Press Releases By Chelios Vuong

What is Press Release • Media release, news release, press release, trade release • Is a document that announces the news about the story at the heart of a campaign.

• Advantages – Cost effective and efficient

• Goal is to inform the media of your organizations news and provide them with information that will make them interested in publicizing the news to their audience.

History of the Press Release

Ivy Ledbetter Lee • Founding father of public relations • Graduated out of Princeton in Journalism • 1906 was hired by Rockefeller Family to help sway public opinion from striking trade unions at one of their Colorado mines. • While working for the Rockefeller family he wrote the first Press release to tell the coal company side of the strike story.

• 1914 the mining company hired hit men to murder striking miners and their families. • Ivy then began spreading lies about strikers among papers and send out press release accusing an elderly union organizer called “mother jones” of being a prostitute. • He earned the nickname “Poison Ivy”

How to write a Media Release

• Audience – Media release should be written with the audience in mind. It is not uncommon for several versions of a media release to be written for different publications

• Spelling Grammar must be perfect

• Avoid Exclamation points or excessive adjectives – Should not sound like an advertisement.

• Don't use contractions • Should be written in the Third Person – “He/she” and “they” should be used – Avoid “I”, “me”, “we”

• Accurate – Facts and figures in the news release must be accurate – Everything should be sourced

• Must answer the 5 Ws. • It should be written with the goal that the Journalist will copy and paste the whole thing into their publication. • Must have a key message and objective

• Letter Head • Headline – Should either be attention grabbing or professional sounding depending on situation.

• Body Paragraphs – 5 Ws – Supplementary information – Describe Benefits not just features – Quotes • • • •

Should add new information and be interesting Offer insight into the benefit Must be approved Use verbs or action oriented words.

• Boiler Plate – Short paragraph that describes the organization that is distributing the release. – Should be like the about page on a website or short organization history – Separate paragraph to avoid detracting from the lead.

• Contact Information – Of the person who is handling media calls.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (ALL CAPS, bold) Date (bold) Headline (All CAPS, bold) Subhead (Italics) City, Province (bold) – Body Copy Boiler Plate -30- or XX or ## or -ENDMedia Inquires (bold) Name Phone Number Email

• Usually 12 point standard font Times New Roman or Arial • Generous white space and large margins • Should be copied and pasted into body of email and sent. • Should never be more than 2 pages long ideally 1 page.

• www.mint.ca/store/news/to2015-unveilsoneofakind-medals-a-unique-product-of-theamericas24200044?cat=News+releases&nId=700002& parentnId=600004&nodeGroup=About+the+ Mint

• Write a Press Release about the Cross Canada Check In or Your Voice. Your Canada campaign.