Reading Summary Chapter 5 and Chapter 6

Chapter 5: Writing the News Release 

• Because so many news releases do not get published, 3 things must be uniform in a news release in order for it to be published 
• Standardized format, provide information that interests an audience, material must be timely 
• Why a news release? 
• Help achieve objectives, cost effective, and serve the needs of media
• Planning worksheet
• What is the subject of the message? 
• Who is the message designed to reach?
• What is in it for the particular audience? 
• What goal is the organization pursuing?
• What do you want to achieve with the news release?
• What key messages should this news release highlight?
• Who, what, where, why and how should be included in planning a news release
• Basic components of a news release
• Letterhead: The first page of the release has the organization’s letterhead. Some companies have a letterhead specifically for news releases. Letterhead usually includes name of company, address, telephone, and website.
• Contacts: All news releases should have a contact so if the reporter was to have any questions they could ask this person. Name, telephone, and email address are suitable, but more information can be given like twitter handle.
• Headline: The most important aspect of the story to give the journalist an indication about what the press release is about. The text should be slightly larger than the body, it should be written in active present tense and it should only have about eight to ten words in the title. 
• Dateline: The city where the release originated from appears at the beginning of the lead paragraph in all capital letters. It is accompanied by the date of the release. 
• The lead: Most important part of the whole release is the lead paragraph. It opens up the release with the most interesting point and only that. The rest of the release can go into details and other points. 
• Three types of leads: 
• Straight summary lead
• Informal lead- gives facts but in an informal way
• Feature lead- raises reader’s interest 
• Body of text: The rest of the details of the release are included in the body of text. These should be details that help the story, but if they were to get taken out, a reader could still understand. 
• Inverted pyramid
• Part one: Must have information
• Part two: Information that is helpful but not necessary
• Part three: least important, but nice to have 
• Description of organization (7th element of release that is sometimes included): This is a standard paragraph at the end of the release that provides background information about the company. It is often called a boilerplate. Information that can be included is market position, aspiration, size, scope of business activity, geographic coverage and company core values. 
• Traditional news release: double spaced, margins are 2 in from top and 1.5 all around, 10 to 12 point standard font, number the pages
• Online news release: single spaced, length should be between 200-250 words, brevity, subject line in email is most important factor, contact information should be at the bottom, a quote in larger type is often highlighted in the body of the news release 
• Multimedia news release: referred to as a social media release, include links to pages, place keywords in headlines and first paragraphs, distribute release throughout a service that carries hyperlinks to downstream sites, use high resolution media that can be easily downloaded, be selective of photos and videos 

Chapter 6: Preparing Fact Sheets, Advisories, Media Kits, and Pitches

• Fact sheets: One page background sheets about an event, product, or organizations
• Event or exhibit announcements-fact sheet for an upcoming event, exhibit, or trade show, includes basic information like name of the event, sponsor, location, date and time, purpose of event, expected attendance, list of prominent people on program 
• Company profile: fact sheet that gives key information about company, includes information like full name and headquarters address, product and services produced, markets served, annual revenues, stock market ticker, number of employees, name of CEO, position in industry, name of public relations person and contact information 
• Product specification sheets-fact sheet that summarizes a new product’s characteristics, includes nutrition information, production process, pricing, availability, convenience, how it serves consumer needs, another form of this would be a FAQ on a company’s website 
• Media advisories, media alerts: these tell assignment editors about upcoming events that they might be interested in
• contain elements like date, headline announcing event, contact information, brief description, appropriate five Ws and one H, interview opportunities, visual elements, brief paragraph giving background of sponsoring organization 
• Media kit, press kit: prepared for major events, gives editors and reporters a variety of information and resources that will make it easier for reporters to write about topic 
• usually includes main news release, new feature, fact sheets, background information, photos and drawing with captions, biographical material on senior executive, and several short brochures 
• digital media kit are more often used because of the cost effectiveness, and expand potential audience 
• Pitching a story
• research the publication: a pitch must be customized to a particular journalist, editor, and publication 
• Email pitch: short, sentences should be clean, sharp and to the point, and should have an enticing lead, subject line is probably the most important part 
• Telephone pitch: enough facts to support a full story, an angle of interest to the readers of the publication, alternative angles, offer to help secure stats and quotes, have credibility, and offer to follow up to get a decision from the editor 
• Twitter pitch: build a relationship with journalist or blogger before making pitch