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Tips for writing an effective media release By John Shelt'z'huk Nobody wanted the job, so you volunteered. Now you wish you hadn’t. How could writing the regular news release for your WI group be so hard? Well. it‘s not really as difficult as it might seem. All you need is a quick lesson on sortie of the ‘tricks of the trade.‘ The first thing to remember is that most local newspaper readers aren't Women’s Institute members. So the nitty gritty details of your meetings won't interest them. It‘s a mistake to simply repackage your meeting minutes as a news release. The news editor will read that “Mrs. Brown volunteered to bake her famous pumpkin tarts for the next meeting." ask him/herself “so what." and toss the release in the garbage. When you sit down to write your new: release. a$k yourself. “will anybody care about this information?" If the answer it “no.” you need to find some information they will care about. If, for example, your group raised $1,0001'or a local charity, you ‘o_____fi “A Stitch in Time” The Fordwt'ch Women’s Institute enjoyed a day at the Country Ouilt Fest in August a! the Ontario Agricultural Museum in Milton. Alma Hargravs (left) and Nelly Allan (right) added a Jew stitches to lhe community quill. do have something newsworthy to talk about and there are a few Toxic rules you need to follow in writing your news release: Make sure you address it to the right person (reporter or editor) and limit its length to a maximum of two pages (double, spaced). it should also have a title. date. and location for the announcement marked clearly at the top. Start with the most important information in the firstparagraph followed by progrexxively less important information. Don‘t make the editor guess what the news is. And use short senâ€" tences. 3 Try to axe only one piece of information per paragraph, but by the end of the release, you Should have answered the “5 W‘s and H": Who; What; Where; When; Why; and, How. :i Use direct quotes, but alwayx ask the pemliSSlnn ol‘the person being quoted. It'\ best to quote a person of authority on the topic or a Women‘s Institute ot’licial. 3 Use the word "morc" at the bottom of the lirxt page if your release carries over onto a second page. Usc the symbol "-30â€"" at the end of the release, This is‘ a universal media symbol which means that anything above is suitable for publication Any information below the GIL symbol is‘ not for publication, You should give the name oi your contact person and their phone number after the 30â€" .xymbol. It you don‘t use a ‘30’ xymbol or if you include the contact information before the 307 symbol an editor may publish this information as part of a story. And you probably don't want your whole community calling you. “you follow these simple rules. being your Women's Institute media contact won't bc much of a chore at all. And your group will get more positive media coverage than you ever dreamed â€"even more than iers. Brown tried to butter upthe local editor with some of those pumpkin tarts. Juli/t Sltm't'litrk H (I (‘mnmunily Rt’lfllffllla‘ Comm/rumor with the Rural [)1‘t't'lll/lllll'r1/ Sl't'l‘l’ffll'lll! Home A Country, Winter '93 13