NEW YORK, March 12 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 10,000 journalists
representing media from across the world have registered for exclusive access
to PR Newswire's web site for journalists, http://www.prnmedia.com, PRN
announced today.
Ken Dowell, PRN's vice president for media and content development, said
he projected registrations would go past 11,000 by the end of March if not
sooner.
"We hit 10,400 registrations on Monday, and at this rate we will be
serving more than 11,000 by April," he said. "The popularity of the web site
among journalists is enormous. The interest isn't limited to one type of news
either. We're getting reporters and editors interested in specific topics
from business and financial news to features and sports -- you name it."
The enthusiastic response to the service was almost immediate when PRN
launched the service in October 1997, Dowell said. Once it caught the
attention of special interest reporters, it grew exponentially. The number of
visits to the web site has increased by 1500 percent from last February. The
past month's visits were an increase of 10 percent over January. However, the
proof not only lies in the number of registrations and page views, but also in
the response in recent surveys of journalists, he said.
Cliff Glickman, assistant business editor of The Charlotte Observer, told
PRN that he visits the PRN Press Room at least twice a day.
"I am usually looking for Carolinas business news and that's how I use the
site, searching by state. But sometimes I hear something and wonder if the
company has said anything about it and I search by company," Glickman said.
"It's very useful and I think it will become increasingly useful as we go
forward... Being able to go to a single site and be confident I've got all of
the major announcements and act on them is very valuable."
Another journalist, Ed Richards of WGAR-FM in Cleveland, said the service
has "a tremendous wealth of useful information. It's quick, it's easy to use
with story archives, backgrounds and contacts all rolled into one! What with
auto, steel, interest rates and fuel prices affecting the lives of each of our
listeners, an information base such as this is not a luxury, it's a
necessity."
Wesley Brown, corporate energy reporter for Bridge News in Oklahoma,
signed up for the Press Room recently but has been using PRN's services for
journalists for many years.
"As a business writer, PR Newswire has been indispensable to me," Brown
said. "As a longtime journalist with the Tulsa World newspaper, I found that
the service was always timely and invaluable in helping me pass along news to
our readers. In fact, I had the opportunity to speak to PRN business
customers during a PRN seminar and I found that my relationship with them was
enhanced by the service offered to both of us. Now, at my new job as the
Corporate Energy reporter for Bridge News, the service is even more valuable
because of the real-time nature of the business. For a wire service writer,
both speed and up-to-date information are essential."
The PRN Press Room continues to provide journalists with the information
they seek, including access to PRN's feature packages, hot topics updated
several times a day, media advisories not available on public web sites,
custom daybooks, photos and ProfNet for experts and weekly tipsheets. PRN
recently announced the availability of a powerful new "push" e-mail delivery
system from the Press Room that allows journalists to customize their receipt
of releases.
Dowell said the PRN Press Room was created very specifically for the
media, so they continue to use it at an increasing rate.
"The Press Room has been a success because we first asked journalists what
type of information they wanted and how they wanted to receive it. We then
designed the web site based upon their responses," Dowell said. "We make the
journalist's job a little easier by putting all of our resources and
information in one place for them."
Journalists use the news releases they access extensively, according to
PRN's most recent Media User Survey. The survey is conducted on an ongoing
basis to determine the best avenues to provide member copy to the media. Of
the 209 respondents from newspapers, trade publications, broadcast outlets and
wire services, 72 percent use news releases for background information.
Another 67 percent of the journalists surveyed said releases were valuable for
tips or story ideas. They also cited commonly using releases to identify
contacts, produce briefs, plan event coverage and obtain quotes.
Most journalists who responded to the survey use more than one method to
receive news releases, with fax, mail and newswire as the most common means.
However, many journalists are gradually adding online tools to gather
information in addition to traditional methods. Twenty-five percent of
respondents in the latest survey reported receiving news releases by e-mail,
compared with only six percent in a similar poll conducted in 1996.
Thirty-nine percent of the journalists surveyed now use either the PRN Press
Room or other web sites to obtain releases, while only 18 percent did when
surveyed in 1996.
Andy Sullivan, associate editor of CityBusiness in Minneapolis, said he
prefers to access breaking news from the web site.
"PR Newswire allows me to stay on top of breaking business news as it
happens, not as it comes out of the fax machine," he said. "The convenient
search engine allows me to weed out irrelevant information and focus on what's
important to my readers."
Alan Statsky, senior medical producer for CNN in New York, registered this
past week.
"I find web sites like this very useful for story ideas," he said. "I
have to come up with several news stories a week for CNN, and web sites like
this are a good source of news and information. E-mail information has become
an important source of story ideas and an effective way for industry,
universities and the medical profession to reach the media quickly and
efficiently."
The surveys and response from journalists indicate the increased usage of
online tools in newsgathering, but it is not clear if it will replace other
traditional means completely, Dowell said.
"However journalists want to get information, we will be there to provide
it. If it is online, we are definitely already making it happen," he said.
PR Newswire, http://www.prnewswire.com, is the world leader in the
electronic distribution of full-text news releases to the media and financial
community having founded the industry 45 years ago. With 29 U.S. bureaus,
five overseas bureaus, an exclusive partnership with Canada NewsWire and its
vast network of wire, fax, e-mail and Internet delivery, PRN serves the news
release needs of public relations and investor relations professionals
worldwide.
SOURCE PR Newswire
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Related links:
http://www.prnewswire.com
http://www.prnmedia.com
CONTACT:
Ken Dowell, vice president for media and
content development, 201-946-5440, or Ken_Dowell@prnewswire.com,
or Renu K. Aldrich, public relations manager, 212-282-1929,
pager, 800-503-2654, or Renu_Aldrich@prnewswire.com, both of PR
Newswire
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