AP Style: A PR Practitioner's Friend

The AP Stylebook is one of the most important tools in a PR professional's toolbox.  While social media is obviously a great way to get a message out, journalists won't always print your tweets. 

One thing I've noticed everyone saying about AP style is that it significantly improves your chances of getting your information printed.  It's easier to copy verbatim, or it's more articulate and easier to re-write for those journalists who won't just copy word-for-word.  If a news release is printed in very casual writing, a journalist might not even take you seriously.  AP style is the industry standard, and thus releases written in AP style are the most professional way.  Now, not only will the reporter actually look at the information, but they are more inclined to use it in their writing.

An article I think describes the importance of AP Style best is "The AP Style Stickler" by Sandra Young.

So grab yourself an AP Stylebook online or your local bookstore (they're pretty cheap).  Otherwise, check out the iPod app.  Unfortunately Android market doesn't have one yet.

Want to learn more about AP style in general?  Visit this short post about the basics.

The PR Student

Hello all, and welcome to my little blog!

My name is Casey Johns, and I'm a third year Public Relations student at the University of Wisconsin - Whitewater.

I guess it would be nice for my audience to know more about me.  Well, lets get a couple fun facts out there:

-I'm a nerd.

              Computers, electronics, programming, etc.  It's all fun, and               I know at least a little about all of 'em.

-I'm a Packer fan(everyone caught the season opener against the               saints right? Cobb's the man!)

-Video Games

              Who doesn't enjoy some Call of Duty in their free time?

-Music

              I love music.  I'll listen to a wide range from Tool and                        Disturbed to Jack Johnson, and everything in between.

-Outdoors

              Big fan of paintballing (woodsball, none of that sissy                         speedball stuff), fishing, and snowmobiling.

And that sums it up for my general hobbies.  More often than not, I can be found in my apartment listening to music and playing some games with my roommate.  So if that's your thing, we can be good friends.

Currently, I'm enrolled in the PR Tactics I class, which is tied for the most interesting class I've taken here.  It's nice, because Professor Knabe is forcing us to get out there and learn ALL the social media outlets, which is not only extremely useful but also fun.  This is exactly why I'm here.  In the future, I hope to do a little of what our professor does.  How COOL would it be to work for the government? Handling some of their press releases, being the information outlet, that sounds like the life to me!  It may not sound like everyone's cup of tea, but that is definitely a future I could live with.

And that's me.  Feel free to drop me a comment below or email at Johnscw25@uww.edu!

-Casey