Assignment #2: Press Release Stories, JCOM 2300

Faith in America

http://www.mittromney.com/News/Press-Releases/Faith_In_America_Address

The Mitt Romney for President team released this press release announcing Gov. Romney's decision to address the topic of religion. I chose three articles that were written from this press release:

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2007/12/romneys_religion_speech_pros_a.php

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/04/romney.speech/index.html?iref=newssearch

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/12/06/local_mormons_await_romney_speech/

The first article is actually a blog post by political analyst Marc Ambinder. He simply lays out the possible pros and cons of Gov. Romney's "Faith in America" address. The neutrality of this piece is very evident. Six pros are presented along with six cons. The balance of positive and negative possible outcomes provides the reader with all options to form their pre-speech opinions.

The CNN, Romney: Religion address won't be 'a JFK speech', has a cautious tone. As a news article, CNN is expected to be unbiased. I feel that in this analysis by CNN on the Romney announcement does not live up to a silenced personal bias. By giving one true or positive statement, the author feels justified in stringing together unneeded information. The paragraph devoted to polygamy is completely irrelevant to the rest of the article. Overall I would view this article is leaning toward a skeptic neutrality. The article, however, did not address the press release very well. Only the first four paragraphs were about the press release and the last 11 paragraphs discussed topics indirectly linked to the press release.

The Boston.com article is definately biased. It is a very positive piece for the LDS Church and for Mitt Romney. Again, the focus is taken away from the actual speech. The focus is given instead to local LDS youth and a hope of understanding. The LDS reader felt very comfortable reading this article. I appreciated the feeling of optimism in the article and the personal connection that the author made with individuals within the community and religion. I would say that this was positive and passed an appropriate look into the effect this speech could have on the LDS population and the outlook on Gov. Romney's religion.

Step 3: Analysis

I will be completely honest, I was very frustrated by this assignment. It took me a very long time to decide what interest I wanted to persue. I realized how difficult it is for reporters to find a good press release and write an article that relates to the actual released document. Overall I felt that this assignment opened my eyes to the small but significant effect press releases can have. Before this assignment I thought that public relations was simply press release after press release. But now I see that press releases are but a drop in the bucket of public relations.

In the Mitt Romney press release, his campaign manager is quoted along with personal referrences to Romney. The quality of this press release was quite good. The target of this press release was the media, and they bit the hook. Gov. Romney needed a publicity moment and he wanted to speak about religious freedoms and faith. This press release forced every major news organization to produce multiple stories about the much anticipated speech.

I have learned a valuable lesson through this exersise. A press release must be intriguing, informational and worth writing about.