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Critique on the Editing and Writing of Press Releases
Critique on the Editing and Writing of Press Releases
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Introduction
A media release, video release, press statement, news release, or press release is a recorded or written communication/statement directly addressed to media members purposely to announce some information ostensibly newsworthy (McIntyre, 2002). Press releases are mailed, or directly faxed to the editorial team at radio stations, television networks, or newspapers for editing before being released. The press release may cover advance stories, features, event stories, results, and discoveries. The information released in either form must be very accurate and timely. The primary objective of any media release is to attract the audience’s attention and be educative or informative (McIntyre, 2002).
Press Release Format
Any news release should conform to the standardized format in order to enable the editorial team to determine its identity in terms of its content and sender. As an identity tool, the media release should have complete addresses of the sender with these details indicated on the extreme left corner of cover page (McIntyre, 2002). The following details about the sender should be provided in the release: name of the sending organization, contact person’s email address and phone number(s) to enable the editors’ desk to get in touch with the sender when need arises (McIntyre, 2002). In addition, the press release should be dated with the release date appearing below the physical address block. To facilitate the internet search process, the sender should provide the internet link(s) so as to enable the newsroom department to conduct a quick search on the efficiency and accuracy of the press. Besides, the organizational websites should be provided to make it possible for the news room to access additional information on the topic covered in the release (McIntyre, 2002).
It is important for the news sender to provide visuals such as graphs, charts, or photographs since such pictures provide visual impression to the readers. Pictures and visual presentations also draw the readers into the main story by illustrating the major findings in visual form (McIntyre, 2002). The press release should be well written and addressed to the right audience. For the press to be covered in the newspapers or magazine, then, it must be written in a language that is simple and easy for the readers to understand its message or topic being addressed. The press release should be written using correct and simple sentences averaging twenty words, structured in short paragraphs and written in active voice (McIntyre, 2002).
A press release must cover the journalism’s five W’s. Any news must address the who, when, what, where, and why (the 5W’s) particularly for the issue of the release (McIntyre, 2002). For example, the “The Drama Team will participate in the National Music Festivals at Cinema Hall, Nairobi on September 1, 2013”. The timing of the story or release is very critical. The press release should be sent in time for it to be important and meaningful. The release must therefore be sent to the editors desk early enough to allow for its verification and publication. Other than the timing of the release, a good media release should contain localized information in its primary context (McIntyre, 2002).
A news release may be rejected when it fails to meet the minimum release standards. For instance, a media release that is poorly written, lacks important information, too lengthy, not newsworthy, written for public relations rather than the public, untimely, or addressed to the wrong audience will automatically be rejected by the publishing team (McIntyre, 2002). In conclusion, in addition to confirm to these acceptance conditions, it is important for the press release to confirm to the 5W’s standards, otherwise it would face rejection.
Reference
McIntyre, C. V. (2002). Writing Effective News Releases-: How To Get Free Publicity For Yourself, Your Business, or Your Organization. Colorado Springs, CO: Piccadilly Books.
the book, Long Walk to Freedom portrays Nelson Mandelas life
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the book, Long Walk to Freedom portrays Nelson Mandela’s life
Introduction
Essentially the book Long Walk to Freedom portrays Nelson Mandela’s life, beginning from his early days through to his rise as the president of South Africa. It is fundamentally a broad look into a freedom fighter’s life. Like most prominent figures, it is a wonderful narrative about the success of the human spirit. According to the story, it is evident that Mandela is the most unlikely person to rise to be the president of South Africa. Having been born into an disadvantaged family, he fights against all odds all through his entire life. In 1952, Mandela started the original non-Anglo Saxon law firm in the country at the pinnacle of Apartheid. According to the book, Mandela committed his life to confront the injustices in hi country. In the narrative it is clear that through Mandela’s determination, in addition the fortitude of other persons, that the aspirations of millions of his countrymen are realized. Although it is practically a long walk to freedom, the reader learns that the journey was worthwhile in order to realize the aspirations of a cohesive South Africa.
APARTHEID
According to Mandela, apartheid is the epithet of the racialism, inhumanity and repression of all preceding white supremacist establishments. In order to see the factual face of apartheid one ought to look underneath the shroud of constitutional formulas, illusory phrases as well as playing with terminology. The distinctiveness of apartheid was its postulation that society is a entirely synthetic structure, that the economic base is as compliant as the political super-structure. Apartheid has isolated South Africans in a social context with numerous Whites only warnings. Apartheid denied the black South Africans freehold occupancy in the metropolitan areas and devised obscure laws to accentuate their status as transitory sojourners. However, this permitted the White economy greedily exploit them as it needed. These inconsistencies within apartheid lead at some period to conflict, and probably to the collapse of the regime by consent. The upshot of the inconsistencies as well as conflicts within the apartheid constitution was a discursive protracted lamentation discourse exhibited through extraordinary control of the tyrant’s language. Consequently, authorities of Mandela and like minded individuals, institutions and organizations, anti-apartheid jeremiads were fundamentally affected by an assortment of intellectual and social revolutions in the country.
