Writing Effective News Releases

Ten Simple Steps to a Successful News Release

Some faculty and staff (especially those in county Extension offices) may write their own news releases to promote or generate coverage of programs or accomplishments of interest to a smaller, local audience. We hope you find the following steps useful as you prepare a news release:

1. Remember the primary objective. A news release is designed to entice an editor or reporter to follow up and obtain more information in order to write an article; that may involve calling you or attending a seminar or workshop you are conducting. You aren't trying to get them to run the release verbatim (although some smaller newspapers, which may have limited staff, will).

2. Make certain the subject is newsworthy. Not every research or education program is of interest to every publication's readers. If your news releases are limited to the really important news/programs, editors and reporters will be more likely to pay attention to them. Ask yourself: Is the release about something that affects-or could affect-the lives of the newspaper's readers in some way? Is it linked to important societal events or trends? Does it have a local angle?

3. Start with a concise, informative headline. Its purpose is to tell the reporter or editor what the release is about and entice them to read it.

4. Make your release short, accurate, and to the point. Limit it to no more than two sides of one piece of paper, double-spaced. If there is a lot of background material, include an information sheet with the release, but don't clutter up the main release with technical detail that editors and readers may not care about.

5. Grab the reader's attention. Put the most important information-who, what, when, where, and why-along with some sort of "hook" (why the editor/reporter/readers should care about the information) in the first paragraph or two. You may want to lead off with a challenging fact or provocative statistic.

6. Include quotes to humanize the information, but only if they're interesting. When it comes to quotes, only the strong should survive.

7. Include contact information: names, phone numbers, email addresses, and a release date. Respond to reporters' questions promptly.

8. Remember that neatness counts. Proofread your copy carefully, one line at a time. Editors are turned off by poor writing, spelling and punctuation errors, and typos.

9. Address your release to the appropriate person by name and title. If you don't know the name of the editor or program director, call.

10. Send your release early enough to meet publication deadlines.

For more information, contact Pam Townsend

Last updated: 03/13/2009