the.com/press release

corporate fan fiction where every announcement is thrilled, delighted, and proud to announce.

means An official written statement sent to journalists to announce news and shape how it gets reported.

from A plain compound from "press" (the printing press, by extension the newspaper trade — the machine's name became shorthand for journalism itself) plus "release," meaning something let loose for public use. The phrase took hold in the early 20th century as businesses, governments, and the burgeoning field of public relations learned to feed pre-packaged news to the papers — information "released" to the "press" on the sender's own terms.

origin
Invented by PR pioneer Ivy Lee in 1906
first one
Explained a deadly train wreck to journalists
the cliche
Pleased to announce appears in millions yearly
embargo trick
Sent early so reporters write before allowed
boilerplate
That About Us paragraph nobody ever reads
for instance

apple iphone 4 antenna — steve jobs held press conference june 2010 to address widespread signal loss complaints

volkswagen emissions scandal — vw issued press releases september 2015 admitting 11 million diesel vehicles had rigged emissions tests

facebook meta rebrand — mark zuckerberg announced company name change via press release october 28 2021

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