http://prnewswire.com
This press release did not follow the inverted pyramid. It began talking about a recent law passed by the Supreme Court which states that student athletes who are victims of sexual harassment can now also sue individual, coaches and directors, as well as the institutions they work for. The press release did not state the name of the bill, when it was passed or any other information regarding the bill. This is because the bill was not the focus of the release even though they put it at the top, tricking readers into reading a pitch about Tim Davis and his new casebook.
Whoever wrote this press release included almost no hard facts. There were a few quotes form Davis and then a plug for his forum at Wake Forest University. If I were a journalist trying to write a story about this release I would be frustrated. Because of so few quotes and data I would be forced to do a lot of research that the public relations person should have done for me. I might drop the story completely instead of try to find a newsworthy angle. Those who write press releases are asking a medium to do them a favor and print their story in hopes of selling a product, event or idea. They have to create a document that proves to the journalist that they want to print the story and that the readers of that medium want to hear about the story. Sloppy sentences with no meat will not get a story printed.
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