Writing Your News
Press Releases
The press release is the tool most often used to share information with newspapers when the story is not breaking news. The press release is a concise, informative and straightforward piece of writing that describes what you want the public to know. It also can convey ideas of potential stories to editors and remind them of upcoming events.
A well-presented press release, emailed to newsroom@news.oregonian.com, typewritten or printed clearly, observes the following guidelines:
INVERTED PYRAMID - The structure of the press release puts the most important and indispensable information at the beginning of the story, the most expendable at the end.
PAPER (if applicable) - Use white 8 1/2" x 11".
LENGTH - Just the facts, please. Make every word, sentence and paragraph count. Keep it tight - no longer than two pages.
