press releases
How to Write a Press Release Journalists Actually Use
By Sunny Goyal · · 12 min read
To write a press release journalists actually use, state the news plainly in a short headline, answer who, what, when, where, and why in the first paragraph, and support it with verifiable facts, data, and a named person a reporter can interview. Cut the adjectives. A release is a source document for a story someone else will write, not the story itself.
That framing explains most of what follows. Journalists still rely on press releases, but they use them to check facts, pull numbers, and decide whether a story is worth their time. The release that gets used is the one that makes those jobs easy.
Do journalists still use press releases?
Yes, as reference material. In Cision’s 2025 State of the Media report, based on a survey of more than 3,000 journalists across 19 markets, 72% said press releases are still the most useful resource PR teams can offer.
What journalists do not want is promotion. In Muck Rack’s State of Journalism 2026, 71% of journalists said they disregard pitches that feel overly promotional or advertorial, and 40% disregard pitches that are too long or unclear. The same survey found 58% want interview access to relevant sources and 40% value original data or research, while only 14% said pre-written quotes are something a PR pro should ideally offer.
Photo: Iván Martínez Díaz on Unsplash.
The lesson: a release earns its keep through facts and access. Everything else is decoration.
What is the structure of a press release?
A press release follows the inverted pyramid: the most important information first, supporting detail next, background last. A reporter should be able to stop reading after any paragraph and still have the story.
| Element | What it does | Length | Common mistake |
|---|---|---|---|
| Headline | States the news in plain words | 12 words or fewer, under about 90 characters | Leading with the company name and an adjective |
| Subheadline | Adds the most important supporting fact | One sentence | Repeating the headline |
| Dateline | Gives city and release date | One line | Omitting it or using an embargoed date without the embargo stated |
| Lead paragraph | Answers who, what, when, where, and why | 35 to 60 words | Opening with mission statements |
| Context paragraphs | Explain why it matters now, with data | Two or three short paragraphs | Feature lists instead of significance |
| Quote | Adds judgment or perspective a fact cannot | Two to three sentences, one or two speakers | Generic excitement (“We are thrilled…”) |
| Details | Availability, pricing, terms, or methodology | Bullets or a short paragraph | Hiding the facts reporters need most |
| Boilerplate | Describes the company in standard terms | About 100 words | Outdated numbers and unsupported superlatives |
| Media contact | Names a person who will answer | Name, email, phone | A generic inbox nobody checks |
PR Newswire’s guide to the press release boilerplate describes it as a standardized paragraph about the organization at the end of a release and suggests about 100 words. Keep yours consistent with your About page and press kit, because reporters and AI engines both reuse it.
How do you write a press release headline?
Write the headline a reporter would write. It should name what happened and why it matters, in 12 words or fewer, without superlatives.
Compare:
- Weak: “Acme Announces Revolutionary AI-Powered Platform That Transforms the Future of Logistics”
- Strong: “Acme cuts freight booking time from days to minutes for mid-size shippers”
The strong version contains a specific change, a measurable claim, and an audience. It also survives the question every reporter asks: “So what?” Our press release headline checker flags length, hype words, and vague verbs before you send.
How do you write the lead paragraph?
Answer the five Ws in two sentences. The first sentence states what happened. The second states why it matters, ideally with a number.
Example: “Acme, a freight logistics software company, today launched instant booking for mid-size shippers in the United States, cutting average booking time from two days to under ten minutes in a six-month pilot with 40 customers. The product addresses a gap in a market where most digital freight tools are built for large enterprise shippers.”
Notice what is missing: no “leading,” no “innovative,” no “excited to announce.” Every phrase is a fact a reporter can check or a claim they can ask about.
How should quotes be written?
Quotes should say something a fact cannot: a judgment, a reason, a prediction, or a point of view. If a sentence could appear in the body as a fact, it does not need to be a quote.
Weak quote: “We are thrilled to bring this innovative solution to market and look forward to helping customers succeed.”
Strong quote: “Mid-size shippers have been paying enterprise prices for software that was never built for them. We started with booking because it is where they lose the most time.”
Remember the survey finding: only 14% of journalists said pre-written quotes are something they want with a pitch, while 58% want interview access. Write quotes that show the spokesperson is worth interviewing, then make that person available. Our guide to media training for executives covers preparing them.
How do you write a press release, step by step?
Follow seven steps, and resist the urge to start with the boilerplate.
- Confirm the news is news. Ask what changed, for whom, and why a reader outside your company would care. If you cannot answer in one sentence, you have an update, not a release.
- Write the headline first. If you cannot state the news in 12 words, the angle needs work, not more words.
- Write a five-Ws lead. Two sentences: what happened, and why it matters, with a number if you have one.
- Add data and context. Explain the market problem, the scale, and what is different now. Cite sources for third-party figures, and state the sample for your own.
- Write one quote with a point of view. One spokesperson, two or three sentences, saying something that is not a fact elsewhere in the release.
- Finish with details, boilerplate, and contact. Pricing, availability, methodology, a roughly 100-word boilerplate, and a named media contact who will respond.
- Test it against a reporter’s questions. Read it as a skeptical journalist would: What is the evidence? Who else says so? Who can I talk to? Fix every gap you find.
