Saturday, April 14, 2007

Got A Press Release?

About a dozen times every day I say the words “Can you send me a press release?” In my world as an MCC, I have so many things going on at once; emails and press releases are very helpful. This is particularly true in the early mornings and late afternoons.

We are hustling to get all the last minute updates in for our producers. The producers are finalizing their shows for broadcast. It’s not uncommon during this time to have producers talking to us in one ear, managers in another ear, and a telephone on our shoulder waiting for us with usually 2 calls on hold behind the one already on the line. Meanwhile, the scanners are screaming with incidents. Press Releases allow all the MCC’s to read about your event. Having an email version of your press release allows us to easily add it to our future files.

The problem comes in when PR people want to spill a lot of information to us on the phone. As a result, conversations usually go something like this…

(Phone rings)
Jason:        NBC17 Assignment Desk, this is Jason.
Caller:        Hi my name is [insert name] and I am calling on behalf of [insert company name]. Do you have a second?
Jason:        Sure. Go Ahead!
Caller:        I’d love to tell you about an exciting story………….
Caller:        (telling me about exciting story)
Caller:        (still telling me about exciting story)
Caller:        is this something you might be interested in?
Jason:        Um…possibly. Can you email us a press release?
Caller:        Sure. What’s your email address?
Jason:    
Caller:     Alright. It’s on its way.
Jason:     Thanks, I look forward to reading it.

Got a press release? Or a news tip? The email address is .

-Jason