I'm glad someone has pointed this out. Arguing that all media releases must be signed off by the scientist(s) behind the story is nice and simple and may work most times, but it is not a silver bullet. Caveat scriptor.
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From: dianne stilwell
[...] There's been many a time I've had a release for final checking and have asked "so what does that mean?' to be told that the scientist insisted on that particular phrase - and that the writer didn't really understand it - but had included it for the sake of a quiet life/get the thing written etc. At that point you can:
- leave it - and risk the sorts of misunderstandings that sparked the present correspondence
- re-write with more explanation - leaving in the phrase to satisfy the scientist and making it a bit long and wordy - but hopefully more understandable
- insist on a rewrite, removing the complex phrase and with the manager perhaps going head to head with the scientist
The options chosen will obviously vary from place to place and person to person - and a lot will depend on the authority and standing of the comms team within an organisation. If their status is lowly and they are just seen as press release machines (and it sounds as if Alison has had a particularly bad experience) then there's not much chance that an individual release can be changed - the problems goes deeper and is far more a management issue.
Dianne
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