One of the most important documents for a public information officer (PIO) is the media release, a document that meets our needs in many areas.
Release basics
The media release tells a story. Regardless of whether it is about an event, incident or person, the release serves as the fact sheet of what you are writing about. It uses facts, not conjecture, to answer the six basic questions—who, what, when, where, why and how.
The media uses these releases the most, but members of the public may use them as well. Additionally, investigative agencies use them to learn information about accidents or incidents, and the legal community also uses them to gather information for cases. Do not be surprised if you are subpoenaed to give a deposition about a media release you disseminated. Personnel have been subpoenaed to appear in court as a witness, and in most cases, it is for an event many years in the past, and there is no other record to use to look up information except for the media release.
Media releases also provide information about department history or past events. I am often amazed how many times people come to my office to look up releases to get information about a specific fire, station opening or recruit graduation. There are 22 books in my office containing releases, one for each year I have been with the department.
Composing a release
Composing a media release will take approximately one to five hours, depending on the seriousness of the release.
First, gather the information you will need. I like to use a reporter’s notebook (available in office supply stores) to take and organize my notes. All of my notes about an event, incident, person—whatever I am writing about—are in my notebooks. Just like my media releases, I keep my notebooks forever, often going back to look up information about a particular incident.
Once I have my information, I begin writing. A release should be held to one page if possible and should be written at a sixth-grade reading level to ensure that everyone will understand it. Use common terminology, nothing too technical that people can’t understand. For example, the term “water cannon” would be understood by more people than “deluge gun.”
The release needs a title, something that will catch the editor’s or producer’s eye when they are deciding what will make the news. It should be only a few words, but it should sum up the release and intrigue them to continue reading.
The first paragraph, which should be two to four lines, provides an overview of the entire release. It is this paragraph that an editor will use to decide whether to use or pass on your release. The second paragraph goes further into the details of the incident—time, location, who was involved, why it happened and how the department mitigated it. The following two or three paragraphs should elaborate more on the details provided in the second paragraph, and the final paragraph is usually just a few lines to wrap it up.
To show it is the end of the release, put END or ### in the middle of the page under the last paragraph. If you have to go to a second page, use the word MORE at the bottom of the first page to show it is not the end of the document.
Reread your release a few times to ensure it makes sense. The Associated Press (AP) Stylebook is a great tool to have to look up abbreviations or initials, and to help ensure consistency in your writing. The book is used in newsrooms, classrooms and corporate offices worldwide.
Next steps
When your release is done, make two copies, one as a Word document and another a PDF. Keep both versions of your release in a file on your computer where you can look it up or disseminate it at a later date.
To share the release, copy and paste the release into an e-mail to your distribution list. Attach both the Word and PDF versions to your e-mail, and disseminate to the appropriate group.
Don’t forget that media releases are a reflection of you and your department, so make it your best each time you share one.
