PSA and news release

Public Service Announcements (PSAs)/News/Press Releases

PSAs • Short, informational announcements

• Common means of conveying messages to the public

• Usually used by charity, nonprofit, community organizations

• Used on radio or television to educate the public, promote programs/services, or provide resources for behavior change

• Some are designed to evoke an emotional response in the listener or viewer

• Others are more cognitive; inform listeners of dates, location and times of events

PSAs (cont.)

• PSAs are easy to produce

• Could be developed locally or nationally and aired on local affiliate stations

• Radio announcements (PSAs) are less costly, short (less than 60 seconds), and have greater likelihood of receiving airtime

PSAs (cont.) PSAs should include the following:

• Source: Both the individual and organization should be identified (name, city, state, zip code, web address) should be located at the top of the first page

• Contact Person: This person may be different from the person actually sending the material (name, title, phone number, email address, and fax)

• Release Date and Time: Is information ready for immediate release or on a later date?

PSAs (cont.)

• Television PSAs are either components of broader state or national campaigns or developed locally by an agency

• Already developed PSAs are less costly

• Radio and television stations are interested in airing PSAs because the FCC reviews their public service in deciding whether to renew their broadcast license or not

Chances of a PSA Being Aired

Ways to improve the chances of a PSA being aired include:

• Keep it short

• PSA should be concise

• Call the stations being targeted; speak with the person who deals with PSAs and seek their advice. Some stations may assist with the production of the PSA

News/Press Releases

• Provide information about the organization and its activities

• Radio, television, newspaper and magazines consume news/press releases

• Organizations/agencies use news releases to gain community recognition

• The news release is a one or two page, double- spaced typed document

News/Press Releases (cont.)

News releases must include the following:

• Source, contact person, web page and e-mail information, release date, time, a headline and a story

• Headline: Provides the overall concept of the information. Should be typed in capital letters; keep it to one or two lines

• Story: can be a news story or feature article. A news story provides information about an announcement or an account of an activity that interest readers

News/Press Releases (cont.)

• Feature story: The main attraction or headline

• News stories follow the basics of journalism: Paragraph 1 answers the questions who, what, when and where

• Stories should be written through the eyes of a reporter

• Important elements should be placed early in the story

Chances of a News Release Being Published

Ways to improve the chances of a News Release being published include:

• Keep it short

• Write it in such a way that it does not need a cover letter to explain the content

• Make it easy for editors to read and follow: use wide margins, double space material (triple space between headline and first paragraph), do not split paragraphs between pages, each paragraph should stand alone

Chances of a News Release Being Published (cont.)

• News releases designed to solicit a response need to include contact information in the last paragraph (name and phone number)

• Include a statement to visit agency website to increase credibility

• Type “END,” “###,” or “XXX” at the end of the story text to identify end of the release

• Email news release no sooner than one week before requested date of publication

• Call media outlets in which the release is appropriate

Examples of PSAs/News Releases • http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/search/searchR

esults.jsp?_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1&q=PSAs

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