Canadian government ditches traditional press releases

An official blog post from the Government Communication Service announced press releases are out in favor of ‘a more digital-friendly product.’

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The Canadian government is ditching the traditional press release for an entirely different format designed for the Internet age.

“The media and stakeholders will get a fresh approach from Canadian Government departments and agencies,” Kim McKinnon of the Communications Community Office wrote in an official blog post. “Two or three paragraphs of short, crisp text will allow them to scan quickly for the key messages of the announcement. The new format also offers quick access to key facts and additional resources.”

The post includes a link to an example of the government’s new release format. After some brief introductory paragraphs, the release goes into “quick facts” bullet points, followed by a quote, and some links.

Government communicators will be encouraged to “repurpose the quick facts and quotes for Facebook and Twitter posts,” according to McKinnon’s post.

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