Comments on: Speed backs Inconvenient PR Truth campaign as Realwire reveals 1.7 billion irrelevant press releases sent each year http://www.speedcommunications.com/blogs/wadds/2010/01/28/speed-backs-inconvenient-pr-truth-campaign-as-realwire-reveals-1-7-billion-irrelevant-press-releases-sent-each-year/ PR blog by Stephen Waddington Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:13:21 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 By: Tweets that mention Speed backs Inconvenient PR Truth campaign as Realwire reveals 1.7 billion irrelevant press releases sent each year | Wadds' PR Blog -- Topsy.com http://www.speedcommunications.com/blogs/wadds/2010/01/28/speed-backs-inconvenient-pr-truth-campaign-as-realwire-reveals-1-7-billion-irrelevant-press-releases-sent-each-year/#comment-5594 Tweets that mention Speed backs Inconvenient PR Truth campaign as Realwire reveals 1.7 billion irrelevant press releases sent each year | Wadds' PR Blog -- Topsy.com Fri, 29 Jan 2010 11:23:13 +0000 http://www.speedcommunications.com/blogs/wadds/?p=1983#comment-5594 [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Andrew Smith, Stephen Waddington, Jordan Stone, CIPR, Adrian Johnson and others. Adrian Johnson said: Nice. I'll wack this out 2 our media lists ;-) RT @wadds: Speed backs Inconvenient PR Truth, 1.7 bn irrelevant releases http://bit.ly/cbEceC [...] [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Andrew Smith, Stephen Waddington, Jordan Stone, CIPR, Adrian Johnson and others. Adrian Johnson said: Nice. I'll wack this out 2 our media lists ;-) RT @wadds: Speed backs Inconvenient PR Truth, 1.7 bn irrelevant releases http://bit.ly/cbEceC [...]

]]> By: uberVU - social comments http://www.speedcommunications.com/blogs/wadds/2010/01/28/speed-backs-inconvenient-pr-truth-campaign-as-realwire-reveals-1-7-billion-irrelevant-press-releases-sent-each-year/#comment-5593 uberVU - social comments Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:06:36 +0000 http://www.speedcommunications.com/blogs/wadds/?p=1983#comment-5593 <strong>Social comments and analytics for this post...</strong> This post was mentioned on Twitter by wadds: Speed backs Inconvenient PR Truth campaign as Realwire reveals 1.7 billion irrelevant releases sent each year: http://bit.ly/cbEceC... Social comments and analytics for this post…

This post was mentioned on Twitter by wadds: Speed backs Inconvenient PR Truth campaign as Realwire reveals 1.7 billion irrelevant releases sent each year: http://bit.ly/cbEceC...

]]> By: Steve Walker http://www.speedcommunications.com/blogs/wadds/2010/01/28/speed-backs-inconvenient-pr-truth-campaign-as-realwire-reveals-1-7-billion-irrelevant-press-releases-sent-each-year/#comment-5592 Steve Walker Thu, 28 Jan 2010 10:02:37 +0000 http://www.speedcommunications.com/blogs/wadds/?p=1983#comment-5592 It's interesting to see the number quantified. But I don't think the number of irrelevant press releases developed will drop as time goes by. All we (and the beleaguered media) can hope for is that the number *actually distributed* drops. I think it's perfectly in order for an organisation to create a press release and put it online, correctly tagged, so that its information can be found by people who are actually looking for it. A press release is potentially a good exercise in disciplined thinking and the creation of a document of record. As such it can increase the visibility of what an organisation wants to say. However, it's not necessarily in order for that organisation then to send out this press release to a whole host of journalists most of whom (it knows) will not be interested. This strategy, of course, disinternediates the press - the information goes directly from organisation to consumer. The down side of this is that the role of the journalist as news reporter is diminished (so news reporters should maybe not complain about receiving lots of news releases); the up side is that, were the decrease in actual distribution of press releases to happen, it would leave the media with more time for analysis and thoughtful writing, which would improve the number and quality of feature artcles. And I believe that well-written feature articles are what publications can sell - so there may be more money in this route than today's feverish search to get news out online a few seconds before a publication's competitors. It’s interesting to see the number quantified. But I don’t think the number of irrelevant press releases developed will drop as time goes by. All we (and the beleaguered media) can hope for is that the number *actually distributed* drops.

I think it’s perfectly in order for an organisation to create a press release and put it online, correctly tagged, so that its information can be found by people who are actually looking for it. A press release is potentially a good exercise in disciplined thinking and the creation of a document of record. As such it can increase the visibility of what an organisation wants to say.

However, it’s not necessarily in order for that organisation then to send out this press release to a whole host of journalists most of whom (it knows) will not be interested.

This strategy, of course, disinternediates the press – the information goes directly from organisation to consumer. The down side of this is that the role of the journalist as news reporter is diminished (so news reporters should maybe not complain about receiving lots of news releases); the up side is that, were the decrease in actual distribution of press releases to happen, it would leave the media with more time for analysis and thoughtful writing, which would improve the number and quality of feature artcles.

And I believe that well-written feature articles are what publications can sell – so there may be more money in this route than today’s feverish search to get news out online a few seconds before a publication’s competitors.

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