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Press Releases Disguised as News?

Published by Joseph Ferrara (2) October 23rd, 2007 in Google, Marketing tips, Real Estate News and Yahoo. Comments

A good press release can read like journalistic news. But do consumers know the difference between press releases and “real” news stories— you know the ones written by schooled journalists and not skilled PR copywriters? Perhaps not.

It seems online news distributors are letting press releases get into the news pipeline, along with a few blog posts. Yahoo News, for example, does not indicate the news search content is a press release. (Google News puts press release in brackets).

Here’s an example:

This first news story for Redfin is a press release. Marketwire is a press release service. (BTW, do a Yahoo News Search for Zillow and a press release comes up number 1 as well). (Note: The press releases mentioned here were not prepared by either company.) (thanks DG)

So what’s the big deal? Maybe nothing, so long as consumers reading the press release understand the content is written by the company or its PR firm? There is a big difference between journalistic news and “here’s my new stuff” news.

Tom Foremski of Silicon Valley Watcher thinks maybe press release copy needs to be labeled, such as “This promotional content on behalf of XYZ Corporation” so none of the muddled masses misses the message. We don’t know if we’d go that far but press releases should be identified as such.

What do you think? We think you should write an SEO press release ASAP.

Related Posts:

The Power of Print: Preception as Truth

Bloggers and Journalists.

Further Reading:

Mark All Press Releases: Not to be Distributed by News Aggregators (Foremski)

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  • Good idea Freddie-- a simple solution.
  • It is frustrating that newspapers are allowing large content add-ins that are really just marketing. It would help a lot if they would tell up front "Marketing section" and leave the decision as to when you read it up to the reader.
  • true that Obeoman
  • Even in newspapers, if it's an ad, it says "Advertisement" if it looks like news.

    Just put Press or Media release on it and ignore the aggra-vation.

    Real information always rises, you know, like good cigar smoke...or cream...or at least above the fray.

    Obeoman

    steven.stearns@obeo.com
  • Thanks Drew and David.

    No, I was not trying to imply that the press releases mentioned were prepared by the companies or their PR firms, only that press releases are being distributed by the news aggregators as news. I added a Note to the post to clear up any misimplication. Thanks.

    Source is not disclosed in the Yahoo news search results.
    http://news.search.yahoo.com/news/search?p=redf...
    (Yes, it is revealed if you click to the actual page)
  • I'm typing too fast:

    "do not" should be "are not"
    "overdue it" should be "overdo it"
  • That's totally lame on Yahoo's part. Press releases, by definition are intended for a press audience, not "as" press.

    But ... your research is also lacking:
    1) The source of the press releases on Y! is disclosed. See "source" in the footer of every article.
    2) You seem to imply that these releases were put out by Redfin and Zillow and I just want to point out that they do not. These publicized releases come from smaller companies that are announcing partnerships with the sites. When you have a popular brand, this is a common discussion with vendors. And big brands have to ensure that vendors don't overdue it when making their announcements.

    Full disclosure: I own stock in Y!
  • If you're interested in reading an interesting perspective on new media and press releases, you should read Brian Solis' "PR 2.0" blog - http://www.briansolis.com/index.htm
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