On Mon, Sep 14, 2009 at 2:45 AM, Larry Cafiero <larry.cafiero@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > You have a paragraph on this wiki page that includes the following: > > "Press release worded so it can be copy/pasted into a news article by lazy > journalists. Include quotations. End with contact details for someone they > can talk to plus a url where they can get photos or video. Always remember: > Journalists are lazy! They love it when you do their job for them. " > > There are several things wrong with this: > > -- Having a well-worded press release with supporting materials is something > you should always provide journalists and media because it reflects a high > degree of professionalism on the Fedora Project's part, as well as > reflecting the quality of the product Fedora provides. Most marketing and > public relations professionals will tell you that putting the best face on > your product is the reason you do this, not because "journalists are lazy." > > -- Speaking personally, as a newspaper editor I appreciate the fact that I > can find a well-written and informative press release while going through > the 200-300 of them in an average workday. You can bet the farm that those > releases generally get better attention than ones that are sloppy and > unclear, no matter how "great" or deserving the subject matter might be. > > -- The news industry has gone though many transformations over the last > several years, most of them not exactly positive ones. Primarily, in the > wake of massive newsroom layoffs, some reporters and editors are doing two > and three times the amount of work that they had been doing as recently as > 18 months ago -- and that is the case in my situation. > > -- Having said this, when press releases are "worded so it can be > copy/pasted" (whatever that means) into an article, this is appreciated by > the overworked reporter/editor because a.) you've taken the time to be > thorough with your information and background materials and b.) you have > written something that takes little, if any, editing, and overworked > reporters and editors appreciate the help. You're "not doing their job for > them" as much as you're doing your "job" to get your information published. > > So you should consider rewriting this part of the wiki to reflect a more > professional position toward the media. Excellent input, Larry It's a wiki, please make changes boldly! -- Fedora-marketing-list mailing list Fedora-marketing-list@xxxxxxxxxx https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-marketing-list
