Tuesday, November 09, 2010
Is the News Release Dead?
I previously blogged about the concept of dubious declarations of death. This blog specifically examines the declarations that news releases are dead.
First, I must acknowledge that I have some skin in this game. I founded Newswise, a news release delivery technology company. So I care, but I also have evidence; and so long as I’m not delusional, I’m in a good place to determine whether those items I’m delivering are dead or not. But let’s look at the literature and examine these false declarations of death.
You can search Google for “press release is dead” and find what I found, but I’m weeding through and reviewing them for you.
1. Die! Press release! Die! Die! Die!
Tom Foremski (in 2006) was asking for them to die. First, he’s talking about commercial press releases, specifically, and his bottom line is that he wants them written better not murdered. He was calling for an evolution, not death, but he did continue to use the wrong, or inappropriate, words to criticize bad communications. He called for design and format changes rather than attacking or killing the central concept of the news release. He was working on the margins, not the core, as are all those who say the news release is dead; they are looking at the periphery rather than the heart.
“The press release is a statement announcing a product, service, office opening, financial results, partnership, customer win, and a hundred other types of commercial activities. Press releases are nearly useless.
“Press releases are created by committees, edited by lawyers, and then sent out at great expense through Businesswire or PRnewswire to reach the digital and physical trash bins of tens of thousands of journalists. This madness has to end.”
Foremski goes on to tell them how to write a good press release, including, first, “provide a brief description of what the announcement is,” which is what we call a lead or lede.
Here’s a good response to Tom: “It’s the content, not the format, that’s the problem.”
2. The Press Release is Dead (Will Somebody Please Tell the Clients?)
(You must register and login to access this site, and there’s not really enough to merit doing that in this case.)
“These days, we write fewer and fewer press releases—most are the obligatory personnel announcements, with the periodic feature release sprinkled in between. We just don’t see them as being as important a tool for PR as they once were. Yes, there are exceptions. For disclosure purposes, news releases are mandatory for occurrences or developments that could materially impact a publicly held company.”
She doesn’t even try to support her headline, so why doesn’t she change it?
3. The Traditional Press Release Is Dead!
“One of the major problems with the formats allowed on BusinessWire and PR Newswire is that they were created for print releases.”
B.L. Ochman again suggests changes to the news release to make it a better fit for the Internet. She criticises the releases on BusinessWire and PR Newswire, not the essence of the news release concept. She is mainly trying to get PR pros to write better news releases, e.g.: “The lead paragraph of a release should state its point in 40 words or less.”
Again, she is contradicting her headline and attacking poor writing, not the news release.
4. RIP, the Press Release (1906-2010)—and Long Live the Tweet
“The long-suffering, much-maligned press release, I’d argue, finally died this summer, thanks particularly to JetBlue and BP, with a little moral support from Kanye West and just about every other celebrity with thumbs. (Of course, press releases will probably continue to stumble along, zombie-like, for years to come, because too many PR folks are still heavily invested in grinding them out.)”
Bottom line: Do the experts really believe what they are boldly claiming? Or is the headline used for shock value? By not backing their opinion up with facts or even their own consistency, they contradict their point. If anything should be declared dead, it is that kind of thinking.
There is a thoughtful conversation about news releases. Here’s a blog from 2008. The Press Release Is Not Dead, It Has Evolved
News is not dead, and therefore attempts to influence or seed news are not dead. News releases are not dead, but they need to contain news to live up to their name.
There are a lot of “news releases” that don’t contain news, and they upset people. People wish they would die. It’s not the news that’s dead. When you say something is dead, make sure you’ve got the dead thing identified. They are confusing their dislike for a particular category with a species.
Reporters agree, “News releases are our lifeblood.” A news release is simply a source, or a surrogate source. When it’s well done, it’s a well-crafted introduction to a real news story.
The more appropriate questions for our profession are:
* how to write an effective news release, and
* how is the new release evolving.
I will be exploring these concepts in future blogs.
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