Service Learning

SERVICE LEARNING

PRESS RELEASE ASSIGNMENT

(Individual Assignment)

DUE DATE: TBA

ASSIGNMENT: Create a Press Release and Facebook post about a project, program, or initiative your CBO is engaged in.

PRESS RELEASE CONTENT: Your Press Release should reflect something your CBO is doing that is noteworthy and that will be interesting to the public. Examples include things like: holding special events, announcing fundraising campaigns, or describing new programs the organization is launching.

The link below will let you view examples of content suitable for a press release from the Red Cross’ Website. Most CBO’s have a section of their website devoted to recent press releases. You may want to visit yours for further inspiration.)

http://www.redcross.org/news-events/press

PRESS RELEASE FORMAT: There is a standard format for creating press releases, which you will use for this assignment. You can see two examples of the required format at the links below.

http://www.mediacollege.com/journalism/press-release/format.html

http://www.publicityinsider.com/release.asp

PRESS RELEASE WRITING STYLE: There is a standard writing style for press releases. Journalists expect to see this format and by using it, you will greatly increase the chance your press release will be published or aired as written.

The first element is an attention-getting headline. The American Red Cross’ press releases provide good examples of clear headlines written to pique interest.

The body of the press release should be written in the “Inverted Pyramid” style. In this style, the most important part of a story and critical details are communicated FIRST. After the most crucial news is presented in the first paragraph, each succeeding paragraph fills in the rest of the story with details and background in descending order of importance. (Note that most CBO press releases put information “about the organization” at the end of their press releases.)

PRESS RELEASE LENGTH: Be concise. The ideal length of a press release is about 300 to 400 words. That's just three or four short paragraphs and a couple of quotes.

Following the press release format precisely, employing good grammar, sentence structure and spelling are imperative to achieve a good grade on this assignment.

SOCIAL MEDIA FOLLOW-ON: While press releases continue to provide information about noteworthy topics to the media, social media is also a strong vehicle to get information out to the general public and CBO stakeholders.

To complete this assignment, design a Facebook post releasing the news in your press release. Consider using photos, links, or short videos as part of your post. For a good example of Facebook posts announcing noteworthy events, visit the Facebook page of one of the following local organizations.

Marjaree Mason Center Chaffee Zoo

Fresno Art Museum Fresno Rescue Mission