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Media Lists
The following sources may be able to provide lists of media contact information for free or a nominal cost:
- State Media Web sites
- Libraries
- City Chambers of Commerce
There are also more advanced - and more expensive -- media resources available. Bacons MediaSource software provides detailed information about every magazine, radio station, newspaper, television station and syndicate in the United States. For more information, visit www.bacons.com.
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Check the Web Site
If you have a specific publication, radio or television program in mind, it's likely they have a Web site. The quickest strategy is to refer to the publication for their Web address or in the case of broadcast media, type the name in your Internet search engine. Once there, you'll want to look for editor or producer names and contact information. For publications, this information can be found in the media kit which is often posted online.
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Press Release Distribution Services
With minimal research, you can find Web sites that will distribute your release for a nominal fee or in some cases free of charge. Our preliminary search of the World Wide Web produced the following sites. We cannot endorse these sites as we have not used all of them, but check them out for yourself.
www.prnewswire.com
www.businesswire.com
www.prweb.com
www.lycos.digitalwork.com/newsrelease_learn.html
Another way to distribute your press release is to use Act! or similar contact management software. You can import media contact information from software like Bacons MediaSource into Act! and send e-mails with your release to media contacts that have e-mail addresses. You can also fax your press release or send it through old-fashioned snail-mail if you don't mind spending the extra time.
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More about Public Relations
If this has piqued your interest in the world of PR, there are a number of books on the subject. Here are some suggestions:
- Effective Public Relations by Cutlip, Center and Broom (Prentice-Hall)
- The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR by Al Ries and Laura Ries (HarperBusiness)
- Practice of Public Relations by Fraser Seitel (Prentice-Hall)
- Public Relations Kit for Dummies by Eric Yaverbaum with Bob Bly (IDG Books Worldwide)
- Public Relations: Strategies and Tactics by Dennis Wilcox, et. Al. (Longman)
- Publicity & Media Relations Checklists by David R. Yale (NTC Business Books)
- This is PR: The Realities of Public Relations by Doug Newsom, et. Al. (Wadsworth)
Lastly, the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) offers information and resources on its Web site at www.prsa.org.
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Writing Reference
There are countless books about writing, but only a handful of books specifically about preferred journalistic styles of writing for the media. A commonly used reference guide we recommend is The Associated Press Stylebook. It can be found at most major bookstores.
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