One
of the services Cannings Purple offers is investor relations, which is handled
by a team that together has more than 100 years of combined experience across a
wide range of industry sectors. As part
of my Internship duties I was asked to help the team with the ASX corporate
summaries that are provided in CP’s
weekly newsletter, Purple Patch.
Despite
each brief summary only requiring 2-3 sentences, the level of detail,
information and research contained in each article posed a degree of difficulty
for me, as this was something I had no prior experience or exposure to.
Thankfully, the team at Cannings Purple is very supportive and always provides
me with feedback on the work I do, allowing me to better understand and grow in
this field.
But
wait – there’s more!
Around
lunchtime I was given a deadline of around 1-2 hours to write a media release,
which was going to be sent out that day. It was about the Kalgoorlie Member of
Parliament, Wendy Duncan, who came on board with the Gold Royalties Response
Group (GRRG) to help the gold sector oppose any increase in gold royalty rate.
To
help me, I was given previous media releases that were sent out for GRRG to
demonstrate structure, language, information and the way quotes were used.
However,
it came as a bit of a shock to learn that not only did Cannings Purple actually
write the release, they also made up the quotes on behalf of the client - rather than vice versa. I always had the
idea that clients would provide the quotes and the PR organisation would
compose the media release around them.Once
I had written a draft of the media release I sat in front of my computer and,
remembering the wise words of our tutors, edited, edited and edited.
Once
I was happy with the release I sent it to one of CP’s staffers, who edited the
release and then passed it on to one of the Directors for further editing. Once
she was satisfied with the release the Director gave it to a fresh set of eyes
to triple check - and then it was ready
to be sent off to the targeted media. I
knew editing was important, however this process made me realize you can never
edit too much!
So
always remember - edit, edit and edit again!!
Until
next time,
Rebecca
Uglow
16177767
Curtin
Bentley
3 comments:
I also had to write a press release for a company that fell under Investor Relations. It can be tricky, because they're not all that interesting and you need to make it newsworthy! Luckily, the one I wrote actually got a run in an online magazine!
Seems as if that is a bit dodgy making up the quotes on behalf of Wendy when she could easily have given the exact words she wanted said. But, she obviously was okay with having it done that way. A good journalist won't usually pull the quotes from a press release. I did work experience at the Kalgoorlie Miner and the journalists there ring the source up to get their own quotes if they decide to run a story from a press release. They do it to ensure ethical reporting and to make sure the words they are using in their article is straight from the horses mouth.
At my placement last year, at Perth Fashion Festival, I also had to make up quotes on behalf of key spokesperson and even model Sam Harris, who was a V.I.P guest. I also saw some of my quotes printed in the West Australian, I was pretty impressed by this but also found it amazing.
I figure though with writing a press release you want it to have a certain flow, style and convey a certain message. Therefor, I can see the relevance in having to formulate quotes. I guess though it's also important to not get caught out either.
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