Get in the news

Want to tell the world about that great new install you've just finished? Here's a guide on how to...

Newspapers, even the nationals, depend enormously on others to generate stories for them. This isn't to suggest that true investigative reporting no longer exists. But it does underline the fact that the ubiquitous demand for news creates enormous pressures on newsrooms to use 'news' that is well presented to them on a plate.

This is just as true of the security trade press as of any national newspaper - probably more so as the security trade magazines in the UK tend to employ only one or two journalists on each title. Producing a monthly magazine under such resource restrictions is a huge task. The news that comes in un-requested by post and email is therefore a fertile source of copy.

The UK's security press receive a large number of press releases every day, so if you want to use the press to get across your message you need to accept that there is a fair amount of competition. The well written and clearly presented story - even if the subject matter isn't that exciting - is much more likely to be covered than the story that demands more journalistic time to convert into good copy. The reality is that many excellent stories probably get overlooked because the time simply doesn't exist for the journalist or editor to try and work out what it is you're trying to say.

Don't let this put you off. Instead, here is my guide to writing and presenting a news release.

What's the story?

News stories in the security press can usually be categorised under several distinct headings: application stories or case studies; products and services; corporate news; people and financial. Publishers may divide the sections of their magazines into categories similar to these.

Whatever the content of your story, take a look at the section in which it is most likely to appear and imagine your story appearing in print in that column. Then write the story with this in mind. This is an excellent discipline as it helps you eliminate from your draft story a lot of the detail that you might find interesting but which readers of the magazines might find completely irrelevant. Looking at relevant columns in the magazines helps you to construct a structure for your story that 'fits' their needs.

What's the style?

Everyone has a particular style of writing news releases. Most however would agree that the first paragraph is the most important. Make sure that all the what, who, where, when, why and how questions are answered in that first paragraph. These first few sentences should be able to stand on their own and answer all the obvious questions the journalist might be thinking.

This is important for two reasons. First, many time-pressed editors will make a decision whether to use or bin your story on the basis of those few first sentences. Secondly, if space is tight and the first paragraph makes sense and reads well, it may simply be lifted intact. The same principle applies to the title of the story. This should be short and succinct and encapsulate the main elements of the first paragraph in as few words as possible.

Take a look at the section in which your story is likely to appear then write it with this in mind...

Secondly, always include a quote from someone pertinent to the story. The quote should add something distinctive to the story and not simply repeat the main message or puff the message in a partisan or subjective way.

Finally, write as if it were appearing in print. This applies mainly to the tenses used. Avoid the use of personal pronouns such as 'we' when speaking on behalf of a company, as magazines usually publish in the third person, not first.

What's the format?

As far as I am aware all journalists in the security industry prefer to receive their news releases electronically. Email attachments can cause problems with firewalls though so it is advisable to send copy as plain text within the body of the email. Ensure that the subject line makes it clear that the email is an editorial contribution.

The text should always be headed 'News Release' and give a location and publication date. If the news is embargoed for some reason this needs to be very clearly stated at the top.

Releases that are sent as printed documents should be typed double-spaced so they are easy to read and can be easily marked up by a sub-editor. Although less important today than in the past, it is conventional with all releases to state the number of words at the end of the release. The provision of contact details is essential and one of the most frequently omitted pieces of information from a news release. Some magazines publish contact details at the end of press items so make it clear if the contact details for the person submitting the item are different to those for publication.

What's the image?

It is really important to supply a high-resolution image to accompany your story. To be of sufficient quality to be printed in a magazine, the image needs to have been taken with a resolution of 300 dpi or more. This requires a good quality digital camera. Jpegs are the normally preferred image format. If your image is 600KB or more in size then it is probably good enough to print. However file size is no real guide to resolution quality as it could simply be a very large picture of a poor resolution image!

Images should illustrate the story in an interesting way, preferably not beaming gents shaking hands. Images that illustrate the business of the company in the spotlight are much valued. The availability of a good image can often make the difference between whether a story is used or not. Make sure you provide a caption if the image needs explaining or could be misinterpreted.

The advice provided here has been tested over many years and through writing literally hundreds of news releases. But it's not infallible and even when followed precisely there is no guarantee of coverage. But when a news story does appear, it is well worth the effort.