Elements of a Powerful Press Release

Journalists are always on the lookout for News and they like to know, What happens during the course of a day, When it happens? Where an event has happened? What was the reason for the occurrence? Who was responsible for the news-making?

There are some people who make the News. There are some people who read the News, while there are some who become the News. It is the journalist who reports the News for the benefit of those who make the News, those who read the News and for those who become the News.

The elements of a powerful Press Release are a few but note-worthy .A story must be relevant, focused, timely, readable and presentable. A well written press release must have all the ingredients of News, which makes it worthy of getting into print for the voracious readers of the newspaper or the medium of the internet.

Relevance: The press release should be of relevance on an issue which does not in a hurry make the news, but when it does, it is of great interest to the general public. “When a dog bites a man that is not news, but when a man bites a dog, that is news”.- John B. Bogart (1845-1920), US Journalist.

Focus: The press release should contain the information which the journalist will need in order to write a good article with sufficient information. 

Time: This is one of the very important aspects of a well written press release. News must be fresh for the newspaper which is “hot off the press”. Old news is simply not news, but material for the history sections of the newspapers. A press release should be up-to-date, with really interesting content and which would generate interest in the person, place or the organization which is News.

Well Written: A readable press release is one which is created with an intention of making it simple for the reader to understand the message. The release should not contain much jargon which the reader would not understand. The message should be straight to the point.

Presentation: The overall presentation should make it seem that it has some interesting information. This means that the release should be presented like a news story, with distinctive type, making it clear and readable.