Press Releases about Politics, Legal Matters and Other Sensitive Issues

As the political season heats up, I have consulted with PRWeb's NewsCrafters and offer up:

10 Tips for Exercising Your Right to Free Speech via a Press Release

About Politics, Legal Matters and Other Sensitive Issues

1. Review your press release sentence by sentence, including the headline and summary, to ensure all statements about someone else’s wrongdoing and derogatory material about someone else are completely accurate, non-libelous and attributed to the primary source. You are responsible for the accuracy of your content on PRWeb. Attribution includes citing a court case number (or link to primary source) before naming someone in connection with an indictment, conviction, criminal investigation or criminal charge such as fraud or corruption, etc. Remember, a charge is an allegation, not a conviction. Accusing or implying that someone has committed a crime is not fair criticism in our democracy if the person has not been found guilty in a court of law, and inaccurately implying commission of a crime is not protected free speech.

2. Include an explicit explanation of why you have authority to release information (facts, data, etc.) on behalf of or about another organization or person or why you are an expert with credentials that make your opinion on these matters newsworthy. Personal opinions and attacks, anonymous rumors and speculation are not newsworthy and not appropriate for distribution via a press release. PRWeb does not accept press releases from anonymous sources and has a policy of rejecting press releases whose primary or only intent is to exact harm on another person or organization.

3. Use the third person and active voice. Refer to yourself by name on first reference rather than “I” or “we.” On second reference, use he, she, it or they. Refer to your audience and readers as voters, the public, viewers, citizens, the jury, etc., rather than “you.” Use active voice rather than passive voice for attribution. Example: “Campaign XYZ announced the receipt of a donation from ABC” is better than “A donation from ABC was received” -- assuming, of course, that you have the authority to release information on behalf of Campaign XYZ. (See Tip No. 2 above.)

4. Do explicitly state your expert status or authority to “report” political shenanigans or criminal behavior or to link to a Web site that is not your own. PRWeb generally does not approve press releases linking to Web resources that are not under your control. Nor can you use PRWeb to announce or discuss criminal conduct unless you are a member of the criminal justice system and/or have a case number. (See Tip No. 6.)

5. Avoid specific allegations of wrongdoing by others in your press release or the use of legal terms such as “evidence” and “complaint” in a general sense. It is better to summarize and generalize in a press release and leave specific charges and accusations to copy on your Web site or blog. For instance, your press release can say you and your organization are critical of certain actions or statements by political foes and that a full statement about the criticism or commentary is available elsewhere.

6. Please don’t refer to specific criminal charges or other types of legal claims unless you have the case number or unless you are a member of the criminal justice system. This guideline is put in place to ensure that these matters are accurately described and drawn from legal documents.

7. Don’t say a “complaint was filed” unless it is a legal or administrative complaint with an organization or entity with an indexing system (case numbers). Letters of complaint, letters to the editor and the like generally do not rise to the level of newsworthiness. If the court or administrative agency is not widely known, a brief explanation about the entity's jurisdiction and its capacity for investigations and remedies would be appreciated.

8. Do explicitly attribute to a primary source “facts” about someone other than yourself or your organization, especially those that are derogatory, imply commission of a crime, etc. Note that the passive “It was reported that …” is not primary or explicit attribution.

9. Keep it short and simple. Don’t go on about several different points in a press release. Focus on one or two newsworthy points and your expert status. Then direct your reader to a Web site where all the gory details are published.

10. Consider paying for a professional writing service from a PRWeb NewsCrafters editor if you are an individual, blogger or small organization without professional training in press release or news writing. Before an editor can be assigned to a revision, however, please supply all missing information (primary source attribution, case numbers, expert standing, news angle, etc.) and/or remove all inappropriate content.

Comments

[Brian]

As always, thank you guys for the valuable content. I am planning a release shortly about rising home interest rates and how the current administrations policies are affecting them. Your piece gave me an idea about also addressing how companies like lendingtree.com will benefit.
Brian Stephenson
http://www.StephensonandCompany.com/lendingtree1

[Kathy Sheehan]

Someone asked me for some examples of responsible ways to exercise your right to free speech through a press release or to call for people to take action on a public issue.

A group in Tracy, Calif., with the help of a New York-based organization called U. S. Term Limits, did that in a PRWeb press release announcing its efforts to get a measure on the ballot that will make municipal officials "more responsive, closer to the people."

You don’t have to agree or disagree with this group to know that what they’ve written is professional, newsworthy – and legal. Instead of focusing on the object of their ire, group members have completely focused on their own objectives: persuading voters to impose term limits on elected officials in their area. There is nothing in the press release slamming elected officials who the group would like to see retired and no name calling.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/7/prweb411706.htm

Another example of fairness with free speech: James Kimmel, Jr., J.D., a respected attorney and Quaker spiritual leader who specializes in conflict resolution, has written a guide for resolving personal and international conflicts like the war in Iraq. Although it’s clear the author is opposed to the war in Iraq, the press release doesn’t libel anyone or make unsubstantiated assertions against people with different views. Instead, it stays focused on the views of Kimmel and The Nonjustice Foundation (http://www.nonjustice.org), and it offers a free service in the hopes of persuading people to his viewpoint.

See: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/7/prweb408986.htm

Good stuff. I applaud these and other PRWeb users who carefully and responsibly voice their opinions in a professional format.

--Kathy Sheehan

[Brian]

To piggy back on Kathy's comments, I think it goes deeper. With the power of the media and the internet, you are now more able to quickly connect with like minded souls. Within minutes of a release going out, you can be in partnership with people all over the world who share your same passion or ideals. Brian

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