In an article posted today on Ragan.com, public relations measurement maven, Katie Delahaye Paine, writes about “5 (more) PR-related things we need to get rid of.”

She begins the article with this:

I was stunned to find how many people are still in love with the press release. It’s worthless as a tool to talk to the press, but it’s great as a way to get everyone on the same page in terms of messaging and actions. My company, KDPaine & Partners, recently nailed down a partnership agreement by writing the press release with which to announce the deal. When we are working with clients to create a survey, I frequently start with a fantasy press release announcing the results. And sure, you do need to post releases on your website so the world will know what you’re up to recently. Maybe we just need to change the name?

I’m writing to address Katie’s comments and final question, that perhaps the name ‘press release’ needs to be changed.

First, I agree with Katie that using the tool of a press release to get a journalist to write about your ‘newsworthy’ item is worthless. Journalists are bombarded with so many emails, phone calls and pitches that they typically don’t have the time or interest to follow up on story ideas presented by press releases.

If you think of a press release as a written strategy, like a positioning statement for a specific item, it’s easy to accept Katie’s comment that the press release is “great as a way to get everyone on the same page in terms of messaging and actions.”

Her examples of winning business and using the press release as a tool to begin with the end in mind, are excellent.

The fact is, press releases don’t just go to the press anymore, or at least they shouldn’t. They should be published online, providing access to everyone, including search engines (primarily search engines).

And while we’re on the subject, we could sure have a long discussion about the practice of sending releases to the media at all.

Let’s call them news releases

Years ago I stopped calling company announcements press releases, for the simple reason that the press isn’t the only, or even the primary, audience for the press release any longer.

I call the announcements news releases, or just company announcements.

While I can totally see and agree with where Katie’s coming from in terms of asking why PR people still use press releases to reach the media, I’m even more focused on the importance of publishing announcements or news releases in a robust online newsroom — a microsite with the sole purpose of sharing announcements with the world and making it easy for others to also share.

The Internet has brought about a new world of self-publishing.

If, in the past, public relations professionals used press releases to present story ideas to journalists with the hope of securing media coverage for their organization, now the same public relations professional can publish the news using the Web and social media tools and reach the same consumers as the traditional media reached before.

In fact, if the PR person knows what they’re doing, they can reach an even warmer target audience because their social network already has an affinity for what that organization does (even if only because their friend is the PR person).

I believe the traditional purpose of the press release is dead — you really can’t get the attention of journalists with press releases, much less score coverage by mass e-mailing some database of journalists.

We should re-name the tool to be a news release. After all, we’re talking about something we feel is newsworthy, and it’s a release of information, right?

I think self-publishing news releases in a social media equipped online newsroom is the most underutilized tool in the public relations toolkit.

More about online newsrooms

For more on the subject of online newsrooms, check out my recent Online PR Podcast about the features and benefits of maintaining a social media newsroom.

Also, you can visit the NewsCactus Blog or NewsCactus.com to see how my content management software solution helps companies and organizations maintain their own newsroom for just $199 a month. (It’s the least expensive online newsroom software on the market.)

A presentation for the Public Relations Society of America Western District Conference in Palm Springs, California, April 28-30, 2010.

Everything about Online Newsrooms — Lead and reach major news outlets

Date: April 29, 2010

Time: 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.

Place: Riviera Resort & Spa in Palm Springs, California

Cost: $225 | view PDF conference brochure

RSVP: PRSAIE.org

Description

A media room is ground zero for publishing news and information about your organization on the Web. Of all the information shared about you online, your own press room should lead the way in delivering timely, factual updates with supporting multimedia items.

Yet many corporate communicators remain dependent upon IT and Web design personnel to publish newsroom information online.

In this session the creator of the NewsCactus online newsroom software, Pete Codella, will walk you through the features of a newsroom most requested by journalists. He’ll share newsroom case studies and best practices. And he’ll discuss the pros and cons of hosted and non-hosted newsroom solutions.

In this session you’ll learn how to:

• Publish press releases online utilizing Really Simple Syndication (RSS) to deliver content in multiple ways
• Design a newsroom that incorporates the most important elements including media contacts, a searchable archive of announcements, and press kits
• Determine the best approach for your organization: build a newsroom yourself or use a hosted service
• Produce content that supports the search optimization strategy of your organization
• Utilize multimedia — documents, images, logos, video and audio files — to tell more of your story
• Establish a newsroom and following that serves as a benchmark for your industry
• Optimize your press releases for social media sharing

I was one of the presenters at the 2009 Social Media for Communicators conference in Las Vegas presented by Ragan Communications and PRSA.

Here’s a video interview with me, Pete Codella, talking about the benefits and uses of an online newsroom.

And here’s an article on the same topic that accompanies the video: Create an online newsroom that reporters will love.