The Digital Evolution of the Humble Press Releases
As 28 October 2016 marks the 110th anniversary of press releases, we are delighted to share with you some interesting facts on press releases from 1906 to 2016. It has been a solid 110 years since the father of modern public relations created this source of announcement for companies to disseminate their information to the public and media.
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However, have you ever wondered who invented the press release? As a marketer who writes press releases from time to time, I am embarrassed that I did not know the answer till I was doing some research for this anniversary a few weeks back. All I know was press releases are a trusted and official source of information for the public and journalists. Need to announce a new leadership team? Press release. Need to announce a new product launch? Press release. Need to announce a new merger? Press release. And the list goes on and on.
Here is a brief recap of how press releases have evolved for the past 110 years.
1906: The invention of press release
It was Ivy LedBetter Lee – notably the founder of modern public relations – who wrote the first-ever press release. He was an American news reporter before he co-founded one of the first public relations firms in 1905. On 28 October 1906, one of his clients, Pennsylvania Railroad, caused a train wreck in Atlantic City and killed more than 50 people. Instead of hiding the information from the public, which was pretty common back then, Ivy persuaded his client to tell the truth. He issued an official statement on behalf on his client, explaining what happened during that fateful accident. The press release was said to be well written by Ivy himself that the editor from The New York Times published on 29 October 1906, exactly the way he had written it. In 1970, Ivy was voted as the most significant public relations expert in the 20th century.
Unfortunately, Ivy’s reputation was sullied by some public relations practitioners as they used underhand means to manipulate news coverage, including running advertisements that looked like news stories, all in the interests of their clients. As a result, many journalists were hostile towards them and did not want to cover their stories.
In order to protect the reputation of public relations professionals, he issued his own Declaration of Principles stating that the public and press should receive accurate and timely information regarding a company’s actions. The statement was issued to the media when he was advising coal operators on how they should respond to a strike.
Excerpts from his Declaration of Principles
Read Ivy’s Declaration of Principles
1906 – 2001: The beginning of press releases – from text to multimedia
From 1920s to 1940s where technology started to evolve, radio and television stations rolled out their own news programs so that the public could have multiple access to news instead of merely reading the newspapers. In addition, news releases were distributed to journalists by hand, a tedious move if a company wanted to disseminate the news to various news publications. Hence, in 1954, the first commercial newswire company was established to help companies reach out to thousands of journalists at once with their news.
When the world started to go digital in the late 1990s, the internet was filled with information. Companies, government agencies and consumers started to publish content on the web, and the invention of search engines meant that every internet user could access information easily. Companies submitted their releases online, hoping to get good media pickups. Subsequently, the internet became cluttered with excessive information that resulted in blind spots where quality content was buried in a vast sea of information. Needless to say, journalists were swarmed with hundreds of releases daily and they might miss out on news that could potentially be newsworthy. Responding to this need, the first-ever multimedia news release was distributed by PR Newswire in 2001. The release which was promoting the movie Pearl Harbor incorporated multimedia elements such as video and image to cater to the increasing needs for journalists to gather all the information in one single piece of news.
Even though press releases have evolved from a mere black and white article with text and images to an interactive webpage with multimedia elements to engage the tech-savvy news editors, the basic guide to writing a press release remains the same.
2004 – Now: The digital era
In 2004, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg paved the way for creating a whole new communication channel for the internet users, which is none other than the social media. It has changed how the public consumes news – many news publications ceased printing newspapers. The social media has also become a two-way communication for companies and their customers to engage with one another. In June 2015, Chevrolet published an emoji message to introduce its latest car model targeted at millennials. And in October 2015, Goldman Sachs announced its earnings on Twitter instead of using newswires.
Google’s algorithm filters out spams
To improve user experience and remove unwanted spams, Google rolled out updates to its Panda Algorithm in 2014 that targeted low quality content, affecting a variety of content distributors and press release websites, including PR Newswire. The “low quality content” that Google was targeting referred specifically to press releases that were used in efforts to manipulate search rankings. These releases were of little-to-no redeeming value for readers. Major players in the newswire industry, including PR Newswire lost 60-85% of their search visibility overnight. Fortunately we took immediate action by conducting audit of the content of our site and implemented a more stringent guidelines on the content of news releases to ensure their newsworthiness and quality. While we quickly reinstated our leading position in the market, many others never fully recovered.
Press releases are still a trusted source of information for journalists.
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Despite the unconventional stunts that companies use to break through the digital clutter, journalists still prefer press releases as an official source of information when covering corporate news stories.
During the first half of 2016, we conducted a survey on journalists’ working status and news gathering habits in six key locations in Asia-Pacific – Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. We found out that most journalists still view press releases as an authoritative source to obtain and verify facts, in addition to gathering news from social media and other online platforms. The full report is now available for download.
What makes a good press release?
We have been advocating on writing quality press releases since 1954 and we have created many resources to help companies maximize press release potential. Here are some basic guidelines for writing a good press release:
- Concise headline for easy comprehension; utilize sub headline to add context
- Get straight to the point: answer the 5W’s (who, what, where, when, why)
- Include visuals to stimulate interest and engagement: company logo, video, infographic
- Know your audience’s informational needs: focus on the why
- Get quotes from company representatives to provide a more personal perspective on the topic
- Include a boilerplate: provide information such as the company’s mission to reinforce the core message in the release
More resources on writing press releases:
eBook: New School Press Release Tactics
Webinar: How to Maximize Press Release Webinar
Blogpost: Startup PR 101: 7 rules to live by for BETTER media coverage
Blogpost: Press Release Tips from A to Z [Infographic]
Blogpost: 3 Press Release Templates to Power PR & Content Marketing
Want to know more about the history and evolution of press releases and news consumption? Download the infoposter now!
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Hazel Ong 
