JTC351 Public Relations Practices
Assignment #3

Three Personnel Announcements

News releases announcing the appointment of personnel are common tools in public relations. Your assignment is to write three releases based on the three scenarios provided below.

Your releases should be targeted as follows:

In writing your stories, you will want to consider carefully how the individual should be portrayed, and what information is appropriate to include. You will also want to make sure that the organization is accurately and favorably portrayed.

You should pay special attention to AP style -- and the conventions discussed in class about news release formats. Note: The information provided is purposefully rough and inconsistent; re-writing and re-phrasing might be necessary. You may augment the information provided -- as long as the information you add is not contrary to the facts given.

Please staple your releases together in the order listed in the assignment. Thanks.

***

New Executive

You are on the public relations staff of the Confidence Investment Corpo­ration (CIC) of Sacramento, California, and have been assigned to prepare a press release announcing a change in management. You have available to you the following information:

New Coach

Three months ago Felice Shofar, head women's basketall coach at Metra College, resigned her position in a brief written statement without citing a reason for leaving. Luke Hammer, 48, a former quarterback with the Chicago Bears and currently the athletic director at Metra, immediately started a search for a new coach at the undergraduate, co-ed, four-year liberal arts college with 8,500 students located in Metropolis, Illinois, a city of 75,000.

A total of 110 applications were received and screened by a search committee. Five of the applicants were invited to Metropolis for interviews, and Lucinda Smart was offered the position.

Part of your job with the Metra College news bureau is to cover women's sports. Therefore you know that for the past ten years the college's Division II women's basketball team has been nationally ranked and participated in four national tournaments, reaching the semifinals twice and winning the national title last year. With good reason, therefore, the Metropolis Evening Sun has given extensive coverage to the women's team. In fact, the newspaper's coverage has been far better tahn the coverage given to the men's team, which has had a losing record for eight of the past ten years. So, you were glad to learn from Hammer's phone call that Smart has accepted the vacant position.

"You may remember that Smart is the one who's been hoops coach at the College of the Hills," said Hammer. "I sent you her resume; it will give you all the necessary information."

You volunteered to organize a press conference for the following day, but explained you also want to write a news release. You asked Hammer for a quote. Hammer suggested this: "We feel very fortunate to be able to secure a person who is so highly qualified to lead our outstanding girls basketball team. We expect great things from Cindy Smart, and we know she'll deliver the goods."

Later, checking out Smart's resume, you cull out the following data:

Making a last-minute check with Hammer, you learn that Smart's salary will be $90,000 and that Felice Shofar is now head basketball coach at Cavalier University, Cavalier, IA.

New Organization Chair

Two years ago you became public relations director of the United Way of Sorbonne, a southern city of 130, 000, whose population is evenly divided between blacks and whites. One of your important assign­ments is to attend all meetings of the board of directors. If anything newsworthy transpires, you write a release and e-mail it to the Transcript, the local (morning) newspaper. The Transcript does not routinely cover the meetings of the United Way Board, but relies on you to cover any important stories. The arrangement has worked well so far; thus maintaining your credibility is important.

As usual, you had asked your boss before the meeting whether anything newsworthy would take place. She didn't indicate anything, and you prepared yourself for a routine (boring) meeting. The meeting began at 4 p.m. Your rough notes follow:

You wondered whether your boss had been aware of the committee's recommendations beforehand. You could have prepared an announcement in advance.

A check of your files at the conclusion of the meeting revealed the following about Dr. Clements: Age, 44. Divorced. Two children by first marriage: Peter, 13, and Paul, 11. Both children are living with her and her present husband, Dr. John Clements, an internist in private practice. The family lives at 2459 Allenwood Avenue. President Clements is a graduate of Holyoke (B.A. in Psychology) and of Yale (M.A. and Ph.D. in Sociology). She was named head of SCC five years ago. She has authored four books. A member of the UW board for three years, she is currently board vice president. She was the first black recruited to serve on the UW board.

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