New Media & PR: Press releases need a rethink as the web changes the media landscape

Published February - March 2007

What’s the future of the press release in today’s web world?

In a nutshell - needing to get back to fundamentals.  The much maligned press release faces more pressure than ever before.  Not just because it is has been abused over the years; but because technology had fundamentally changed the media scene.

Ironically it was just over 100 years ago - on Sunday October 28, 1906 - when what is acknowledged as the first press release was issued.

So in order to better understand the future of the press - or media - release it might be helpful to trace its evolution.

How did the first press release come about?

It was the brainchild of an external consultant, Ivy Leadbetter Lee, who referred to himself as a ‘public relations counselor’.  The release followed the derailment of a train owned by the Pennsylvania Railroad that resulted in the loss of 57 lives. 

Lee not only recommended that the company issue a statement to newspapers regarding the accident, but also persuaded the railroad to run a special train to take reporters to the scene of the accident.  As a result the New York Times published the press release word-for-word on its front page.  Soon the Pennsylvania Railroad was earning praise from American media for its openness and apparent concern for safety.

In the days when business was distrustful and fearful of the media, the concept of an organisation openly admitting to an accident and voluntarily going to the media was unheard of.   

How did the press release evolve?

From this the press release evolved over many decades to what it is today.  Superficially, little has changed, in that the press release:

·     Was a conduit to reach the general public through a source they trusted - the media.

·     Became an information delivery mechanism - specifically designed for media consumption.

·     Was designed to alert media to newsworthy occurrences - and to serve as a basis for the media to write its own story.

·     Was generally written in a style and format that replicated that used by media itself.

What’s the status of the press release today?

Thousands of forests later, the press release has become a much abused tool.  After years of manipulation by organisations it suffers from a bad reputation.  And much of it is deserved.

The principal problems facing the press (or increasingly the ‘media’ release as it is often called today) is that it is no longer written taking into account the media’s needs or that of the end reader, viewer or listener.  Press releases become documents written from the organisation’s perspective (as evidenced by how many start with the organisation’s name).

Common mistakes made include:

·     Writing releases for the wrong reason - internal pressures, to spike competitors or simply to be seen to be ‘regularly releasing stuff’. 

·     Writing releases in the wrong language.  Gone are the days when media release were crafted by experienced journalists who ‘knew the game’.  These days releases are often written by an assortment of people - lawyers, marketing people and accountants - who have no conception of what is media ‘style’.  It’s become a corporate document, which must meet corporate guidelines - not the media’s!

·     Sending releases to the wrong media.  This has become particularly prevalent since the advent of the electronic age.  Press a button and it’s just as easy to send it to 100 media as five.  Never mind that the release is only relevant to five!

·     Not understanding NEWS.  Media are bombarded by irrelevant material that often has no news value.  This is because most of today’s pr people have an academic - rather than a news training. 

But overall, the biggest mistake made is that many organisations see press releases as a complete tool in their own right.  They are not. They work best when they supplement personal relationships built up with media that are relevant and important to an organisation. 

Ivy Lee may have issued the first press release - but what was more important was that he and the Pennsylvania Railroad personally engaged with the media by giving them access to the accident site.  His press release would not have had the credibility it did without this.

So what’s the future of the press release?

In reality traditional media is no longer as relevant as it was.  The days are gone when people with an interest in a subject simply waited to see what their daily newspaper has published.

Nowadays the media is no longer the conduit to the end consumer.  Increasingly the consumer - via the web - wants to access news and information themselves.  In fact recent a recent Network PR/Galaxy Research study showed that 66% of online Australians turn to the internet for news updates in preference to TV, radio and newspapers.

This means that issuers of press releases need to go back to the principles espoused by Ivy Lee and the early PR practitioners who wrote very much with the end audience in mind.

There is a new type of editor - the search engine.  To get ‘published’ by search engines organisations will have to start writing much more precisely targeting the interests of the consumer.

So in future press releases will likely fall into two categories:

·     Those that are sent to traditional media for them to assess, edit, re-write and publish if they consider the content relevant to their readers.  The pros - there’s an intermediary who can polish the copy and target the story at the end consumer.  The cons - you have no control over the final copy.

·     Those that are aimed at the web and therefore have to stand as they are and be written with the end consumer very much in mind.  Pros - you have the opportunity for the consumer to see exactly what you want.  Cons - it will take much more skill, and discipline, in order to achieve.

This means that the easy ‘one release covers all’ approach and let the media sort it out will no longer be sufficient.  Those responsible for communication will need to be more aware of their end audiences and assertive with management in raising standards.

100 years after Ivy Lee first conceived the press release perhaps we are on the verge of moving back closer to the basic principles of the press release.  If, as ‘new media’ pundits opine, the power is again with the people, then chances are that people like Lee will once again flourish.  We will have come full circle!

Network PR, the publisher of ‘PR Influences, specialises in business, technology and digital communication, and provides a range of both traditional and online media-related services. For further general information www.networkpr.com.au  to view Network PR’s website, or network.syd@networkpr.com.au specific assistance.