Usage in brief

"Its" versus "It's"

"Its" is the possessive pronoun, as in "the dog ate its bone."

"It's" is the contraction for "it is," as in "it's a bone the dog's eating."

On deadline and rushing to fill the so-called editorial hole, the best copy moves first. If you're seeking publicity, always remember that you're competing for space from every other news source of the day.

Follow these tips to keep your news out of the round file:

1. Remember the 5 W's of news writing: Who, What, When, Where, Why (and often, How). Pack as many of them in the first paragraph as possible (and be concise).

2. Don't use single-spacing (1.5 is good); leave room for your copy to be edited with ease.

3. Never use boldface or underlined type. Emphasis is used seldom in news columns, and the editor will merely waste precious time cleaning up your release.

4. Don't over-capitalize, especially titles, job positions, and departments you identify in your release. (Journalism schools formerly advised students to use all-caps for radio and TV copy. That's not necessary today, although the electronic media does prefer larger type.) As another aside, include parenthetical, phonetic pronunciations for odd words in a radio-TV release, as in Tuntuntuliak (Tun-tun-TUL-ee-ak) or Gorbachev (GOR-ba-shef).

5. Always date your release, with telephone numbers and names of contacts for media follow-up or questions. (And while we're at it, there's no need to put "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE" at the top of your press release: If the news isn't ready to print, why did you send it in?)

6. It's best to type your release on plain white paper, without graphics or other elements down the side. Many news organizations use optical scanners to process submissions; don't make the news desk work harder to get rid of the extemporaneous garble that scanners output from these graphic elements. Similarly, stay away from double-sided copy; it disrupts batch processing on the scanner.

7. The best source for proper news-writing style and formatting is the AP Stylebook, available at most major bookstores. It's a good investment.