PRN Media How-To: Journalists’ Favorite Features

News happens faster than ever these days.

Adding to the speed of information coming in and going out, you must create visually-appealing, tweetable, Instagramable stories that quickly can be re-purposed for the web and/or a blog post.

There’s no shortage of sources to tap into to meet the new demands of news reporting. Searching the web is the most popular tool (83 percent) used by journalists to mine stories, according to a recent survey by PWR New Media.

Incoming emails and social media are second and third most popular sources at 67 percent and 47 percent, respectively.

You’ve done your research and as the words of your story begin to take shape on paper, it’s not enough; not anymore.

Today, pictures and video are high on the list of must-haves to help tell the story.

So it came as no surprise that recently surveyed PR Newswire for Journalists users find their top three favorite and most useful aspects of the site to be:

1. Ability to browse news and customize delivery by type and timing.
2. Access to hi-res photos and video.
3. Finding expert sources.

News Releases by Choice

Forget the phone, email has become the preferred method of communication today. This is especially true in the PR business and pitching media. But getting your hands on the news release you want when you want it benefits both parties. To do this, you can browse industry sectors on the PR Newswire for Journalists site.

If you prefer email, you can create a personal newsfeed using the “My PR Newswire” feature. Not only do you control the type of news you receive, but also how often you want to receive it.

Setting it up takes a few quick steps. See a step-by-step guide here: 6 Steps to Ensure On Target News Release Delivery

Creating your personal newsfeed weeds out the stuff you don’t want and delivers the items you do.  If you switch beats or switch jobs, no problem.  Newsfeed profiles can be changed at any time.

Multimedia Gallery

Images can make or break your story. They can be the thing that grabs your audience and causes them to keep reading. There are thousands of downloadable photos, video, audio and other documents, including infographics and more in the Multimedia Gallery.

Feel free to publish photos, logos and videos without worrying about copyright issues. Everything on our newswire is fair game for use.

Experts at Your Finger Tips

Coming up with compelling quotes from reliable sources can be a challenge for even the most seasoned reporter. ProfNet can help you find expert sources on a variety of subjects and meet your deadline. To get started, click on the “ProfNet Experts” tab at the top of the PR Newswire for Journalists page. That will take you to the query form, where you can describe the type of expert you seek.

Media Trends and Opportunities

In addition to the services described above, the PR Newswire for Journalists website offers a robust Community section, where you can find keep up with the media trends and job opportunities.

Want to get started? It takes only a couple moments to register for our media services at prnmedia.prnewswire.com. If you have questions, would like to learn more or need help crafting a newsfeed, you can also drop us a line. We’re always happy to help!

Brett Simon is PR Newswire’s former director of audience relations and was a television reporter in her former life. Follow her @savsimon.