All too often these days, our FTF News editor and reporters hear these two words from the industry’s finest communications and public relations professionals: “No Comment.” It happens so much that it has really started to make me wonder, What’s the point of a press release? Doesn’t the word ‘press’ imply just that? It says, “Hello reporters and industry publications, I am announcing this very interesting news. Please call me as I would like some PRESS coverage.” Apparently for some, press release means, Here’s this announcement, but DON’T CALL ME. If you do, I will either not return your phone call or after much chasing, I will send you an email that says, “We have no comment.” It really doesn’t matter to us either way – if a press release is issued, it’s public and we’ll write about it anyway. In my opinion, if companies fail to return calls or state they have no comment, it just makes it appear as if they have something to hide or they want to forget the fact that a certain piece of news was even issued. So please, perhaps some PR experts out there (hello Cognito? hello Aspectus? ) can explain to me exactly the purpose of a press release?!?! Thanks in advance.
We try our best to ensure we have a client ready to deploy when we’re releasing an announcement to the press (and frankly, even when we’re not!) and we know the “no comment” route won’t win us (or our clients) any fans. Sometimes, the timing of the news is subject to factors beyond all of our control, which can mean that we can’t field a spokesperson as quickly as we’d like, but there’s no excuse for not keeping journalists fully aware of the situation and doing your best to field their enquiries. If you choose a news vehicle as your way to send a message to the masses, it’s your obligation to do your utmost to offer any additional colour and context editors need to do their jobs. If you don’t want editorial interest in your news, don’t put out a press release!
Thanks Ellie. Totally agree. If you are putting a release out, a spokesperson should be ready to comment, no matter what. If that’s not possible for some crazy reason, then just say that rather than saying nothing or ‘no comment.’ So much time is wasted chasing sources when it could be better spent writing!