Use and modification of press releases depending on the type of newspaper

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Published: Feb 15, 2012
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15178/va.2011.117E.63-76
Keywords:
Public relations, Institutional communication, Press analysis, Press release

Main Article Content

Lorena Busto-Salinas
Facultad de Humanidades y Educación. Universidad de Burgos (España)

Abstract

The press release is one of the most important tools used by press offices to transmit a story to the mass media. It consists on a short text regarding an organization’s newsworthy story written in the same way as a journalist would write it. The purpose of a press release is to be published by the mass media with the less modification as possible. These documents are used by newspapers to easily fill their pages with news, although they might modify its lines differently depending on the type of daily. In order to prove this hypothesis, all press releases sent in four years to the mass media by the Atapuerca Foundation (Burgos, Spain) have been studied, as well as their impact in six different newspapers. One of the most relevant results is that local newspapers publish more news releases and of any kind of subject, placing them more often in front page than their counterparts. Nevertheless, it has also been noticed some aspects of the press release that doesn’t change much between some newspapers and others, like the size of the information, the degree of reelaboration or the usage of images and their dimensions.

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How to Cite
Busto-Salinas, Lorena. 2012. “Use and modification of press releases depending on the type of newspaper”. Vivat Academia. Journal of Communication, no. 117E (February):63-76. https://doi.org/10.15178/va.2011.117E.63-76.
Issue
Issue 117 Extra - December 2011 - Year XIV
Section
Research Articles

The main author must deliver the letter of transfer of copyright, according to the model provided by Vivat Academia, Revista de comunicación, which declares the transfer of copyright to the journal and make explicit the rights of authors regarding the dissemination and use of the manuscript once published.

Creative Commons Attribution/Non Commercial 4.0 International

Author Biography

Lorena Busto-Salinas, Facultad de Humanidades y Educación. Universidad de Burgos (España)

Licenciada en Comunicación Audiovisual por la Universidad de Burgos (UBU) en 2008 con premio extraordinario. Es becaria FPI de la misma universidad, donde ha presentado su DEA sobre comunicación institucional y muy en especial en torno a la nota de prensa. Forma parte del grupo de investigación Comunicación, Difusión y Publicidad de la Cultura y del Patrimonio de la Universidad de Burgos (CAYPAT). Ha participado en varios contratos de I+D+i sobre la divulgación del patrimonio y ha contribuido en la redacción de los libros Un siglo de fotografía en Burgos. 1840-1940 y El Patrimonio Histórico de Castilla y León. Tradición y Cultura.
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