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I’ve railed about the amount of money squandered by the PR industry in the name of the news release.

Thanks to the internet commoditizing news announcements, I’m guessing that the media ignores a good 95 percent of the news releases flung over the fence. And out of those 5 percent that actually get a look, only a fraction make their way into the media.

We often counsel clients that if you have to write a news release to satisfy what we’ll term “internal forces,” there’s logic in keeping the missive short to reduce the amount of writing time.

Yet, the San Francisco 49ers did not craft the succinct — perhaps 16 words is better described as terse — news release on Anthony Davis in a quest to save budget.

This is how the news release appears on the 49ers’ website.San Francisco 49ers Anthony Davis Retires press releaseYou can’t even read between the lines. There’s barely more than one line.

I applaud the 49ers for stripping out the flowery language that too often adorns the news release.

Still, the 49ers delivered a message that Mr. Davis shouldn’t expect a Starbucks gift card this coming Christmas from team owner Jed York. No, he’s on his own when in need of a double chai latte.

Judging from his tweet over a week ago, the 49ers’ action did not blind side (can’t resist a bad pun) Davis.San Francisco 49ers Anthony Davis tweetThat’s the right attitude, Anthony.

Don’t take that one-line news release personally.


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