Every working day, journalists in New York, Berlin, London, Singapore and a thousand smaller newsrooms open a press release, read the first line, and decide. The decision takes seconds. Most releases lose it for reasons that have nothing to do with the strength of the story: the headline promises nothing, the first paragraph buries the news, or the whole thing reads like an advertisement rather than a report.
This guide is written by editors who have sat on the other side of that decision. At Presswire, every release we distribute is read and checked by former BBC journalists before it goes, and the same faults come up again and again. What follows is how to avoid them, in the order a journalist will meet your release.
What editors actually read first
Not the whole release. A journalist scanning an inbox or a newsroom wire sees three things: the headline, the first sentence, and the name of the organisation. If those three do not add up to “this is news, and it is news for my readers”, the release is gone.
So press release writing is a discipline of front-loading. The most important fact goes in the headline, the next most important facts in the first paragraph, and everything else is arranged so that an editor can cut from the bottom without losing the story. This is the inverted pyramid, and it has survived every change in the media because it matches how newsrooms work.
The headline
A press release headline is not a slogan and not a title. It is a one-line statement of the news, written in the style of the publications you want to appear in.
- Say what happened. “Northbridge Logistics opens 40,000-square-metre distribution centre in Rotterdam” tells an editor everything. “Northbridge Logistics announces exciting European expansion” tells them nothing.
- Use the present tense and an active verb. Opens, launches, appoints, reports, acquires.
- Keep it to one line, around 70 to 90 characters. If it runs longer, you are trying to say two things.
- No superlatives you cannot prove. “Leading”, “revolutionary” and “game-changing” are the fastest route to the delete key. If your product genuinely is the first of its kind, say precisely what it is the first to do.
- Name the organisation unless the news is bigger than the name. Journalists file by company.
An optional one-sentence subheading can carry a second fact: the scale, the date or the significance. If there is no second fact worth a line, leave it out.
The dateline
The dateline sits at the start of the first paragraph: city, then date, then a dash, then the first sentence. For example: ROTTERDAM, 14 September 2026 — Northbridge Logistics today opened…
It matters more than it looks. The city tells a regional editor whether the story is theirs; the date tells every editor whether it is current. A dateline reading “Global” or “Online” raises the question of where the news actually happened, and a release that raises questions gets set aside. Use the city where the news took place or where the organisation is headquartered, and the date the release is intended for publication.
The lead paragraph
The first paragraph answers the questions a reporter would ask with thirty seconds to spare: who did what, when, where, and why it matters. That means one or two sentences, no more than about 50 words, containing the news and nothing but the news. Compare these two openings.
“Northbridge Logistics, a leading provider of innovative supply-chain solutions, is delighted to announce a significant milestone in its European growth strategy.”
“Northbridge Logistics today opened a 40,000-square-metre distribution centre at the Port of Rotterdam, its first outside the Nordic region, creating 180 jobs and adding overnight delivery to Germany, Belgium and northern France.”
The first says nothing an editor can use; the second could be printed as it stands. That is the test: could a newsroom run your first paragraph, unedited, as the opening of a story?
The body
The second and third paragraphs expand on the lead with the detail a reporter needs to write the story without calling you: the figures, the timeline, the context, the names. Each paragraph should carry one idea and be cuttable without damaging what sits above it.
Keep the register plain. Write “said”, not “commented” or “enthused”. Spell out acronyms on first use. Give figures as numbers with their basis: 180 jobs by the end of 2027, not “hundreds of jobs over time”. A release is a report of something that has happened, written for people whose job is to be sceptical. Every adjective costs credibility, and every claim you cannot back with a fact will be cut or, worse, will sink the whole release.
Quotes that survive editing
Most quotes in press releases are deleted because they say nothing. “We are thrilled to be opening this facility, which represents a fantastic opportunity” gives a reader no information. A quote earns its place when it does something the body copy cannot: it gives an opinion, an interpretation or a human reason. “We chose Rotterdam because two-thirds of our German customers are within four hours of the port, and none of them were getting next-day delivery” sounds like a person and explains a decision.
Use one or two quotes at most, from named people with their exact job titles, attributed with “said”, each in its own paragraph. Make sure the person quoted has approved the words, because a reporter may well ring them.
Boilerplate
The boilerplate is the short “About” paragraph at the end: three or four factual sentences on what the organisation does, where it operates, how big it is and when it was founded. It is the same on every release, so write it once and strip out anything promotional. “Northbridge Logistics is a Nordic road-freight and warehousing group founded in 1998, operating 14 depots in four countries with 2,300 staff” is a boilerplate. “Northbridge Logistics is redefining the future of freight” is not.
