WHAT GOES INTO A PRESS RELEASE?
A Press Release is a piece of information that is disseminated to the Press, or media houses, for favour of publication. It tells the Editor or the journalist about the person or company in question. It contains the five basics of a journalistic story � Who, Where, When, What, Why. It�s important to know what goes into a Press Release, and we fill you in.
Firstly, there are the words �Press Release� written in Caps, at the top of the page. Otherwise how would the journalist know what it is? Incidentally, the Press Release should always be printed on a letterhead, doing so on blank paper makes it look crude. The headline is crisp, concise, and the first letter should be in Caps. Also, the headline should not be a complete sentence, for instance, there should not be any articles or unnecessary adjectives. For example: �Company XYZ signs MOU with Company ABC.� Note that it is �MOU� in the headline, and not �A MOU�.
A Press Release also contains the Date, City, and State, from where the Release is being issued. Then comes the text of the Press Release. The body of the first paragraph should contain the basic information, and be crisp and to-the-point. Ideally, an Editor or journalist should be able to grasp the story idea from the first paragraph itself. The second paragraph would be elaborating, giving details, perhaps a quote or two. The third and final paragraph would be a summation of what has already been said in the Press Release.
A good strategy is to follow the Pyramid structure in Press Releases. Just as a Pyramid has the sharp point at the top, a Press Release should have its most important information in the first paragraph, followed by the less important information, and that would be followed by a brief recapitulation. How is this beneficial? If a journalist is taking the story, he will cut the information from the bottom, so if you�ve given the main information at the end of the Press Release, you are in for trouble! Follow the Pyramid structure and you cannot the go wrong.
A Press Release should also contain the name of the Contact Person, whom the journalist can get in touch with if more questions and clarifications are required. Contact details like address, telephone number, and email address should also be provided. Finally, �###� goes at the end of the Press Release, to signify the end.
Ideally, concise information should go into the Press Release. The news peg itself should be worthy of publication. As the writer of a Press Release, you should make it clear why people should care about the product / service, or whatever it is you are talking about in the Press Release. Think like a journalist, and write like a journalist � this ensures that the Press Release will require as little editing as possible.