Evaluate press release challenge
Challenge summary
| Summary: | Critical review of a press release. |
 | 1 hour |
 | Linked to Task 1 of Edubit assessment for LiDA104. |
Press releases are inherently biased because they typically aim to put a positive spin on the announcement and therefore provide an ideal format for critical evaluation.
Stimulus resources
- How press releases work
- Latest news, published by PRLOG press release distribution.
- Newsroom at Newswire.
- News feed at Cision, PR Newswire (see advanced search feature).
Purpose
The purpose of this challenge is to:
- enable learners to develop critical media skills by evaluating a press release of a business or topic area of interest.
Tasks
- Choose a recent press release in your own business field or area of interest by searching one or more of the following news feed sites:
- Latest news, published by PRLOG press release distribution.
- Newsroom at Newswire.
- News feed at Cision, PR Newswire (see advanced search feature).
- Select a press release which is interesting, newsworthy and topical.
- Record the URL of your chosen press release.
- Analyse and evaluate the press release by answering the following questions:
- Who created the message and how is this likely to influence the content of the message?
- Why was the message created, that is, what is the underlying purpose of the message?
- What creative techniques were used to gain the readers attention?
- How might different audiences interpret the message? (Provide examples)
- What values and points of view are represented (or missing) from the message?
Outputs
Prepare a blog post (400 to 500 words) documenting your analysis and evaluation of the press release you have chosen.
- Include a hyperlink to the title of the published press release.
- Your analysis should address the following questions:
- Who created the message and how this is likely to influence the content of the message?
- Why was the message created, that is, what is the underlying purpose of the message?
- What creative techniques were used to gain the reader’s attention?
- How might different audiences interpret the message? (Provide examples)
- What values and points of view are represented (or missing) from the message?
- Remember to tag or label your post using the course code: lida104
- We encourage learners to post comments on a few of your fellow learner’s posts.
Last modified: Wednesday, February 28, 2018, 4:02 PM