FAKE PRESS RELEASE but real message
August 11, 2012
Contact: Phillip Bannowsky: 302.981.9941 or pbannow1@verizon.net
Press Releases for Progressives
Bannowsky to Conduct Press Relations Webinar
Intended for Occupy Delaware Participants
NEWARK, DE. Sharing skills spreads democracy, claims Occupy Delaware activist Phillip Bannowsky in announcing his short, web-based course, “Press Releases for Progressives,” set to begin during the week of August 13, 2012. Intended for Occupy Delaware Participants, the course aims to tackle the special challenges of transmitting a progressive message through the corporate press. The course also aims to avoid the monopolization of Occupy Delaware’s public voice by one or two activists with public relations skills.
Unlike leaflets and posters, the public almost never sees the message in the press release. They only see the story written by a reporter, and only if approved by the editor. The best that a press release can do is to “frame” the story in a positive light, demonstrate its newsworthiness, and provide the facts.
The course will consist of three units: The Form of the Press Release, Framing Your Message, and Managing the Press List. Each unit should require about one hour, although those who are not able to meet at the same time will have access to the materials and will be given alternatives to participate. As befits a horizontal, democratic organization, content and methods are negotiable.
Bannowsky is asking those who wish to join the course to send him an email. He will put all participants on an email distribution list and provide them with materials as well as invite them to Google+ Hangouts, where participants can video chat as well as view and collaborate on documents and presentations. He’s not promising this will work. There will be a minimum of required readings, but resources will be shared.
Phillip Bannowsky is a member of the Media and Communications Committee of Occupy Delaware and has produced many of the group’s press releases. He is a retired autoworker, a poet, and an international educator, and he currently teaches freshman English at the university level.
###