Reflection, Unit 3.1

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We got to put our learning from the last unit into action this unit in PR writing by crafting our first news releases. 

Before actually writing our releases, we looked at the proper format of a news release. The top of the release should contain release instructions and contact information of the point of contact for an organization. It should be single-spaced.

Next, the headline, centered and single-spaced, should be right before the first graf of the release, summarizing the information in the reader is about to read and intriguing the reader to actually read the release. 

Now, the first graf should follow the headline. This graf, the lede, should summarize the important information in no more than 30 words. A dateline featuring the city of publication and the date should precede the lede. This graf and succeeding grafs should be double-spaced. 

All grafs should be indented. The second graph is the bridge. This links the lede with the body of the release. The "why" and the "how" are good subjects for this graf. 

Following the bridge is the rest of the body. Information should follow the inverted pyramid, with the most important information at towards the top and the least important towards the bottom. 

If the release is more than a page, a "-MORE-" symbol should be at the bottom center of the first page. On the subsequent pages, the writer, slugline and page number (written in the form 2-2-2-2, for example) should appear at the top left corner of the page, single-spaced. 

At the end of the story, one should include an end-of-story symbol in the form of "-30-" or "###". 

The boilerplate, which usually includes organization information and other contact information, comes after (though it can come before) the end-of-story symbol. The boilerplate should be single-spaced. 

After examining the format of a press release, we were to look for a press release online, mark it up showing its different parts and upload a picture of it. I chose a release from the Sonic fast food chain. The release was missing several elements discussed in this unit, but there are many ways to formulate a news release. It all has to do with company preference. 

Now, we wrote two releases. The first one was a general release for the Tipton Children's Home in Tipton, OK. The release was to give pertinent information about the home. The second release was to be about a Bikeathon event the Children's Home was to host. 

Out of both releases, I would say the first one was the most difficult to write. It was difficult to find a news element to stress. The next hardest part was arranging the information from most important to least important. I structured my release to give some background information while stating the main mission of the home first and then adding other information that is not so important. I am fairly satisfied with my final release. I know there is room for improvement, but that is the point of this class. 

The second release was much easier since we had an easily-identifiable news element to stress with the event. I structured it to give the what, where, and when towards the beginning. I saved the details about how to register for the event toward the end since this is a call to action. I was always told that, when writing a news release, to keep that information at the end to entice the reader to finish the release. 

I feel like I can differentiate the importance and relevance of information better now since completing my releases. I can now identify the format of a news release and stick to it. I feel like I'm getting better at my self-editing skills because I often had to change the structures of my sentences to increase flow and to help conciseness. 

I expected to do this assignment relatively early in the course because news releases are the backbone of the public relations industry. These releases not only help our skills in writing news releases, but also our public relations writing skills in general. 

This assignment is the cornerstone of our future careers as public relations professionals. Of all PR tools, this one is the most important. It is crucial that we know how to write these. A large part of our jobs will consist of media relations, and if we don't know how to communicate with the media about the news of our organization, then we probably shouldn't practice public relations.