Week 8.

Seeing as I am itching to be a journalist and consequently live and breathe writing, this week’s readings really appealed to me.
I knew that being a PR practitioner involved being a skilled writer, but I had only thought of this in a strategic sense. Ie) they had to just be very good at thinking of ways to write campaigns to ensure they were going to appeal to target publics and thus, be successful.
This week’s readings however made me think about Public Relations theory and practice in a new light, as I realised that practitioners also need to know how to write accurately and competently in news form for a number of different publications so that their work will appeal to journalists.

The article, “To Contact…or not?: Investigating Journalist’s Assessments of Public Relations Subsidies and Sontact Preferences,” Sallot & Johnson (2006) effectively discusses how journalists perceive public relations practitioners writing skills, which is poorly! This was really surprising, (hence the exclaimation mark) however, it was very helful as it provided me with some really good tips. I learnt that when I am a PR practitioner, ( if I choose pursue it, journalism is calling my name), I must have a sound knowledge of how a newsroom operates, ie) who receives media releases and what I should include in them to ensure my story appeals to the journalist receiving them. We learnt a little bit about this in Introduction to professional writing last semester so at least I’m on my way to learning.

The readings “Writing a Media Release,” ( Tymson, C., Lazar, P. & Lazar, R. (2006), and “How to...ten Steps to Press Release Perfection,” (2006) broadened my understanding of this aspect of PR even further. They both looked at how to write effective media releases and stressed how important it is to include information that will attract your decided target audience.
I learnt alot from these readings, particularly “How to…ten Steps to Press Release Perfection,” (2006). I believe the key points to remember from this reading are, that when writing a media release:
Make sure you are presenting information of genuine worth that appeals not only to a journalist, but your target audience.
Keep it short and succinct, anything important should be said in the first sentence.
Avoid blatant commercialism. Don't use cliché s, and
ensure your headline is relevant along with visually and orally appealing, as it may be the only thing that grabs the attention of the editor if they receive the release via email or fax.
I believe the most important point to remember however, is to provide as much information in the release - statistics, quotes, etc to help support your angle of the story as possible. This is because it will make it easy for the reporter and therefore, it is more likely to get published the way you desire.

“The Importance of Writing Skills” by Kurt Wise (2005) however, also investigates the opinions of public relations agency personnel towards the writing skills of entry-level practitioners.
This reading was precise and informative, thus causing it too to expanded my education of PR practice because it stressed that PR practitioners need to have versatile writing skills, as they need to be able to change their style for different publications and target publics. Wise particularly stresses this is the case for writing for the web.
He informs that there is a large difference in writing for the web, as you need to write more concisely and use conversational tone that is also enticing. This is because people using the internet need to be able to find information quickly. (Wise, 2005).
“How to...ten Steps to Press Release Perfection,” (2006) also stresses the importance of this skill, as it states
“Don't think one-size-fits-all. The proliferation of media sources and the varying styles between the different formats may dictate the need to create alternative versions of the news release in order to penetrate the different media.”
This article was therefore very useful in helping me understand how essential it is for me to be versatile in my writing.
Therefore, the readings this week made me think a lot more about Public Relations in practice, as they taught me that effective writing skills are essential. The most important thing I learnt was that you need to have versatile writing skills and know what publication needs what style of writing, ie) writing for the web is very different to writing a media release, as it needs to be more concise and conversational. I also gained a stronger understanding of how important it is to write effectively for journalists within media releases, because if you do so, your information has a higher chance of being reported just how you desired.

This week I commented Kellie O'Sullivan's blog.
References:
How to...ten steps to press release perfection.(2006). PR News. Potomac: Mar 20, 2006. 62, (12), 1.
Sallot, M. & Johnson, A. (2006). To contact … or not?: Investigating journalist's assessments of public relations subsidies and contact preferences. Public Relations Review. 32(1) 83-86
Tymson, C., Lazar, P. & Lazar, R. (2006). Writing a media release. In C. Tymson, P. Lazar, P. and R. Lazar, (Eds). The New Australian and New Zealand Public Relations Manual. (5th ed.) (pp. 74-117). Manly: Tymson Communications.
Wise, K. (2005). The importance of writing skills. Public Relations Quarterly; Summer 2005 50, (2), 37. ABI/INFORM Global.