On Tue, 2005-08-16 at 18:30 +0100, Daniel Carrera wrote: > Could you explain this part? How can you really tell apart between a > story and a news release? For example, suppose I write a story about > what's planned for OOoCon. Is that a story or a news release?
It depends on where you send it. Different outlets have different standards, and there is a gray area, as you recognize. However, in general, the more that a media outlet prides itself on doing journalism, the more likely it would be considered a news release. Exactly why would be harder to explain. I suppose it's because the announcement of an event is rather like vaporware. There's no way a journalist can confirm anything in the story. That said, you might still want to send out the announcement - not in the expectation of getting publicity for the event, but so that the media outlet might report on the actual event. I could also see some exceptions. For example, if someone was going to make a really revolutionary public statement, or two famous speakers were going to stage a public debate, or something like that, then the announcement would have something that a journalist could work with. All of which brings up another point: before sending out a message to the media, you need to know what you want to accomplish, and whether you're likely to. -- Bruce Byfield 604-421.7177 http://members.axion.net/~bbyfield --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
