Press Release Format Outline

Press Release Format Outline

      Fortunately, the standard format for writing releases is not complicated or difficult to follow. Simply include the necessary information in the correct order, as follows:

1. Headline:  Write a headline that is short and simple. It should not be longer than 170 characters and the primary keyword for the release should be included. More tips to create great headlines.
2. Summary Paragraph: The first paragraph should briefly illustrate what the main point of the release is, including why the information provided is relevant and newsworthy. It should be italicized.
3. Location & Date Line: Beneath the summary, begin the opening paragraph of the release with the city and state where the business is located, (the name of the news release distribution service in parentheses), and the date the news release is being made public using the month, day, and year format.
4. Body: The body of your news release should start on the same line as the location/date and be separated from it by a dash (–) with one blank space on either side. The body typically consists of two or three paragraphs that are single-spaced and separated with one blank line in between. Each paragraph should be focused on a single idea and have only a few sentences.
5. Company Information: This section should be a standard paragraph that contains a short, factual overview of the business or organization. The same company information statement can be used in each news release that you publish. Learn more about writing your company's boilerplate.
6. Contact Details: Include information about how readers can contact the appropriate person for additional information. This section should include the name of the appropriate person along with his or her telephone number; email address; Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn information; and the URL for the organization's website.

            Here's some more links on the subject: 

                        http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Press-Release

                        http://www.wagingpeace.org/menu/action/action-tools/how-to-press-release.htm

Now a press release is supposed to go to a news organization, so one can modify any of these as they see fit to write some news for where they live. Depending on the situation, one could even use a town crier method of disseminating the news and weather.

For example, do you want to publish news, opinion, gossip, situation reports, or whatever?

Do you want to publish weather info for today, tomorrow, the next week, or whatever?  Is your focus more farmer type info, or more security type info, or more situation report type of info, or something else? Depending on the situation, more reliable weather info may come from the radio, too.