Press Release - Distribution Models

Distribution Models

In the traditional distribution model, the business, political campaign, or other entity releasing information to the media hires a publicity agency to write and distribute written information to the newswires and other networks of journalists. In this model, the business is ultimately responsible for both the creation of the content and the decision to distribute it, which makes press releases self-published. However, within the industry, a self-published press release is a do-it-yourself release that bypasses the pricey newswire distribution networks. In this approach, which is popular with many very large businesses and is nearly universal among small organizations seeking only local media attention, the business' own marketing personnel write the press release and send it directly to their choice of newspapers or other media outfits. Although previously done on a small scale by individually mailing or faxing announcements to a small number of local media, this approach now tends to rely on e-mail and web distribution. Some hybrid models also exist, which pay for distribution through established networks, but otherwise follow the do-it-yourself model.