Written Press Release Review:
What are the major results presented in the Nature article?
How well did each press release cover the major results accurately? Explain.
A simple story is critical for communication with the public. Did the press releases provide a simple story? Explain.
Good communication must target either the “who knew?” elements or the application — what does this mean for them or for society? It helps to talk about the people doing the work. Did each press release do this successfully? Why or why not?
The typical audience is impatient and itching to know why this story will be interesting. That calls for a front-loaded Did the authors of the press releases lead with interesting information (i.e., front-load)? Explain.
In writing for the public, a technical term will likely feel like jargon. The job of a press release author is to interest and educate the Provide examples where this was done successfully or not successfully in each press release.
The best stories for the public integrate our joy in puzzling out nature with their focus on results and application. Was the information provided in a logical order?
Podcast Press Release Review:
Write a 2-3 sentence summary of each episode including the major take-aways
Which did you find most interesting? Why? What about the tone, style, information held your interest?
Which did you find least interesting? Why? What about the tone, style, information lost your interest?
What was confusing or less interesting that you would cut from each episode? If you say “nothing”, then you must provide 2-3 additional sentences about what you liked about each episode.
Reflect – If you were to choose to create a podcast on your topic, describe any new content/style/formatting ideas that you would include based on what you heard in the Short Wave episodes. What would you do differently?
