Op-ed submitted by Don Bates, APR, Fellow PRSA, Managing Director, MDS (Media Distribution Services)

Considering they’re written for the press, why do so many agency practitioners write news releases that read like sales promotions (i.e., bloated with verbiage, hype and boilerplate)?

I’ve asked this question again and again over more than 30 years of writing and editing hundreds of news releases—in corporations, agencies and not-for-profit organizations, as a part-time professor (most recently at Columbia University), and as the instructor of PR writing workshops, most notably for PRSA-NY.

One online PR editor thinks the answer is money. In his view, news releases are a big billing tool, so in his mind the writers pad them with all kinds of non-essential information that allow their agencies to charge more for their services. Longer releases take longer to write.

I’m sure billable hours play a role in some agencies, but no amount of hours can account for why so many releases read like marketing presentations. Something more elemental is at work:

• For one thing, the writers don’t have anything newsworthy to write about. Either the story isn’t there to begin with or—and this is more likely—they haven’t figured out what the story is. But since they have to write something in order to justify their fees, they plow ahead with promotional puff, which may not please the press but always pleases the client. Instead of waiting until they have a newsworthy story to tell, they fall back on good old “spin.”
• For another thing, the writers don’t know how to write for the press. If they did, why would they send soapsuds instead of substance? Why wouldn’t they give the media what they want: real story not made-up stuff, simple language not jargon, short copy not long, substantive not gratuitous quotes, journalistic not idiosyncratic style, and so forth? What’s to fear in meeting your target audience’s needs?
• Lastly (and probably the worst case scenario), the writers are often told what and how to write by bosses who themselves don’t know how to write good news releases. As a result, the writers are caught between a rock and a hard place. Rather than risk their jobs fighting for what they know would be better, they do what they’re told and hope for the best. 

So how do we change things for the better? How do we get PR writers to write more effective news releases?

First and foremost, we need to get them to take news release writing more seriously. We need to engage them in discussions about the end game—what the media want and why we are obliged to deliver it accordingly if we really want to serve our clients’ interests. But they can’t do it alone. They need a lot of support.

In particular, their agencies or departments need to make a substantial investment of time and money to help their staff improve—with workshops, tutorials, homework and other incentives. How many hire consultants to teach writing? How many send their staff to writing workshops? How many run contests for the best-written releases? How many give cash bonuses or days off for the best writing in a given week or month? How many make writing a linchpin of promotions and pay?

Until PR agency writers are taught to write more critically and purposefully, they will continue to create the kind of news releases that journalists love to ridicule and that make most PR practitioners look more like amateurs than professionals at what they do.

Don Bates, APR, Fellow PRSA, a well-known PR practitioner, teaches private and public PR writing workshops for PRSA-NY and other organizations. He is on the board of PRSA-NY and is an Honorary Trustee of the Institute for Public Relations. He has taught at many universities, including the New School University, the New York Institute of Technology and Columbia University. He can be reached at batesdon1@msn.com or 917-913-8940.