There are numerous facets of Mandela’s personality that the reader gradually learns concerning Mandela. These include his passion for knowledge, commitment, and conviction to what he believed in. Mandela was apathetic to enroll in the armed wing which comprised of African National Congress (ANC) Youth wing. Once he was convinced to join in the struggle Mandela was passionate to his new vocation. It is noteworthy that his meeting with Walter Sisulu, another icon in 1940s prompted a companionship that lased 60 years through trials, jail and freedom. It is evident that Mandela’s believed that guerilla combat is at times necessary, in order to convey the message across to the populace. This is in spite of the fact that a lot of people relate him to an icon of peace. Mandela recognized that it was the prerogative of the ‘non-European liberation movement,’ that sought the absolute abandonment of White supremacy, to influence the unwavering and firm mass struggle to overcome fascism as well as the founding of democratic structures of government. His anti-apartheid jeremiads demonstrate his confidence that blacks South Africans must unite for the sake of national reconciliation in order to build a fresh South Africa. His jeremiads lamented the lack of togetherness and humanity.
Fall of Apartheid. According to the book, apartheid was denounced by black South Africans, as well as several black political factions that were usually supported by a number of compassionate whites South Africans. In the late 1980’s, negotiations for the release of Mandela began to shape. The early 1990’s, marked the commencement of the closing stages for apartheid. The then president Frederik de Klerk effectively started to dismantle apartheid. This is seen when Frederik de Klerk lifted the 30-year proscription on the principal anti-apartheid faction, the African National Congress (ANC), the smaller South African Communist Party, and the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC). In 1990 the National Party government devoted itself to streamlining South Africa and the previously proscribed black congresses, as well as the releasing of jailed black political leaders. In 1994, the South Africa’s constitution was revised and free general elections held for the first instance in South Africa’s history.
On assuming the post as the first elected black president, he assumed a courageous innovative step. In his opening address, Mandela noted that the people of South Africa should work together, in order to attain national reconciliation, greater nation building, as well as for the dawn of a new world. This exposed an anti-apartheid jeremiad discourse in the black community in South Africa. This was traditionally typified by a steadfast rejection to adjust to apartheid’s perspectives, designated a complex letdown of the conventional order.
Critique Of Toyotas Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
Critique Of Toyota’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
IntroductionThe company that is discussed in this paper is Toyota Company. Its CSR is supposed to be a win-win program, this is not the case; the company is expected to make profits so to the society. But the question is who really wins? In the real sense if there is any benefit to the society that the company’s CSR benefits the society, then it is doubtful. One study showed that over 80% of business CSR decision-makers were very assured in the ability of good CSR practice to consign branding and employee advantages. To take the example of easing corporate philanthropy, when corporations make donations to charity they are giving away their shareholders’ cash, which they can only do if they glimpse potential earnings in it. Therefore, from the last sentence is is clear that companies or organizations only take part in Corporate Social Responsibility with intentions of maximizing their profits and not in the interest of assisting the social sphere (Siow, 2012).
CSR as Public Relations
CSR deals. By appealing to customers’ consciences and yearns CSR helps businesses to construct emblem commitment and evolve a personal attachment with their customers. Numerous business charity gain companies’ access to target markets and the engagement of the charity gives the company’s note much larger power. According to the company’s media saturated heritage, the business is ever looking for more innovative ways to get over their message, and CSR boasts up many promise avenues, such as phrase of mouth or guerilla marketing, for subtly coming to buyers (Marpaka & Muralidharan, 2012). CSR furthermore assists to greenwash the company’s likeness, to protect the company’s negative impacts that it has posted to the society and the environment it operates in by saturating the media with appealing messages to cover up the image of the company. It is evident that Toyota’s CSR programs has been more of a burden to the society who have noted various negative features of Toyota products yet the company is only protecting its image forgetting the needs of the society. For example, it is the due corporate responsibility of the company to ensure that its products have a positive view to the society, but this has not been so; last year the company had a problem with brake paddles which lead to accidents hence, the loss of many clients or users of its cars. The company did not mind the social loss of the society, but it went out to protect its image by recalling all the vehicles with brake paddles problems. Since much of the business case for CSR counts on corporations being glimpsed to be socially to blame, CSR will continue to be little more than PR for as long as it is simpler and cheaper to spin them to change. A prominent case against Toyota in the US Supreme Court illustrates this point. When, in 2002, the Californian Supreme Court directed that Toyota did not have the right to lie in defending itself against criticism, disorder ensued in the CSR action. Activists such as Marc Kasky attempted to litigate the business over a deceptive public relative’s campaign. Toyota kept safe by using its free first free talks amendment rights. The court directed that Toyota was not protected by the First Amendment, on the surrounds that the publications in the inquiry were financial speech.