Contact details
Below the boilerplate, give a named press contact with a direct telephone number, a monitored email address and, for multi-region releases, a time zone. Journalists work to deadlines that do not respect office hours, and an unanswered press line is a lost story.
Embargoes
An embargo asks journalists not to publish before a set date and time. It is useful when coverage must land at a particular moment, for example when results go to a stock exchange or a product is unveiled at an event. State it clearly at the top: “EMBARGOED UNTIL 07:00 CET, Monday 14 September 2026.” Understand that an embargo is a request, not a contract; most newsrooms honour them, none is obliged to. Do not embargo routine news.
When you distribute through Presswire, tell us the embargo or the future distribution time when you file the release and it goes out then. Otherwise we aim to send it within an hour of receiving it, once it has passed review.
Images and logos
A release with a good image is easier to run. Supply a high-resolution photograph that shows the news, with a caption and a credit, attached or linked rather than pasted into the text. A logo is not a picture and will not be used as one.
Length
One page: 350 to 500 words for most announcements, up to 700 for a complex financial or scientific release. If you cannot say it in a page, you are announcing more than one thing, and the second deserves its own release on another day. Presswire does not charge by the word, so length is a question of what the journalist will read, not what it costs to send.
A worked example
The following is a fictional skeleton, labelled as such, to show the shape. Replace every element with your own facts.
Northbridge Logistics opens 40,000-square-metre distribution centre in Rotterdam
First site outside the Nordics brings next-day delivery to Germany, Belgium and northern France
ROTTERDAM, 14 September 2026 — Northbridge Logistics today opened a 40,000-square-metre distribution centre at the Port of Rotterdam, its first outside the Nordic region. The site creates 180 jobs and adds next-day delivery for customers in Germany, Belgium and northern France.
The centre, built over 18 months at a cost of €42 million, handles temperature-controlled and ambient freight and connects directly to the port’s rail terminal. It is expected to reach full capacity of 9,000 pallets a day by the end of 2027.
“We chose Rotterdam because two-thirds of our German customers are within four hours of the port, and none of them were getting next-day delivery,” said Anna Lindqvist, Chief Executive of Northbridge Logistics. “This site closes that gap.”
About Northbridge Logistics Northbridge Logistics is a road-freight and warehousing group founded in Gothenburg in 1998. It operates 15 depots in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands and employs 2,480 people.
Press contact Erik Dahl, Head of Communications, +46 31 000 0000, [email protected] (CET)
Northbridge Logistics and the people named are fictional and used here only to illustrate structure.
Mistakes that get a release binned
- The news is in paragraph four. Editors do not read to paragraph four.
- No dateline, or a fictional one. “Worldwide, today” is not a place or a time.
- The headline is a slogan. If it could be printed on a banner, it is not a headline.
- Unsupported superlatives. Leading, innovative, world-class, unique.
- A quote that says nothing. Delight, excitement and pride are not information.
- No press contact, or a generic inbox. A story that cannot be checked does not run.
- Wrong audience. A consumer-product release sent to a trade-finance desk wastes everyone’s time.
- One global blast at one hour. A release timed for London breakfast lands in San Francisco at midnight.
Getting it in front of journalists
A well-written release still needs to reach the right people. Presswire sends press releases directly to journalists and editors selected by sector and region, across North America, Europe (including the UK), the UK and Asia, or worldwide in a single order. Before anything goes, one of our editors, all former BBC journalists, reads it and tells you if the structure, headline or content will hurt its chances; nothing is changed without your agreement.
Distribution is $250 (£185 / €220) for one region and $400 (£300 / €350) worldwide, with no membership fee and no charge per word. Every distribution includes that editorial review, publication on presswire.com and our Google News title, and syndication to our content partners. Newsroom-terminal delivery through PA Mediapoint, online syndication to 400+ news sites including the Associated Press network and USA Today, translation, tracking reports and media monitoring are optional extras. Details are on the press release distribution and pricing pages.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a press release be?
One page: 350 to 500 words for most announcements, up to 700 for a complex financial or scientific release. If you need more, you have two stories.
What is the correct press release format?
Headline, optional one-line subheading, dateline (city and date), a lead paragraph carrying the whole story, two to four supporting paragraphs, one or two attributed quotes, a factual boilerplate and a named press contact. Mark embargoes at the very top.
Should I write in the first or third person?
Third person throughout, except inside quotation marks. The release is a report about your organisation, not a letter from it.
Can I send the same release to every country?
Not without adjusting it. Spellings, currencies, time zones and the relevance of the story all change by region. Separate circuits for North America, Europe and Asia, each timed for its own morning, get better results than one global blast at a single hour.
Write the release as a journalist would write the story, check it as an editor would check it, and send it to the people who cover your sector. A second pair of professional eyes before it goes is part of every Presswire distribution, and the full rate card is on the pricing page.