Content forms

Press release

news release · press statement

Definition

Press release is a written announcement composed so a journalist can lift facts from it: what happened, who, when, where, why it is news, and how to reach a person who will go on the record. It is owned media you hope will become coverage. Posting it to a wire does not make it earned. A reporter filing from those facts does.

Write it as news. The first paragraph should stand if the rest is deleted. Quotes should sound like a person, not a brand deck. Put the boilerplate at the bottom. Put the methods or the filing link in the body if the news depends on them.

How it works

Decide whether the release is the story or the support. Product updates and quarterly numbers often need a public URL for disclosure and SEO. Those releases live in the newsroom even if no desk files. Investigative-style studies usually travel better as a pitch plus a methods page, with a short release at lift time so late desks have the facts.

Example: a public company announces a CFO change at 4:05 p.m. ET. The release names the person, the effective date, the interim plan, and the investor-relations phone. It hits EDGAR, the newsroom, and the wire together. Two trades rewrite it. One national desk calls the chair. The earned objects are the two rewrites and the call. The wire copy on Yahoo Finance is syndication of owned text. Counting 140 wire pickups as “coverage” will impress nobody who has opened one.

Embargoed releases go only to people who accepted the clock. Public releases are public the moment they are on a URL. Do not email “embargoed” and post to the newsroom in the same hour.

How it differs

A media pitch is a personal note arguing why this release is that reporter’s story. A media advisory flags an event (time, place, who will speak) and is not a substitute for the news. A holding statement is the shortest public line in a crisis and should not be dressed as a launch release.

Common errors

Headline in corporate jargon. Quote that restates the headline. No phone number. Wiring a non-story and then telling the CEO “we were in 200 outlets.” Blocking the newsroom in robots.txt so the only indexed copy is a syndicate page that points nowhere useful.

Sources