The case proceeded to the US Supreme Court. Legal summaries were submitted to the Supreme Court by public relatives and advertising trade associations, foremost newspapers groups, and premier multinationals, arguing that if a company’s assertions on human rights, ecological and social issues are lawfully needed to be factual, then businesses won’t continue to make declarations on these matters; that CSR is admonished as being a PR stunt is unsurprising, bearing in brain that most CSR workers in businesses sit in the communications and PR departments, and considering that the schemes of CSR – dialogue with NGOs, ciphers of perform, communal accounts – were all conceived and evolved by PR businesses such as Marsteller, Harrison and high ground and a platform that only come about to make Toyota one of the best Automobile manufacturing company and not a society friendly business that aims at maximizing its profit as well as ensuring that its client are socially stable.
CSR is a scheme for avoiding regulation
CSR is supposed to be a corporate answer to public mistrust and calls for guideline. In an Echo research sample, most financial executives consulted powerfully opposed binding guideline of companies. Toyota argues: that setting minimum standard halts discovery; that you can’t regulate for ethics, you either have them or you don’t; and that except they are adept to gain competitive advantage from CSR, but the company stated that it is not ready to support the cost since the company profit has reduced due to claims that it has been working towards building an outstanding corporate culture thereby, costing the company millions of dollars. This is a clear indication that the company can only support CSR if it gets maximum profit and not so when the profit reduce. Businesses are vitally holding the government to ransom on the topic of regulation, saying that guideline will threaten the positive work they are doing. CSR consultancy enterprise in the Community carries business petitioning against guideline, arguing that ‘regulation can only fight back against bad practice – it cannot ever encourage best practice. These contentions, however, easily assist to reveal the sham of CSR (Ganescu, 2012). Why would a ‘socially to blame business’ take a topic with government guidelines to undertake bad corporate perform? Why would this avert businesses from going after the lawful minimum? Possibly the interpretation is that businesses want to be selective about which localities of ‘bad perform’ they eradicate and desire to use their ‘best perform’ to divert vigilance away from the awful, or that ‘socially to blame’ businesses need the bad practice of other businesses to be a counterpoint to their own ‘best practice’.If regulation distracts from best perform, then businesses cannot be portrayed trustingly’ because they accept as true it to be ethically right to do so – only because they are trying to get an advantage over their competitors. CSR is a clear part of the industry’s attempts to co-opt the ecological action. Despite the fact the Toyota has tried to remain environmentally friendly, this CSR principles have failed to meet the expected standards hence the society is facing negative impacts such as carbon emission that has led to global warming.
Conclusion
It is true that CSR is a vital step but this has not been the case with Toyota’s CSR programs. This may be because they desire to improve their likeness by associating themselves with a cause, to exploit a bargain vehicle for advocating, or to counter the assertions of force groups, but there is always an underlying economic motive, so the company advantages more than the benevolent society. This part explores how CSR diverts vigilance from genuine matters, assisting organizations to shy away from regulation, gain authenticity and get access to markets and conclusion makers, and move the ground in the direction of privatization of public purposes. CSR enables enterprise to represent ineffective market-based solutions to communal and ecological crises, deflecting accuse or difficulties caused by corporate operations upon the consumer and defending their concerns while hampering efforts to find just and sustainable answers.
References
Ganescu, M. C. (2012). Corporate social responsibility, a strategy to create and consolidate sustainable businesses. Theoretical and Applied Economics, 11(11), 91.
Marpaka, P., & Muralidharan, P. (2012). A Study of Successful CSR Practices by Industry Leaders. In Proceedings of International Conference on Business Management & IS (No. 1).
Siow, G. (2012). Sustainability Reporting: Japanese vs. European Automotive Manufacturers. In Proceedings of USM-AUT International Conference 2012 Sustainable Economic Development: Policies and Strategies (Vol. 167, p. 713).