Category: News Writing
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Maintaining consistency is a must in your business writing
One of the most common errors I encounter when editing others’ business writing is consistency. Maintaining consistency in your writing is easy to do, but only if you keep it top of mind. Here are a few examples: “We must complete this project by noon,” said Lenny Jones. “The entire organization is depending on us,”…
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A local angle to national/international news = a successful placement
Regardless of your political affiliation, the biggest story in the national news right now is the efforts by Democrats to impeach Pres. Trump. My hometown newspaper, The Oregonian (based in Portland, Ore.) published a story in its edition today that is an example of one of the proven strategies I will teach in my News…
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Don’t forget that every story has a beginning
Every story has a beginning, middle and end. But many public relations professionals neglect to emphasize what can be the most important part: the beginning. Let me explain by giving you two examples. At a large bank where I was once employed, I started working with a new regional president who had transferred to my…
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The news topic that attracts the most eyeballs
The topic people most want to read about in their newspaper, hear about on the radio or see on their television news is … other people. Don’t believe me? Let’s say the front page of your newspaper today includes three stories. One story is about the latest argument in Congress. Another story is about a…
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Our attention span is shrinking: so get to the point quickly in your news release
I had heard recently on the radio that a new study showed our attention span has gotten shorter. So I went online to see what I could find. I came across a 2014 study (not exactly new) from the National Center for Biotechnology Information that said the average human’s attention span was eight seconds in 2013, as…
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Newspaper reporters can now keep up with their broadcast peers
I read an interesting opinion piece entitled “Writing Online: You Have to Feed the Machine — And the Machine Likes Junk Food” that I want to comment about. The writer, John Reinan, wrote that, among other things, reporters at my hometown daily newspaper (The Oregonian) now have to post “multiple news items a day, piecing…
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The end of the news release? I think not!
I was reading an article online from the Business Journal in Portland, Ore., in which public relations executive Ashley Brown from Coca-Cola is quoted as saying, “If there is one thing I want to do at Coke it’s to kill the press release.” The article explains that through Brown’s efforts, Coca-Cola has jumped headfirst into…
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Make your news releases newsworthy (and shareworthy)
I think the secret to making a news release newsworthy is to focus on the aspect(s) of your announcement that people will care about most and not on those that are perhaps more important to the entity releasing the news. Here’s an example. Let’s say you work at a hospital whose foundation just received a…
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Write your news release from the reader’s viewpoint
I am reading “The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs” by Carmine Gallo who, according to the jacket bio, has a background in public relations. In the midst of his describing Jobs’ public speaking secrets, Gallo inserts a rant about PR pros who write poor news releases. “The majority of press releases are usually self-indulgent, buzzword-filled…
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When to send both a media advisory and a news release
In my last post I explained the differences between a media advisory and a news release. There are times when you should send out only one or the other. But there are certain situations where it’s appropriate to send both. Let me explain. Let’s say you work at a nonprofit group and it’s planning to…
Recent Posts
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- Maintaining consistency is a must in your business writing
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Comments
I view this blog as an outlet for me as an individual to express my opinions and offer advice about…
Great advice, Unger! It's way too easy to treat writing like a task and move on to the next item…