Every press release Presswire distributes is read by an editor before it is sent. This page is what that editor is checking for. It is not a style preference: a release that meets these guidelines reaches journalists who are willing to open the next one, and a release that does not damages the sender and everyone else on the same wire.
Our editors are former newsroom journalists. They check the release against the standards below, tell you if the headline, structure or content will hurt its chances, and send it once you are happy with it. Nothing is changed without your agreement. Once a release has passed review we aim to send it within an hour, or at the embargo or scheduled time you gave us.
What we distribute
A press release announces something. A company event, a product launch, results, an appointment, a contract, a piece of research, a milestone, or informed comment on a story already in the news — all of these are news to somebody. The test is whether a journalist covering your sector could write something from it.
- Newsworthy. A clear, timely, relevant announcement.
- Objective in tone. Factual, third person except inside quotation marks, and free of advertising language, exclamation marks and superlatives you cannot prove.
- Original. Not a duplicate of a release already sent through another platform, and free of copyrighted material you do not have the right to use.
- Legally sound. No defamatory comment, no reference to live legal proceedings, nothing that targets an individual or a group.
- Verifiable. Every claim, statistic and reference must be something a journalist can check.
What we will not distribute
Some material is refused outright, whatever the fee:
- explicitly sexual material, hate speech, or content promoting violence;
- online gambling, payday loans, unapproved pharmaceuticals and unsafe health products;
- stock recommendations, unauthorised ticker symbols, and investment solicitation;
- black-hat SEO — releases written to place links rather than to be read.
A release is also refused, or returned for changes, if it is an advertisement with no news in it, if it makes misleading health claims or offers unverified medical advice, or if it is formatted as spam: link after link, or a page of single-line fragments.
The specification
These are the hard limits. A release inside them goes through review quickly.
- Length: 400 to 1,500 words.
- Headline: up to 110 characters, stating the news, with the source of that news clear.
- Structure: a one or two sentence summary; the main body with the context, facts and figures; at least one direct quote from a named spokesperson; a closing paragraph; and, optionally, a short editor’s note.
- Links: relevant links only, no more than one per 100 words, pointing to something informative rather than to a sales page.
- Formatting: no HTML. Bold text, links and clickable email addresses are supported. No block capitals for emphasis and no forced line breaks.
- Contact: a named contact with a working telephone number and email address. A release we cannot put a journalist in touch with is not much use to either of us.
- Images and files: high quality, at least 1200 pixels on the long edge, as .jpeg, .png or .pdf. Video and documents are accepted in the usual formats.
- Background: keep the company history and technical specifications in a short appendix or fact sheet rather than in the body.
Writing it so it passes first time
- Be clear and specific. Short, informative sentences. Spell out acronyms on first use and avoid jargon a general-news desk would not recognise.
- Follow AP style for grammar, spelling and punctuation, including its treatment of the serial comma.
- Write in paragraphs, not single-line fragments, and do not paste in a table of contents. Short, front-loaded paragraphs read best — there is no minimum paragraph length that improves indexing, and anyone who tells you otherwise is repeating a myth.
- Give the detail. Dates, figures, and the basis for each figure. Proofreading is the sender’s responsibility; we will tell you if we spot an error, but we do not rewrite your copy.
The full method — headline, dateline, lead, quotes, boilerplate and a worked example — is in our guide to writing a press release.
Accuracy, and what happens after it has gone
You are responsible for the accuracy of what you send us, and for holding the rights to everything in it. That does not change if the first draft was produced with an AI tool: the claims still have to be verifiable, the quotes still have to be real and approved by the person named, and the release still has to be yours rather than a duplicate of something already on another wire.
A distributed release cannot be recalled. It is in journalists’ inboxes, on newsroom terminals and, depending on the service you bought, on syndication partners’ sites within minutes. If something in it turns out to be wrong, the remedy is a second, clearly-labelled corrected release — which is why the checks before sending matter more than any process afterwards.
Changes and rejections
Presswire reserves the right to modify or reject any submission that does not meet these guidelines. In practice a rejection is rare and a conversation is normal: if a release cannot go as written, we tell you what is wrong and what would need to change, and nothing is sent until you have approved the final text.
Cancelling, and refunds
The full cancellation, return and refund policy is on our about page. The parts of it that bear on a release which does not go out:
- A distribution request can be cancelled by the customer who placed it within 30 minutes of our receiving it, by telephone to the number given in customer services. After that, in most circumstances a release cannot be changed once it has been submitted for distribution.
- A claim for a refund must be raised within 24 hours of purchase, and each case is judged by the Presswire team on its merits.
- If a release has been processed and distributed in accordance with your instructions, no refund is due.
- If a release was not distributed within 24 hours of our receiving it, and there was no embargo on it, we will consider an application for a refund.
Frequently asked questions
How long does the editorial check take?
Usually under an hour. We aim to distribute within an hour of receiving a release that passes review, or at the embargo or scheduled time you set when you filed it.
Will you rewrite my press release?
No. An editor will tell you what is likely to stop the release working — a headline that says nothing, news buried in paragraph four, a claim that will not survive scrutiny — but nothing is changed without your agreement.
Can I use AI to write my press release?
You can draft with whatever you like. The obligations are the same either way: the facts must be verifiable, the quotes must be real and approved by the person quoted, and the release must be original. Journalists are markedly less receptive to copy that reads as machine-generated, so it is in your interest that it does not.
What happens if my release is rejected?
We tell you why and what would need to change. Most releases that come back are returned for one fixable reason — no news in the headline, a prohibited category, a missing contact — and go out the same day once it is addressed.
Questions about a specific release, before or after you file it, go to our contact page. Distribution options and prices are on the press release distribution and pricing pages.