The document provides guidance on writing effective electronic news releases, including key elements such as the company name, headline, issue date, lead paragraph, body, conclusion, and contact information. It discusses best practices for writing headlines, leads, and body paragraphs, emphasizing that they should be concise, answer the basic questions of who, what, when, where, why and how, and use an inverted pyramid structure. Effective headlines should capture attention while summarizing the content, and leads should reveal the overall meaning in 50-80 words or less over 1-2 sentences. The body can provide details and background in an inverted pyramid format.

1. Writing E‐News Releases
By Hoem Seiha
H/p: 012‐699‐553
Email: entrepconsulting@gmail.com

2. An electronic news release has the following elements:
∗ Company name (or logo)
∗ Headline (sometimes also subhead)
∗ Issue date
∗ Lead (the first few sentences)
∗ Body
∗ Conclusion (not mandatory)
∗ Editorial notice (editor’s note)
∗ Media Inquiry Contact
The Basic Elements

3. Sample: Electronic News
Release
Company name
Headline
lead
body
Editor’s note
Media Inquiry Contact
Company & Issue date

4. Sample: Email‐Based News Release
Headline
Company & issue date
Attached e‐release

5. A good news release should have one or more of the
following characteristics:
∗ Proximity – Nearness to your audience / Are they directly
affected?
∗ Timeliness – Is this something new?
∗ Prominence – Are those involved of importance to the
audience?
∗ Novelty – Is this something unusual, first, largest etc.?
∗ Conflict – Are there competing sides, big or small?
A Good News Release

6. ∗ Wide Appeal – In many cases local media appeals to an
eighth‐grade reading level and topics that appeal to
mass audiences. Does your story have wide appeal or
can you describe why it should?
A Good News Release (cont.)

7. Headline – It’s the subject line (the title of the news
release). Either it’s electronically used or printed on the
paper, headline nature is still the same. Write it
concisely but meaningfully. A good headline of a news
release should convince news writers or editors to get it
published. It should:
∗ Capture the news writers/editors’ attentions
∗ Summarize the overall content of the release
Writing a Headline

8. ∗ Be short.
∗ Be straightforward, not misleading.
∗ Not be promotional.
∗ Not include company’s name (except some cases).
∗ Use simple words.
∗ Comply to style guides.
∗ Not be written in BLOCK.
∗ Be capitalized or lowercased.
Writing a Headline (Cont.)

9. Too long
∗ More than a Hundred Buyers Queue for the Arrival of
iPhone 4S in front of iOne at Canadia Tower from
Morning until Evening
Acceptable
∗ Hundreds of Buyers Queue for iPhone 4S Arrival at
iOne All Day
Example: Length

10. Non‐Standard
∗ Apartment and Office Realty Revenues Are Expected
to Rise Up in the Upcoming Years.
Standard
∗ Apartment, Office Realty Revenues Expected to
Increase Next Years
Example: Style

11. Since lead is the first line(s) of the news release, it
should be short, summarizing the overall content of the
release. An effective lead should:
∗ Capture the news writers or editors’ attentions
∗ Reveal the overall meaning of the release content.
∗ Provide a brief of the “5 Ws” and the “H”.
∗ Not run more than 5 lines (best, 50‐80 words)
∗ Not exceed 2 sentences
Writing a Lead

12. Not Effective: Too long, poorly structured, delayed lead
∗ In time of ASEAN Integration over the next few years,
free market is open to this community and foreign
investors have already looked to invest in the country.
Cambodia will no doubt improve many economic
sectors. For instance, Cambodia’s apartment and
office realty revenues are predicted to grow by the
next years, said industry leaders at the economic
review session yesterday.
Example: Lead

13. Effective: Concise, immediate lead, well‐structured
∗ Apartment and office realty revenues are predicted to
grow by the next coming years, as bolstered by
ASEAN Integration when foreign investors have
already looked to invest in the country, industry
leaders said at the economic review session
yesterday.
Example: Lead (Cont.)

14. The body of a news release provide details of the headline of
the release, narrowing down the points in an inverted
pyramid style. An effective body should:
∗ Provide details of the subject matters
∗ Answer to the “5Ws” and the “H”
∗ Include the intended messages
∗ Include background information
∗ Include supporting elements such as human quotes from
involved individuals, figures, statistics, factual information
Writing a Body

15. Example: Body

16. Even if the conclusion is not always necessary for a
news release, sometimes writers use it to leave a special
message for the readers so that the readers are drawn
by it at last. An effective conclusion should:
∗ Briefly restate the lead (in a far different way)
∗ Leave a message for the readers to consider
∗ Urge for an action
∗ Not run more than 5 lines (best, 50‐80 words)
Conclusion (Nat Mandatory)

17. You have five minutes to write a conclusion for the
news release provided by the teacher.
Practice Writing: Conclusion