organisation, to make clear who has released this information, as well as placing the logo on the page. Time of release Media releases being sent by email or fax, as opposed to being handed out at a media conference, should be sent out as early as possible on the day of the announcement. This gives the news organisations enough time to include your story when they allocate their activities for the day. Sending media releases too late in the day, such as at 3 p.m., almost always ensures that they won’t be used, unless they deal with an exceptionally big and urgent story. Tools 2: How to Write a Media Release Tools 2: How to Wr ite a Media Release 149 Tailor your releases You should tailor your news releases to the particular media market you want to attract. Your news item must be relevant to the kinds of issues the target publications and broadcasters concern themselves with. As a PR ofﬁcer, you must consume all the media in your immediate vicinity—you must study it and be aware of what makes news to these outlets. You should make extensive use of a reliable listing of media organisations, such as Margaret Gee’s Media Guide. This will give you access to the full range of Australian media outlets, from the most prominent to the most obscure. Often PR people write separate releases for different markets. The ability to do this only comes from a strong knowledge base about the media you are trying to reach. If you want a regional publication to run your story, make sure you understand how it ﬁts their news agenda. It is very insulting to the reporters and editors at a media outlet if the PR person is clearly ignorant of their formats and requirements. It is just too easy for them to shun a PR person who hasn’t taken the time to ﬁnd out about the outlet. Ensure your release ﬁts the news agenda Because media releases are designed to appeal to journalists and editors, they must contain real news. No amount of spin will make a news story out of nothing but hype. You must refer Hype: extravagant and overstated publicity: a contraction of the word ‘hyperbole’, which means an exaggerated statement not meant to be taken literally. Liz Tynan BAIN_MAJ_text4pp.indd 149 6/8/08 10:32:27 AM 150 Part 2: Media Institutions to the accepted news ingredients of the media to ensure that your release will slot into a news agenda. As Tymson and Lazar (2000) recommend, the news item you want to promote in your media release must contain one or more of the following elements: well-known people timeliness a local angle public interest novelty achievement emotion. You should test all potential media releases against your own knowledge of what constitutes news, and also in relation to your research on what the targeted outlets view as news. This is one reason why journalists are in demand as PR people, because they have developed a news sense. Embargoes Sometimes it is necessary to place an embargo on a news release. For a complex story, it gives journalists enough time to properly research it before having to go to press or to air. For a story that is being announced in a different time zone, particularly if it is overseas, the embargo enables various journalists or broadcasters to coordinate Embargo: A notice coverage. It is quite a common procedure. forbidding release of Clearly identify the embargo release date or time at the top information about an event of the release—don’t place a note down at the bottom or end of before a certain time or date. the release. The embargo date must be bold and upfront, giving the embargo expiry time and date. For example, you could place in bold letters at the top of a release the following standard form of words: Under embargo until 2 a.m. Friday, 10 May 2009 There are absolutely no guarantees that journalists will honour the embargo, and you must make your organisation’s management aware of this fact. A journalistic ethic clearly requires the honouring of embargoes, but leads to no enforceable punishment except shunning the news organisation if it transgresses. Do not use embargoes for the sake of it; there must be a reason for applying an embargo, otherwise you will just irritate journalists and encourage them to transgress. Backgrounders Quite often media releases are accompanied by another kind of media material known as a backgrounder, which may take several different forms: BAIN_MAJ_text4pp.indd 150 6/8/08 10:32:28 AM a page or two of brief bullet point notes, perhaps providing key dates and history in the form of a timeline; or essentially a feature story, provided in order to ﬂesh out the news story contained in the media release proper. Your feature may be up to about 2000 words long, and will probably contain subheadings to break it up. You may want to include relevant images, such as photos, drawings and graphs. You may well have a list of further reading and additional contacts. The idea is to give the story extra depth and provide the journalist with increased options for following up the story. Media kits Quite often you will prepare a media kit that will include the main media release as well as a backgrounder and any other relevant material, and you will place it in a special folder. The kit folders are specially printed, and will feature the organisation’s logo and relevant images. They are often A4 cardboard, folded to make a pocket inside to hold material. Apart from a media release, the kit will often contain background information of various kinds, including, for example, fact sheets giving technical information, graphs, photos, pens, coasters or whatever your organisation deems useful for a journalist to have. Tools 2: How to Write a Media Release Tools 2: How to Wr ite a Media Release 151 Tips on what to do and what to avoid Make sure you always: provide information that is genuinely newsworthy answer these questions in your release: ‘Who?’, ‘What?’, ‘When?’, ‘Where?’, ‘How?’ and ‘Why?’ use the inverted-pyramid news story style, and always include direct quotes write your release in grammatically correct, expressive, active-voice journalistic English make sure the ﬁrst paragraph of your release grabs the reader’s interest write a simple, eye-catching headline in journalistic style make it as easy as possible for media representatives to do their jobs by anticipating their needs. Make sure you never: allow your media release to read like an advertisement fail to provide the date of the release > Liz Tynan BAIN_MAJ_text4pp.indd 151 6/8/08 10:32:28 AM 152 Part 2: Media Institutions forget to list as much contact information as possible: the name of the PR person and other relevant individuals to contact, plus the street address, phone and fax numbers, and email and website addresses give your release a confusing layout: you must ensure that the layout aids understanding; use easy-to-read typefaces and plenty of white space give in to anyone in your organisation who wants you to include technical or corporate jargon—this is guaranteed to send the release straight to the newsroom bin neglect to clear all direct quotations with the sources being quoted. To really shine, your release should offer a timely, important story in beautifully correct and stylish journalistic prose, with all the boxes ticked in the newsroom(s) you are aiming for. Do this and you will become sought after by the media as someone who actually understands what they do and can be relied upon to provide precisely what is required every time. KEY REFERENCE Tymson, C., Lazar, P., and Lazar, R. (2000). The New Australian and New Zealand Public Relations Manual. Chatswood: Tymson Communications. BAIN_MAJ_text4pp.indd 152 6/8/08 10:32:29 AM