Martin Wise has demonstrated that Thanet District Council do not know how to run a press office.

That's quite an inflammatory opening line but it also happens to be true. Martin Wise wrote to Michael Child (Thanet Online) and said in justifying closing the press office to all but a few: It is not the sending out of information by E-mail to bloggers, it is the flood of requests that follow for each one that is the problem.

That right there indicates the source of Thanet District Council's problem - poor press releases. The solution, then, is not to withdraw the service of the press office but to educate the press release writers to do the job properly.

Now if you Google "how to write a press release" you will find thousands of articles and each one will say something like "it is important to include everything that a journalist needs in order to write your story with minimal effort". Something Thanet District council has utterly failed to grasp.

Take a standard press release and you will find several elements the first part usually starts with something like "for immediate release" and then gets on with the telling the story. The first sentence should summarise the content of the release sot hat one could stop reading and know what was going on. The remainder of the release expands on the first sentence and should include a quote from a relevant person.

It doesn't stop there. After the main body should be further information. For example if you quote Bob Smith you should include a paragraph that tells the journalist who Bob Smith is and why he is qualified to comment. If you announce a new report then you should include information (like a URL, for example) on where the report can be obtained. Press releases often include photographic images for use with the story, back ground details and contact information.

After all every journalist knows that a good story answers the five main questions: what, where, who, how and why.

For example who is this Councillor X mentioned in the release and what do they do as part of the council? This information should have been written up when the councillor took up the new role and can be pasted in each time a press release mentions them. It's not rocket science to write a release that explains things properly.

For example: Why should I care? Where can I read more? What is the importance of this? Why did they say or do that? Who said it and who are they? When did this happen? When did they say or do that? Where did they say it? Where is this event taking place? How can I help? How will the road be built? How long will it take?

A well written press release should enable a lazy reporter to look no further than the press release to write their own story. If the Journalist has to pick up the phone for clarification then already something is wrong with the press release. The only reason for calling should be to set up an interview and even then if the quote in the main body of the release is good enough this should be unlikely.

Most articles on writing press releases talk about the importance of getting your release published. This means giving the editor everything they need to write up the story in the shortest amount of time. Journalists, you will be told, a hard pressed for time and will often ignore a release that contains too little information or is badly written.

However when it comes to Thanet news Thanet District Council is always going to be news worthy and, it seems, has given up making an effort with her press releases. As a result the online press, who often lack the time to spend hours and hours digging up answers that are missing will simply pick up the phone and get the press office to fill in the blanks. Blanks that should not have been there.