Editing Press release (section)

{{short description|Information provided for public relations}}
{{Redirect|Communiqué}}
{{for|guidelines for using press releases as Wikipedia sources|Wikipedia:Independent sources#Press releases}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2017}}
[[File:Wikimedia Foundation press release template.pdf|thumb|upright=1.1|An example of a press release. This is a template for Wikipedia press releases from the Wikimedia Foundation communications team.]]
[[File:Madison Square Garden News Release 1974.jpg|thumb|250px|[[Madison Square Garden]] News Release 1974]]
{{Journalism sidebar}}
A '''press release''' (also known as a '''media release''') is an official statement delivered to members of the [[news]] media for the purpose of providing new information, creating an official statement, or making an announcement directed for public release. Press releases are also considered a [[primary source]], meaning they are original informants for information. A press release is traditionally composed of nine structural elements, including a [[headline]], [[dateline]], introduction, body, and other components. Press releases are typically delivered to [[news media]] electronically, ready to use, and sometimes subject to "do not use before" time, known as a [[news embargo]].

A special example of a press release is a '''communiqué'''<ref>{{Cite web|title=Definition of communiqué {{!}} Dictionary.com|url=https://www.dictionary.com/browse/communique|access-date=2021-06-11|website=www.dictionary.com|language=en|archive-date=11 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210611193943/https://www.dictionary.com/browse/communique|url-status=live}}</ref> ({{IPAc-en|k|ə|ˈ|m|juː|n|ɪ|k|eɪ}}; {{IPA|fr|kɔmynike|lang}}), which is a brief report or statement released by a public agency. A communiqué is typically issued after a high-level meeting of international leaders.

Using press releases can benefit media [[Corporation|corporations]] because they can contribute to reducing costs and improve the amount of material a media firm can output in a certain amount of time. Due to the material being pre-packaged, press releases save [[Journalist|journalists]] time, not only in writing a story, but also the time and money it would have taken to capture the news firsthand.<ref name="Lewis-2008">{{Cite journal|last1=Lewis|first1=Justin|last2=Williams|first2=Andrew|last3=Franklin|first3=Bob|date=2008-02-01|title=A Compromised Fourth Estate?|journal=Journalism Studies|volume=9|issue=1|pages=1–20|doi=10.1080/14616700701767974|s2cid=142529875|issn=1461-670X}}</ref>

Although using a press release can save a news outlet time and money, it constrains the format and style of its content. In addition, press releases can be favorable towards the organization that commissioned or issued them, [[Framing (social sciences)|framing]] the topic according to its preferred criteria. In the [[Information Age|digital age]], consumers generally want to receive information instantly, bringing about pressure on the news media to output information fast with less time for editing and [[fact-checking]]. This may cause news media companies to heavily rely on press releases to create stories.<ref name="Lewis-2008" />