Every month I plow through what seems like hundreds of press releases looking for the “golden nuggets” that will eventually make their way into GSN. After a couple of decades of sniffing out stories, I’ve got a pretty good nose for news and trends, and an even better eye for marketing hype. Unfortunately, the biggest trend I’ve seen recently among the missives that cross my desk is that the former is taking a beating by the latter.

That became glaringly clear last month, as I sat down with our two outstanding summer interns to discuss just what makes a good story for the magazine and how to assess whether information in a press release will grow into a riveting, or at least an interesting, story. Should be a piece of cake, right? But somewhere along the line, it occurred to me that interns Rachel Goldman and Laura de la Torre had their work cut out for them as they waded into a pile of releases. As style continues to trump substance, we find ourselves drowning in unnecessary verbiage that often obscures any real news – or lack thereof. IT-related releases are particularly guilty of using hundred-dollar words and arcane technical references that divert attention from a product and its abilities.

Now, my cynical self wonders if this “trend” is intentional while my more reasonable give-‘em-a-break-they’re-not-writers self wonders whether in pursuit of the perfectly-worded press release some vendors simply forget what the message is supposed to be. So, forgive me for being presumptuous, but I think the industry is long-overdue for a refresher course on what makes a good press release, what’s newsworthy and how to make it readable.

First and foremost, if you don’t have anything newsworthy to announce, don’t send out a press release. This just ticks off journalists – who resent spending precious time sifting through an announcement only to discover there’s nothing new there – and makes them more wary of future information. I know, I know, there a real fear of “out of sight, out of mind,” but it’s counter-productive to generate the same tepid data over and over. In fact, it’s the equivalent of the boy who cried wolf or jabbered endlessly to fill a silence. After a while, no one takes him seriously.

But, when you do have something newsworthy to announce – and there’s plenty of great stuff out there – please state it plain and simply. The who, what, when, where and why that used to be drilled into journalists’ heads is really a good rule of thumb for marketing materials as well. Tell me what your product or service is, who it is aimed at, when it will be available, where can I get it and why should I care. And, if you really want to get our attention, give us a user – even someone in a beta test – to interview. Then, we can learn what someone who actually has experience with your product or service (or even a new feature) has to say. By the way, we already know that every single one of you is the “leading provider” in your market space.

A lot of people do get it right. I was recently contacted by one vendor who gave me a quick rundown on a product, sent me a short description on how it is used, who it is aimed at and how it differs from other similar products. It took me only a second or two to decide that I wanted to use this information in GSN. And everything I needed to get started was right there at my fingertips. It doesn’t get any better than that. What’s more, that company is now on my radar screen along with the feeling that they are straight shooters with something to say. Will I automatically run items from that company in the future? No. But, will I stand up and take notice when they send information across my desk? You betcha.