Ob Basics- Writing Press Releases

One of the most important parts of any op is the press release(s). This is where you tell the world what needs changed and what you plan to do to change it. This is where you either convince the people to support you, or convince them not to waste their time with your op.

There are several ways to write releases but this is the method most often used. Its time-honored and effective if done well. For purposes of illustration we'll use one of the OpInnocence releases as an example. That document can be found at http://pastebin.com/yG81EwuM . Let's go through it, section by section...

At the top we identify the op and add the statement "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE". It were a subsequent release we would note that by modifying the first line to read "Anonymous Operation Whatever --Press Release 2 (or 3,4, etc)-- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE". Below that we date it, using the date it was officially released, not necessarily the date it was written.

In the next paragraph(s) we tell the story. We do what I call a Joe Friday version of the story, "just the facts ma'am". State the simple truth about what happened. Avoid embellishing it and by all means do not state anything that you do not have good reason to believe is the actual truth. If it was worth building an op, the facts will stand on their own.

Be sure to also tell what, if anything, has been done by authorities to remedy or bring justice to the situation. If local law enforcement has tried to bring justice, be sure to state that. If there has been obstruction, state that as well. Try to be specific as to who has done the good vs who has done the bad. Some of the authorities may end up as allies if you play this right. If there has been previous activist or community involvement, mention that as well.

Remember, keep your emotions in check at this point. You're telling a story; tell in a way to gain sympathy for your cause, not to piss people off (we'll get to that soon).

In the next paragraph, maybe 2 but probably not more than that, we're going to tell them exactly what we want done. Gauge the mood to determine it you will "request" or "demand"; demand is usually appropriate. Be precise and be reasonable. Do not demand actions that are not within the power of authorities to perform or that are not lawful.

If you have reasonable threats to make, make them now. Again, be reasonable. State what you plan to do if justice is not brought. I suggest you do not make threats of illegal actions. If you look at the example release, a very viable threat was made without stepping outside the bounds of the law. Yes, we all know that ops sometimes do what is needed without regard to what is legal but use your head as far as committing such things to paper. Remember, this is a press release, thousands will read it and expect you to live up to your words. Don't let your mouth (or fingers) write checks that your ass can't cash.

Finish the release with the statement "That is all". Its concise and it works nicely as an ending.

Below the release we will put one of the standard Anonymous statements. The example release uses "the corrupt fear us" version but the "we are legion" version works nicely too. Follow this with contact information, preferably email, Twitter, and Facebook, and close with the op's Twitter hashtag. Don't fail to do the statement, I've seen media question the legitimacy of a release simply because the statement was left out.

OK, you've completed your release. Its clean, well written, free from "cuss words" (you expect newspapers to print this, right?) and less than one printed page long. Have you spell checked it? Do it again. One misspelled word negates the whole release in the eyes of the media. Trust me on this; work it until its perfect then have someone else proofread it, preferably several people.

Now its time to release it to the public and the media. Your release should be done in 4 ways; a general twitter release, a general Facebook release, direct release to local media, and a direct release to national/global media. Its best to release through op accounts rather than personal accounts. Media releases are best done by both email and twitter. If you have the contacts to get it done, the general release is best done by the YAN account. Regardless of your feelings towards that account, the media sees it as a legitimizer of Anonymous operations. If YAN hasn't tweeted your op, many in the media will not see it as legit. Sad but proven true.

Don't be shocked if the media ignores your release. Keep banging away at them and eventually, if your op has merit, someone will pick it up and write about it.

As usual, this is only one of many ways to do this. There are other styles of releases, OpMaryville did one recently in a humorous style that I thought was excellent. Most however, are done in the traditional style as I have described here. I hope someone gets some use out of this.