AFTER THE HIGHWAYMAN - SYNTAX AND SUCCESSFUL PLACEMENT OF PRESS RELEASES IN NEWSPAPERS

This study proves once again that too many press releases are poorly w ritten and over-written, with long sentences and paragraphs, and poor syntax as well as weak and passive construction. In their use of press releases, journalists almost always have to make them simpler, shorte r, easier to read, and less passive. The authors conclude that success in writing of press releases requires brevity and simplicity, shorter paragraphs, sentences, and words, and the elimination of the passive voice. Timothy Walters is an assistant professor of communication at S tephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, TX. Lynne Walters is associate professor of journalism and Douglas Starr professor of jour nalism, both at Texas A&M University, College Station. Lynne Walters i s currently a Fulbright professor at the American Journalism Center in Budapest, where her husband Timothy is also on a one-year appointment as a visiting professor.