Send those Press Releases my way!

press release
noun

plural noun: press releases

an official statement issued to newspapers giving information on a particular matter.

Press releases were probably the first thing thrown at me when I started working at the News Desk.
They seemed relatively easy. However, it was so tempting to just copy and paste the work into the system - then that would be considered laziness and possible plagiarism. We don't want that now do we.

The editor expected me to, well, be the editor of that piece! Grammar checks were essential, even the nitty gritty punctuation gets noticed, as well as changing the style of the article to fit our standard criteria.

Press releases can contain all the factual information about the event, the company and the people involved. Writing them up allowed me to look busy if I didn't have many telephone calls from the public asking me to write about their achievements / concerns / witnesses etc. It also helped improve my editing skills and proofreading.

Press releases are a quick and informative way to fill up a newspaper. (Not all of it of course, otherwise what's the point in us journalists?)

Here are ways for journalists to write up press releases:
6 ways journalists can use press releases effectively. 

AND here is the opposite - Information for all you PRs on how to write good press releases for us Journalists. I'm not saying we are the superior - we need YOUR help to add factual information into the stories!
Press Release writing tips

So I was asked to do a 'Vox Pop'

vox populi (ˈpɒpjʊˌlaɪ)

- The voice of the people; popular or public opinion

My editor asked me to do a Vox Pop during the lunch hour in Ipswich town centre, Suffolk, UK.

I didn't mind this of course, as journalists are supposed to have the confidence to ask anyone anything (within context).

I was asked to find 6 members of the public to gather their opinions on the new £3million design for Ipswich Cornhill. Their have been a variety of responses on the re-design of the town centre, luckily mine were fairly positive! I also had to make sure that they were residents of the area first as we needed local responses.

The first challenge was to gather the individual's attention. I knew this wouldn't be easy as I do feel sorry for the charity organisations trying their best to gather money for the charity. It's far more difficult to ask for money on the street so I had an idea to start my vox pop by saying:

"Hi there I was just wondering if I could grab your opinion for your chance to be in the paper? Don't worry I'm not asking for money, just a public opinion..." I then shove the newspaper article in their face (not literally) as well as the A4 sized re-design images given to me to show them. 

I felt that these people would compromise if they knew their opinion would actually count! So I emphasised what paper I worked for and that their view would appear within the article. This perked them up a bit and the phrase 'freedom of speech' came to mind. It was amusing asking them for their full name, AGE and whereabouts they live (not their exact address). It seemed like too much information to receive from them, but accuracy is key and it's just to make sure we're not making the whole thing up!

The second challenge was to try and take a photo of them. Some of them hesitated but were happy to have a typical 'mug shot' taken. Some didn't want one because of the company they worked for, which unfortunately meant that I couldn't use their opinion because I didn't have all the accurate information. That was one of the setbacks as they may have had really good views.

I was going to record their opinions via the voice memo app on my iPhone 4S. However, this was a silly idea as, even though my phone was at 60% battery, it died on me. How pathetic is that - having apps on the iPhone when they can't even handle them. However, that's a different matter I need to sort out. Next time a dictaphone will probably help, but I need to find one where I can plug in headphones so I don't annoy everyone else in the office. I need to research on a decent one. Any fellow journalists who could give me a heads up on good recording devices please comment below!

So, as an alternative, I used the notepad to jot down their quotes. This was also a challenge as I haven't fully learned how to do shorthand yet. I sound like a pretty useless journalist don't I! Blame my University for not providing the courses that would actually be useful for the everyday journalistic life! I'm ranting now, sorry. Back to the vox pop.

Even though it was during the Winter months, I enjoyed getting out of the office to train myself to grab people's attention and gather my own quotes. It felt good to cooperate and not just edit and re-write press releases. 

Note to self: 

• Get a good dictaphone or just a decent, up to date recording device as my iPhone is clearly unreliable. 
• Continue to learn shorthand
• Appearance must be professional during vox pops to make you look more legit 
• Have a camera on show or tell them you will be using not YOUR mobile phone but A mobile phone to take a clear photo. (preferably an Iphone with a good camera)
• Make sure the people you gather quotes from are a variety of ethnics/gender/age. It wouldn't look good if you only gathered quotes from 25 year old women. 

Click on this link for more how-to information: 

How to get the perfect Vox Pops

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