True press releases sent out by corporate and government communications departments rarely are intended to sell anything. When they try, the discredit themselves in the eyes of the journalists who cover those areas of government or business. The role of press releases in keeping interested journalists and policy-players informed can not be overstated. Are they "advocating" something? Damn right they are, that's their job. And the press which covers increasingly refined areas of business and government couldn't function without them. For my part, I couldn't possibly produce the newsletters I produce, or provide my members with the information and services I provide to them without press releases, both solicited and unsolicited. Are they "selling" something? Sometimes, but usually just describing new developments, often as required by securities laws, by the way. (Now, there's another issue. Some of this speech is required to be made in order to give everyone in the market the same information. A company could use this interpretation as cover to only give the information to its "opt-in list" of insiders, in short, never tell the market about its developments.)
Another point to recognize is that most communications departments don't want to "spray and pray" and would dearly love to have an opt-in list of people who "consent", but the fact is that any list of this nature degrades by about 30-40% per year in the offline world, probably closer to 60-70% online. Journalists are downsized; they leave to write the "great work"; supporters move, die, etc. Anyone communicating with the public has the same problem. It is, however, a targeted problem with respect to true press releases; the target population tends be the journalistic world, which needs this information.
I think the UK Information Commissioner and the data protection world in general are making a huge mistake limiting freedom of speech and press by applying data protection concepts to this area of communication. The concept of "direct marketing" is much too broad here. You are giving the government a terrific weapon to silence critics and opponents. "No, no. You can't send out to named individuals who don't already know you exist any advocacy around any important public issue. You can't as a new charity tell people that you will help animals, the environment, children in Bolivia, etc., etc, because the government is incompetent. Those are violations of data protection law." Well, it also suppresses legitimate and important speech. Didn't the Third Reich, and don't China and Burma, suppress speech that "violates good public order", which means "disagrees with the government"? This interpretation is bad for companies, policy freaks like me, and journalists, and ultimately the public
Marketing departments who pretend to do press releases generally aren't very good at it, because they don't provide relevant information for the "press release" world and really ARE focused on getting a response and selling, rather than informing or educating. I think there is a valid distinction between "news" releases and "product selling" releases. The former I wouldn't restrict on protection of liberty grounds; the latter I would suggest are properly within the opt-in realm.
So, as Mr. Whitaker says, the press release might be to market information and anti-government propaganda and be "junk mail", but it just as well might also save your democracy, or enlighten you to some step by govenment that would be disastrous. I think from a beneficial public policy point of view, the IPR have it right; unfortunately, unless this debate goes beyond "well, the Commissioner said...", Mr. Whitaker's position will prevail, unless of course your courts come to the rescue, as they seem to be inclined to do, vide Durant.
Happy Holidays, everyone,
Charles Prescott, DMA
Charles A. Prescott
Vice President, International Business Development & Government Affairs
Direct Marketing Association
1120 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10036
U.S.A.
Tel. +1-212-790-1552
Fax. +1-212-790-1499
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
website: www.the-dma.org
Helping businesses go direct worldwide. .
>>> Jim Whitaker <[log in to unmask]> 12/22/03 07:34AM >>>
The Institute of Public Relations has issued guidance about whether press
releases count as electronic marketing. The full document is at:
http://www.ipr.org.uk/e-letter/policy.htm but the key element is:
"There is no clear definition of a press release relating to this
legislation. The new Directive specifically targets Direct Marketing. As a
press release should be factual information, aimed at notifying a
journalist of a service, product or news, and not directly selling to the
journalist, it appears that press information is not covered by the
legislation."
It seem to me that they are whistling in the dark to keep their spirits
up. One person's press release with factual information is someone else's
junk mail. For many organisations the point of a press release is to
market their product (whether that is information, government propaganda
or widgets).
Any thoughts from anyone else?
Christmas wishes to all.
Jim Whitaker
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