Why the news release is officially over
The debate over the usefulness of the release in PR might never be settled. Is the two-sentence email or social media pitch its rightful heir, poised to steer the family in a new direction?
Telling media relations pros that the news release is dead might be too harsh.
Let me rephrase: “The news release hasn’t been useful for a long time.”
The concept of sending journalists a summary or synopsis to propose a story idea is not dead, nor will it ever be, as long as there are still reporters to pitch.
Let’s stop calling it “a release,” though. It’s a pitch, and if our clients insist on calling it a news release, why waste energy in objecting? A rose is a rose, right?
Wrong.
The differences between a press release and a news release
First, we should sever the word “press” from release and kill it. Calling something a news release is a more accurate moniker, given that most publishers no longer use a printing press (some never have).
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