"A new report is being released on Tuesday by xxxx Think Tank..."
or
"The xxx Organization announced today that xxx news item xxx..."
After many years of working with reporters, we know how many press releases and media advisories they see in one day. The chances of them reading beyond the first sentence drop significantly when the lead doesn't actually LEAD with the news or interesting information.
We always encourage our clients to start with the news. If you are releasing a report, why should a reporter care? What is the interesting finding? Once we get to that tidbit of news, that becomes the lead of the press release. You can get to who is releasing the information, where and when AFTER you've gotten a reporter interested.
These days, a reporter's time is more valuable than ever. Don't waste the few seconds you'll get to grab their attention.
Spend a few minutes browsing releases on PR Newswire. If you were a reporter, which ones would interest you? And which would go in the trash?
Side note: Want to read up on "lead" vs. "lede"? Here's Safire from 1990 on the topic.
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