Monday, October 27, 2008

Violent Desires for Press Releases

After reading Tom Foremski's blog (Die! Press Release! Die! Die! Die), I feel I should hate traditional press releases. However, I know that in certain instances they are a neccessary. That being said, I found myself agreeing with his views even though I felt a little out of the loop (His blog was published in 2006). His inflammatory post called for a standardized format for media news releases (or social news releases).

Foremski proposed altering the format of the traditional press release into the following sections: a brief description (minus spin), page of qoutes from executives, customers, and analysts, financial information in a variety of formats, and links (inside copy as well as additional sources).

Public relations practioners who utlize social news releases have the oppurtunity to provide interactive information regarding their topic. If practioners use the format proposed by Foremski, journalists may view that organization more favorably because of lack of spin and useful links. Therefore, I think public relations practioners who utlize social news releases are more likely to get stories published due to the more informative nature of the release.

2 comments:

Jameser said...

Maggie,

Good post. It made me consider two different questions though. First, what exactly is his definition of "spin"? I mean, in some degree it is the PR professionals job to add spin. Second, I wonder if he still feels the same way two years later? A lot has changed from 2006 to 2008, it would be interesting to see his current opinion.

-James

Unknown said...

I agree! It seems that social news releases would be a better route for PR practitioners to take, plus be looked upon more favorably by journalists. I think the interactive aspect through the social news release and use of the internet is great and of course in this day and age with social media networks "taking over" (sometimes it feels like social media networks are just swallowing all other forms of communication), this interactivity and connection is crucial. Although James brings up a good point, I wonder how the views of this man have changed now 2 years later.