The Shifty Press Release

The debate over the value of the press release has raged pretty much unabated for the last seven or eight years. My pal Todd Defren literally built his PR firm on the back of his pathbreaking effort to re-imagine the press release of the future. (Yesterday, his company Shift Communications was named PR Agency of […]
The Aggregated Press Release

“These days PR is everything.” Or so starts a post titled “Press Releases: Friend or Foe” on editorsweblog.org, a “publication of the World Editors Forum.” The post goes on to talk about the value (or lack thereof) of the press release and a couple of new services that attempt to breathe new life into this […]
Recovery Release

Slate’s John Dickerson tweeted news that the administration has “revitalized the press release…with the launch of Recovery.gov.” The site sub-head reads “Your Money at Work” and includes the following mission statement: Education: Explain the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act; Transparency: Show how, when, and where the money is spent; Accountability: Provide data that will allow […]
“Thrilled” and “Excited”

“…according to a person briefed on the negotiations who would not be identified because the deal has not been formally announced.” This is from this morning’s New York Times business story by the paper’s youthful TV reporter and decoder Brian Stelter. It pre-reports the deal between Apple and HBO to finally offer for sale the […]
Tainted News from NYC

Stu, a head’s up. The City of New York put out a news announcement today via one of the proliferating number of paid wire services. The release, about a city appointment, not only included a quote from Mayor Bloomberg, but it featured two Google-delivered contextual ads. Moreover, one of those ads attacked one of Mayor […]