Then decide how it will reach people. A release is not a pitch. Most coverage still starts with a tailored one-to-one email to a reporter, with the release linked or attached as backup. Our guide to pitching journalists covers that step.
What does a press release template look like?
Use this template as a starting point and delete any line that does not carry a fact.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE [or: EMBARGOED UNTIL date, time, time zone]
[Headline: what happened, for whom, 12 words or fewer]
[Subheadline: the most important supporting fact, one sentence]
[CITY, State, Month Day, Year] - [Company], a [plain category description],
today [action] [what] for [whom], [result or significance with a number].
[Second sentence: why it matters now.]
[Context: the problem, its scale, and what is different now. Cite sources.]
[Detail: how it works, what the pilot or data showed, with sample and period.]
"[Quote with a point of view: a judgment, reason, or prediction],"
said [Name], [Title] at [Company].
[Availability, pricing, terms, or methodology in bullets.]
About [Company]
[About 100 words: what you do, for whom, where, founded, notable facts.]
Media contact
[Name], [email], [phone]Keep the dateline separator as a plain hyphen or colon, and match the style of your previous releases so your newsroom reads consistently.
What do most teams get wrong?
Writing for the CEO instead of the reporter. Releases that need sign-off from many people collect adjectives at every round. Give one person final editorial control.
Announcing non-news. A partnership with no customer impact, a minor feature, or an award nobody outside the industry recognizes rarely earns coverage. Save releases for news, and handle smaller updates through your blog, newsroom, or social channels.
Leaning on the wire alone. Wire distribution puts the release on many syndication sites, but syndication is not coverage. Our resource on press release distribution in the AI search era explains what wire distribution still does and does not do.
Stuffing links. Google’s spam policies list links with optimized anchor text in press releases distributed on other sites as an example of link spam. Link to your site where it helps readers, with plain anchor text, and write for people.
Ignoring disclosure rules. For public companies, the release may be part of a regulatory obligation. The SEC’s Regulation FD adopting release says acceptable methods of public disclosure include press releases distributed through a widely circulated news or wire service. Involve counsel when material information is involved.
A worked example (hypothetical)
Consider a hypothetical Series A cybersecurity company announcing that it has detected a new phishing technique targeting payroll systems. The first draft opens: “CyberCo, the leading innovator in next-generation email security, is excited to announce groundbreaking new research.”
The rewrite opens with the finding: “CyberCo researchers identified a phishing technique that redirected payroll deposits at 23 mid-size U.S. companies between August and October, according to an analysis of 1.2 million emails across the company’s customer base.” The second paragraph explains how the attack works and who is exposed. The quote, from the head of research, explains why payroll teams are a target now. The release ends with methodology, an offer to share anonymized samples with reporters, and a named contact.
The second version gives a reporter at a security or business outlet a story, a dataset, and a source. That is the release that gets used. Our guide to original research for PR covers how to build findings like these responsibly.
How do press releases affect AI search?
Press releases can be found and cited by AI engines, but independent coverage carries more weight. Muck Rack’s May 2026 analysis of more than 25 million AI citations found earned media accounted for 84% of citations, and that press releases appeared mostly in industry trend responses, at 3.5 times the rate they appeared in best-of queries.
The practical implications:
- Write releases as accurate fact sources. Clear names, categories, numbers, and dates are what engines and reporters extract.
- Publish them in your own newsroom at a stable URL, so the official version is always available.
- Treat the release as the start of coverage, not the coverage. A story in Reuters, the Associated Press, or a leading trade publication does more for reputation and AI visibility than the release itself. Syndication partners can carry an earned story far beyond the original outlet.
For specific announcements, see our guides to announcing a funding round and building a product launch PR plan.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a press release be?
Aim for 300 to 600 words: long enough to give the facts, context, one quote, and details a reporter needs, short enough to read in two minutes. If a release runs much longer, move background into a linked fact sheet or blog post.
What are the five Ws in a press release?
Who, what, when, where, and why. The lead paragraph should answer all five in one or two sentences, so a reporter knows the news immediately. Many writers add “how” in the following paragraph, explaining how the product works or how the result was achieved.
Should a press release include quotes?
Yes, usually one quote from one spokesperson, two or three sentences long. It should offer a judgment, reason, or point of view that a fact cannot. Avoid generic excitement. Journalists in Muck Rack’s 2026 survey valued interview access far more than pre-written quotes, so make the spokesperson available.
What is a boilerplate in a press release?
A boilerplate is a standard paragraph at the end of a release that describes the company: what it does, for whom, where it is based, when it was founded, and notable facts. Keep it to about 100 words, consistent with your About page, and update it whenever facts change.
Do I need a wire service to distribute a press release?
Not always. Public companies often use a wire service to meet disclosure obligations. Private companies usually earn more coverage by pitching reporters directly and publishing the release in their own newsroom. Wire distribution adds syndication, but syndicated copies are not the same as editorial coverage.
What should the headline of a press release be?
A plain statement of the news: what happened and for whom, in 12 words or fewer and under about 90 characters. Avoid superlatives such as “leading” or “first-ever,” and avoid starting with “announces.” Specific verbs and numbers make a headline credible.
If your announcements read like marketing and are not earning coverage, our tier-one PR and media relations team writes releases and pitches built around what reporters need, and our brand and messaging team makes sure the story holds up to the first hard question. Talk to us about your next announcement.
