Press Releases: When News Turns into Noise

I admit that the topic I want to focus on in this post is one of the most debated online.

Although I’ve usually sidestepped it until now, this time I feel particularly inspired—and above all determined—to explain how news shared on the Internet often becomes useless, even worthy of being discarded. Over the years, I’ve observed how the web, while being the most democratic medium in the world, is also the most easily manipulated, lending itself to tricks and shortcuts. The trend of sending and publishing press releases is becoming more widespread but, at the same time, increasingly pointless. Except for a handful of reputable sites truly equipped to handle press releases, most “containers” are now indistinguishable from sections of personal blogs or catch-all websites—a way to repurpose other people’s content for a few drops of AdSense revenue, which is becoming scarcer by the day.

That said, let me clarify: the purpose of a press release is to announce a new initiative, promote an event, or introduce a new product to industry media. In practice, the communicator (the press officer—a professional in journalism or communication) informs the press (the one true intended audience) about these developments. The journalist, after careful consideration, decides whether or not to use the press release as a starting point for a news story. Alongside the sender (the communicator) and recipient (the journalist), there’s also the distribution channel—be it print, radio, TV, or the Internet.

Given this, it’s clear that online, this essential “chain” is often broken and abused by opportunists whose sole aim is to turn the web into a dumping ground, where copy and paste (not just of press releases, but news in general) isn’t considered bad practice, but almost a badge of honor. This daily violation of copyright harms those who still have something original to say—or to do. Even Google, the world’s leading search engine, has caught on to this bad habit and now applies a “duplicate content filter,” removing copied articles from its index. Admittedly, their mission isn’t always perfect, and the system is not infallible, but the algorithms are getting better. Regardless, copyright infringement is a criminal offense and can result in both moral and financial damages.

I’ll skip over poorly written press releases (often by so-called communicators with little expertise)—sometimes just a few lines that convey nothing. They may be signed “Press Office,” but that’s the only thing journalistic about them. In many cases, there isn’t a single real journalist involved at any stage—from the client to the distributor.

So here’s my advice for communicators and readers.
To the former, I suggest you stop publishing press releases on every website you can find. It’s pointless and even harmful. Pointless, because Google filters out most duplicate releases. Harmful, because your reputable client could end up side by side with irrelevant or disreputable neighbors.

To readers, especially younger ones, I recommend staying informed by reading news only on reputable journalistic sites and original, authoritative blogs.