Years ago at a daily newspaper, I often watched the photo editor sort through the pile of press releases on his desk.
On busy days, he would simply throw all of them in the garbage without reading any.
“Sorry folks, we’ve got real news today,” he would say as he dropped the press releases into the trash.
On slow news days, he would look through the press releases and summarize the bad ones as: “Give me some free advertising”, “Help me make more money”, “Help me sell more crap.”
“Don’t these people know we’re a newspaper? Where’s the news?” he would rhetorically ask as he dumped the rejected press releases into the garbage.
The problem was that many press releases were just companies asking for free publicity. Most press releases are sent out when a business wants something from the news media. This is exactly the wrong thing to do.
Newsworthy Story
Press releases should be about a company offering something to the news media. That something is newsworthy and timely information.
Newsworthiness is judged from the news media’s point of view, not the company’s. Just because a company has a new product, that doesn’t mean it’s newsworthy.
News value is partly determined by the time (e.g. Christmas products aren’t newsworthy in April). But it’s mostly determined by the story around the product or company (e.g. Christmas products could be newsworthy in April with the right story).
The job of a publicist, public relations agency or corporate communications person is to find the right story. This is where a background in journalism is very important. Journalists know not only how to find an interesting story but also how to craft the right story for the right time.
The same goes for press release photography. A press release is only as good as its accompanying pictures. It goes to reason that the best public relations photographer is one with a background in journalism. This type of photographer is trained to tell a story with each picture.
