Most press releases do not get coverage. This is not because journalists do not read press releases — they do, when press releases are worth reading. It is because the overwhelming majority of press releases are not written for journalists. They are written for internal stakeholders, for SEO, for the company's own archive, or for the vague institutional comfort of having "put something out." Press releases written for those purposes do not generate coverage because coverage was never really the goal.
Writing a press release that gets coverage requires starting from a fundamentally different question: what does a journalist need to write a story about this?
The News Test
Before writing anything, the first question is whether the announcement is actually news. This sounds obvious but is routinely skipped, which is why newsrooms receive press releases about employee promotions at companies nobody has heard of, product updates that represent marginal improvements over existing functionality, and partnerships that mean nothing to anyone outside the two companies involved.
News is something that is new, significant, and relevant to an audience the journalist serves. The bar for "significant" varies by publication — a $2 million seed round is not news for the Wall Street Journal but may be significant for a regional business publication or a vertical trade covering the startup's specific category. Understanding which publications and journalists might actually care about a given announcement is the prerequisite to writing the press release.
If honest assessment concludes that the announcement does not meet the news threshold for any publication with meaningful reach, the answer is not to write a better press release. It is to reconsider whether to issue one at all.
The Headline Is the Most Important Sentence
Journalists decide in the first three seconds whether a press release is worth reading. That decision is made on the headline. A press release headline should function exactly like a news headline — stating the most significant fact in the most direct possible language.
Compare: "TechCorp Announces Strategic Partnership with Fintech Leader to Accelerate Digital Transformation Initiative." Versus: "TechCorp Partners with Stripe to Automate Payments for 50,000 Small Businesses."
The first headline could describe almost any partnership announcement from almost any technology company. The second tells you exactly what happened, who is involved, and what it means. The specific number — 50,000 small businesses — makes it concrete and credible in a way that "accelerate digital transformation" never can.
The rule is simple: if your headline contains the words "strategic," "innovative," "leading," "synergistic," "transformative," or any variation thereof, rewrite it. Those words communicate nothing and signal to a journalist that nothing inside the release will either.
The Inverted Pyramid, Done Correctly
The inverted pyramid structure — most important information first, supporting detail following — is the standard format for press releases. It is followed in theory and violated in practice by the majority of releases sent to journalists.
The first paragraph should contain the complete story: who, what, when, where, and why it matters. A journalist should be able to read the first paragraph of a well-written press release and understand everything they need to decide whether to pursue the story further. They should not have to read four paragraphs of company background before reaching the news.
The second and third paragraphs provide the most important supporting detail — data, context, a direct quote from the most significant person involved in the announcement. The quote should say something specific and informative that advances the story. "We are thrilled to announce this exciting partnership that will transform our industry" is not a quote — it is a filler sentence that every journalist either skips or cuts. "This partnership reduces payment processing time from five days to same-day for businesses under $5 million in annual revenue" is a quote that earns its place in the release.
Subsequent paragraphs provide additional context, secondary quotes, and background. The boilerplate — the standard "about the company" paragraph — goes last.
The Exclusive vs. the Embargo vs. the Wire
How a press release is distributed shapes how much coverage it generates, and the strategy varies by the significance of the announcement.
For truly significant news — major funding, a significant acquisition, an executive hire that the market will notice — the most effective approach is often a true exclusive with a single publication, followed by a wire distribution after the story publishes. The exclusive gives the journalist the story on their own, which means they will write it more completely and more prominently than if they receive the same information as every other outlet simultaneously. The wire distribution ensures the story is on the record and findable by others after the initial coverage runs.
For moderate news — a partnership, a product launch, an industry report — a managed embargo with three to five relevant journalists, followed by wire distribution, works reasonably well. The embargo allows journalists to write complete stories rather than reactive breaking news, which generally means better coverage.
For minor news — executive moves, office openings, award wins — wire distribution alone is appropriate. These announcements are not likely to generate proactive journalist coverage regardless of distribution strategy, but they serve the archival, SEO, and stakeholder notification purposes that justify issuing them.
What Actually Gets Cut in the Editing Room
Journalists who take a press release and write a story from it make predictable edits. Understanding what gets cut reveals what should not be in the release to begin with.
CEO quotes that do not say anything specific get cut. Superlatives — "the most comprehensive," "the industry's first," "unmatched" — get cut or changed. Company mission statements get cut. Descriptions of the company's culture and values get cut. References to things the company plans to do at some future point get cut or substantially hedged. Anything that sounds like marketing copy rather than news gets cut.
Write the press release as though you are writing the story the journalist will write. If you would cut it from the news story, cut it from the release.
The Multimedia Consideration
In 2026, press releases that include high-quality images, data visualizations, or short video assets are more likely to get coverage than those that do not. This is partly because journalists are producing content for digital platforms where visual assets are essential, and partly because the availability of those assets reduces the work required to turn a release into a publishable story.
For significant announcements, investing in a professional photograph of the product, the executive, or the relevant visual, and making it available for editorial use, meaningfully increases coverage rates. For data-driven announcements — survey results, market reports, financial data — a well-designed chart that journalists can use directly is worth more than paragraphs of data description.
The press release is the beginning of the journalist's work, not the end of yours. Make their job easier and they will do more of it.
Agencies that work with journalists daily, across beats and publications, build the relationships and the craft knowledge that translate press releases into coverage. For communications teams building or refining their media relations programs, 5WPR [https://www.5wpr.com/] and Virgo PR [https://virgo-pr.com/] bring media relationships across consumer, technology, and financial press.
