A company announces a new appointment. Its press release calls the news exciting. The journalist's question is more basic: why should anyone outside the business care?
The Editors’ Code requires participating publications to take care over accuracy and to distinguish comment, conjecture and fact. An unsupported promotional claim does not become evidence simply because it appears in a release.
Journalists are not short of content. They are short of stories which are timely, relevant and worth a reader’s attention.
A press release is not a story
The format is not the point. A story needs a clear development, a reason for it to matter and a consequence beyond the organisation which issued the release.
A new appointment, product, partnership or award may matter to a business. On its own, it rarely matters to a wider audience.
The first question should be simple: why should anyone outside the company care? If there is no convincing answer, no amount of distribution will turn the release into news.
Start with newsworthiness
News has movement. It may reveal a shift in a market, affect customers, create jobs, challenge an accepted view or show something changing in the real world.
Timing matters too. A strong story connects with an issue which journalists and readers are already discussing, without forcing a tenuous link.
The most useful test is often the most direct one: would a journalist be able to explain the point of this story in one sentence? If not, the angle needs more work.
Write publication-ready content
We use the phrase publication-ready content deliberately. It means writing which gives a journalist something they could use, rather than material they must rewrite from scratch.
The headline should carry the news. The opening should explain what has happened and why it matters. The supporting copy should add context, evidence and a quote which moves the story forward.
This is not about pretending to be a newspaper. It is about understanding how news is structured and respecting the reader’s time.
Objectivity makes a release stronger
Businesses often weaken their own announcement by trying to control every conclusion. The result is a release which sounds less like news and more like an advert.
Good releases include facts which can be checked, context which makes the claim meaningful and a clear distinction between evidence and opinion. They acknowledge limitations where they exist.
Balance does not mean talking down a genuine achievement. It means giving the achievement enough substance to stand up without inflated language.
Remove the marketing language
Words such as “leading”, “ground-breaking”, “unique” and “world-class” are not evidence. In most cases, they tell a journalist nothing.
The same applies to jargon. If a reader cannot understand the point without knowing the company’s internal language, the release has failed its first task.
Plain English is more authoritative. Specific facts are more persuasive.
The real test
A strong press release does not ask a journalist to do the work. It arrives with a clear story, a credible case and useful material which can be checked and used.
Before issuing one, ask: is this genuinely newsworthy? Is the angle clear? Is every claim supported? Would the story still make sense with the company name removed?
A press release earns attention when it contains a story, not merely an announcement. If the wider consequence cannot be explained clearly, the writing is not finished.
We create publication-ready content which turns genuine business developments into stories journalists can use.
If this approach is relevant to a current challenge, we are happy to discuss it.
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