AScribe
In The News

Public Interest News Wire Can Offer Your Organization Wide and Affordable Exposure

If you're in public affairs and are looking for an affordable alternative to the traditional public relations news wires to get your message out, an Oakland, California startup may be your answer.

AScribe, an Internet-based news distribution service,currently has 450 clients whose releases are delivered to media outlets and the public through The Associated Press, Dow Jones Interactive, Lexis-Nexis and other Web services.

Creating a Niche - What the Wire Carries

AScribe's news flow includes announcements from a wide variety of public-policy organizations that issue reports, research discoveries and opinion pieces. They cover topics ranging from family issues and consumer affairs to politics and the environment. The wire also carries news from arts and cultural organizations, museums and theaters about exhibitions, performances and events.

Founders David Irons and Ron Wolf call their service "a news wire with a social conscience" because, unlike the more expensive PRNewswire and Business Wire, AScribe only distributes public interest news. They say that for non-profits and public institutions like universities and medical centers, there is an inherent advantage to having their news flow with other public interest news -- without the distraction of corporate releases or new product announcements.

However, AScribe will take corporate news as long as it fits the definition of public interest -- such as scientific discoveries or survey research -- as well as announcements of new products that rise to the level of vaccines or cancercures.

Target Media Through Custom Feeds

Unlike an unsolicited PR pitch, AScribe has been invited to wherever it delivers its news releases. The service feeds into newsrooms through the AP Data Feature Circuit.

"We design the feed to meet their needs," says Irons. "For instance, it's different for Newsweek than for Business Week -- our feeds reflect the different editorial mix of those two magazines."

Old Media Relations Habits Die Hard

Irons told MRI that AScribe's biggest competitors are the old habits of public affairs professionals, who often continue to rely on fax, e-mail and the postal service to communicate with the media. But in the four years since its founding, AScribe has introduced its members to the benefits of instantaneous delivery of news over multiple channels.

PR Opportunities

AScribe has been a boon to organizations whose budgets can't afford PRNewswire or Business Wire.

"What's especially impressive about AScribe is that it provides a digital data flow into newsrooms," says Tom Krattenmaker, director of news and information at Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pa. "It's different from my just faxing a release to that newsroom and more direct and effective than putting it on my Web site."

Krattenmaker says he also likes that AScribe gets his information placed in other electronic news libraries. "That means that five years from now when someone is doing research on the U.S. economy, they'll call up an opinion by one of our economic professors," he says."So we have the chance of getting our news out there for years.

Krattenmaker and other AScribe clients say that some newspapers even run their press releases verbatim as straight news stories because the wire service encourages well-written and credible announcements.

Reach New Audiences Through Digital Databases

AScribe's press releases are not just designed to entice reporters and editors to write about their people, programs or events. Through digital databases such as Lexis-Nexis ,Dow Jones Interactive and Comtex News Network, AScribe's releases can reach millions of researchers and individuals tracking developments in a particular field.

Irons offers these tips for writing news designed for database subscribers:

* News that might otherwise seem too specialized for a purely journalistic audience would be a good fit.

* It's often better to write a bit longer than you would for the media.

* Use a URL at the end of a release to bring readers to your Web site.

How Much it Costs

Corporations and PR agencies pay an annual $500membership fee; non-profits and public institutions pay $125. To issue releases, clients pay $420 for a package of 12 releases, $900 for a package of 30 and $1,500 for a package of 60.

For more information, go to www.ascribe.org.

Reprinted with permission of Infocom Group, publishers of Media Relations Insider (800/959-1059)