OK. As most of us know, the CAP Press Releases end with a semi-standard paragraph describing CAP.
"Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with more than 56,400 members nationwide. Its volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and counter-drug missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. The members play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to the more than 22,000 young people currently participating in CAP cadet programs. CAP has been performing missions for America for more than 68 years."
However, what if we wish to tailor the press release to a specific audience? (For example, I'm working on a Press Release announcing our new Wing Chaplain, some of which will be sent to media outlets with a religious nature or focus.)
Any thoughts or suggestions?
Nothing wrong with that. Its not mandated.
Quote from: RiverAux on December 06, 2009, 01:20:13 AM
Nothing wrong with that. Its not mandated.
Maybe not in YOUR wing ...
Jack
I'm assuming that since he asked the question here, he was looking for guidance on what the national regulations say.
Now, everyone certainly recommends the boilerplate and they've been keeping it updated pretty regularly lately, but it makes sense to modify it to match your story when possible.
The boilerplate goes at the end of the release. So just write the release tailored to your needs then copypasta the boiler plate at the end.
model:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
AnyTown: paragraph
Paragraph
Paragraph (as many as needed)
Boilerplate
Contact info
Press release prototypes (http://members.gocivilairpatrol.com/cap_national_hq/public_affairs/cap_pao_toolkit/news_release_prototypes.cfm)
No need to modify the boiler plate at all.
If you're a novice PA, stick to the tail NHQ/PA suggests. My only suggestion: Take out the word "official." It's unnecessary. Of course, it's official. If it wasn't, it wouldn't exist, or it would be like the USRC. There's no need to embellish further.
If you're more confident in your chops, try to start weaving certain parts of the tail into your release. On second reference to Civil Air Patrol, say "Civil Air Patrol, the U.S. Air Force's uniformed volunteer auxiliary." You hit multiple birds with one stone with that phrasing — you identify CAP's legal status and give some idea of its membership and its obligations. Still, some information in the tail will have no relevance whatsoever to your individual release, so keep those parts of the tail intact. Chances are good that, unless you're dealing with a very small newspaper, it'll get cut, but it'll be good information for the editors who see it.
If you're an advanced news writer, chances are, you've worked in a newsroom and you know that tail's the first thing that gets cut. The better you can work things in, the harder it is to edit them out. Some things in the tail, like the number of saves in the preceding year, are nice, but best left to a separate release that focuses on CAP's emergency-services accomplishments. You can afford to pick and choose. Additional releases that help burnish the "usefulness" of CAP as an organization — releases that include that save number, for instance — are always great to put out there in addition to spot news releases. But they'd better tie in good to the local unit(s) you're flacking for.
A few quick thoughts.