Back to Basics: fundamentals of media release writing
Posted Sep 24, 03:08 PM
Journalists do not have the luxury of time or space to paint an elaborate picture of everything that happens every day. They get to the point. Writing for the media essentially involves thinking like a journalist.
For many people new to the process, the first stumbling block is discarding the familiar ’beginning, middle and end’ format. In a media release, all the key facts come first. The lead sentence needs to capture the essence of the story. Remember to include the 5 W’s and H: Who, What, Where, When, Why and How. This is critical, because if a journalist can’t get the gist of the story quickly they may stop reading and put your release in the ‘too hard’ basket (a.k.a the wastepaper bin). This is especially true of larger media outlets where journalists may be inundated with releases.
Every subsequent sentence needs to present information in descending order of importance. This is referred to as the inverted pyramid. As the release gets longer (and the pyramid gets wider) the information becomes less and less important. Each sentence in the release is a paragraph in its own right. Ideally, journalists should be able to cut paragraphs from the bottom of your release without impacting on the readers’ understanding of the story.
To effectively master this style you must write clearly and practice word economy:
only include relevant and factual details
avoid emotive, flowery language
write in the third person
avoid clichés, jargon, abbreviations and slang
spell out acronyms in the first instance
explain technical terms.
Plain English is always clearer and ensures your writing is accessible to a wide audience. For instance, when attributing quotes it’s always preferable to use ‘said’ before alternatives like ‘exclaimed’, ‘declared’, or ‘asserted’. Quotes should expand on information already provided in the release. Be selective about when you use direct (inside quote marks) or indirect quotes.
Try to keep the release to one page, include a catchy headline, and finish with ‘Ends’. Finally, when in doubt it’s always useful to look at examples. All you need is a newspaper – would your release fit in?
Getting the basic journalistic style right is an essential first step in getting your media releases noticed.
