Option A: Speech about Hearing Loss.
Option B: Anniversary Observance and Event for Project Renaissance
The purposes of this assignment are to a) provide practice in promoting a client in a compelling way using news, and b) illustrate now news releases can be used to promote a client organization either before or after a speech, a special event or the release of a research report.
Assume the organization uses blank paper for news releases. Use your name as the contact, insert the name of the organization, and use your campus e-mail and phone number for the contact information.
Indicate that the advance release is "For Immediate Release." Embargo your follow-up release for release at an appropriate specified time. Follow other conventions for news releases discussed in class and the texts and handouts.
Your advance story probably will one page; your follow-up story will probably be 1.5-2 pages. In each case you probably will need to create a tag paragraph about the organization and create a brief nugget description of the organization to appear in the main body of each story.
Although some information will be used in both releases, most of the information provided will be used the post-event story. You may make any reasonable assumptions as long as they do not contradict the facts given. Add additional facts you think are needed. You may alter the quotes or use some of the attributed summary material as quotes, if appropriate. But be sure not to alter the essence of the information provided. (Always make your client sound intelligent! And, remember, you will always obtain approval from the spokesperson quoted prior to release of the story!)
Dr. Maurice Sasser spoke at 7 p.m. last night to a meeting of hearing specialists employed by the city's schools. He was introduced by Dr. Harold Levenson, superintendent of the Elm City Public School District at the high school auditorium. Sasser began his speech by noting that noise can be harmful in a number of ways. It makes people more irritable and may result in an actual hearing loss. In fact, he said, hearing problems constitute the number-one disability in the nation, affecting 16,500,000 persons. If people live long enough, practically everyone will suffer a hearing loss of some kind. High noise levels also cause hearing losses in addition to old age, he said. In the past, Sasser continued, concern has been expressed primarily about industrial noises, and standards set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration stipulate that a worker may not be exposed to an average level of more than ninety decibels for more than eight hours a day. But now researchers are becoming more concerned about the noises encountered in the typical household, since continuous exposure to even 50 decibels of machine noise produces an annoyance factor that may increase a person's irritability. A vacuum cleaner used in a typical American home produces noise levels in the seventy-five to eighty-five decibel range. Power mowers, blenders and hair dryers, some of the loudest appliances in homes, give readings of 93, 92 and 90 decibels, respectively. Continuing, Sasser said a food mixer producers 83 decibels, a dishwasher 73, a sewing machine 65, a clothes dryer 63, a window fan 62, and a window air conditioner 60. Other noises are even louder. A stereo turned up so that the floor vibrates registers 95 decibels. Sasser said the problem of noise pollution is becoming so severe that "Some older persons who experience a hearing loss are reluctant to wear a hearing aid because, when given a proper hearing aid, they are surprised at how much noisier the world has become and are not certain they want to listen to it all." Finally, Sasser concluded by warning that hearing loss rarely is sudden. Rather, "The disability creeps up on you. It's painless and it's difficult to pin down where it comes from." Two things in homes are most dangerous to hearing, he concluded: stereos played at high levels over a long period of time and lawn mowers. "Hearing loss is a problem that falls upon deaf ears," he quipped. He estimated that 1,000 out of the city's 50,000 residents will seek treatment for suspected hearing loss in the next two years.
Option B -- Anniversary Observance and Event for Project Ressurance.
You are the public information officer for the
Maple City Police Department. In recent years, the department has
been concerned with the negative image of police work and has
strived to project itself as an organization whose mission is "to
protect and to serve." Using the information below, write a
release consistent with the goal.
On March 15 of this year, the police celebrate the first anniversary of an innovative program. The program is for senior citizens--usually persons 65 and older, although any person who lives alone and is over the age of 55 can participate if that person wants to do so. The program is called "Project Reassurance." Each day, elderly persons who participate in the program call Dorothy Morovchek, a clerk, and two aides at the police department between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. If they do not call by 9:15 a.m., Miss Morovchek will dispatch a police officer to the person's home to determine whether the person is safe, and the officers have a key to each participant's home so they do not have to break their way in. Since the program started a year ago, Miss Morovchek says it has saved three lives, including the life of a women who police officers found lying on the kitchen floor of her home after having suffered a heart attack before she was able to call the police that morning. Altogether, a total of 318 persons in the city participate in the program at the current time, and police say they will not impose any limitations on the number of participants in the future. Miss Morovchek adds that the elderly like the program for a second reason as well, since many feel alone, and it gives them someone to talk to every morning. One elderly lady who uses the service and who attended the reception, Ruth Dewey, says, "It's a thrill to hear a voice. My husband died four years ago, and I don't have anyone else to talk to. I also feel now like I have some security. I know someone's there to help if I need it." The program has served as a model for other cities since its inception. At least four other cities have adopted it; nationwide six others are considering doing the same. Police Chief Harold George, who is 45-years-old, was responsible for creating the program, after he came to Maple City from a similar position in Cedar Falls, Iowa. However, this is the first place where the program has been in operation; he had hoped to start it in Cedar Falls, but the city council there didn't feel it was very valuable. "The police's role is to make people feel safe in their homes, and to protect citizens in all ways we can," said Chief George at reception held this morning for participants and their families at the central police station. More than 200 participants and their families attended.
Option C -- Report on Traffic Accident Study.
You are the PR director for the Colorado Department of
Transportation.
Your job is to promote the work of the Department and at the same time to promote
transportation safety.
Two researchers in the department have been studying causes of automobile accidents for 10 years. They decided to study the personalities of a total of 2,146 men and women over the age of 21 who survived or were killed in a total of 1,200 crashes in Colorado. Where possible, they interviewed the survivors as well as the friends and relatives of persons killed in the accidents and asked about their personality traits. They compared their traits to the traits of a random sample of other state residents but who were not involved in any serious accidents. They became interested in the topic because many people believe that alcohol is the chief cause of auto accidents in the United States. The researchers are Drs. Louis Rhodes and Richard F. Kucharzyk. The two Ph.D.s helped the CDOT obtain a $650,000 grant two years ago from the U.S. Department of Transportation and the National Transportation Safety Board to conduct the study. Their research indicates that most fatal or potentially fatal auto accidents are caused not by drunken drivers but by drivers with a particular set of personality traits. They found that those persons involved in accidents are markedly different. "Male drivers who experienced serious accidents tended to exhibit personality traits categorized as more bizarre, anxious, belligerent, hyperactive, verbally expansive and psychopathic than the general male population." However, women accident drivers in the study were more stable than the general female population. Among men, 64 percent of the drivers involved in potentially fatal accidents exhibited the dangerous traits. Only 28 percent of drivers not involved in crashes showed the same dangerous characteristics. The study also found that 2.7 percent of the fatal single-car accidents could be attributed to suicides. The researchers said this figure is much lower than most estimates from other studies, which range as high as 15 to 30 percent. Most of the male victims in the fatal accidents were from low socioeconomic backgrounds, whereas most female victims were middle class. From the findings, the researchers concluded that it is the personality traits that contribute most to accidents. They said that a person who has many problems in living may use alcohol in conjunction with driving, but the personality traits are the most important key to the dangerous driving, not the alcohol. Colorado had 350 drinking-related automobile fatalies last year, ranking 17th in the nation on a per-citizen basis.