What role do press releases and PR play in the public sector?

Press releases regardless of sector seek to inform and to push a specific story. It's no different for public institutions.

Depending on your area of work, you might find that the media comes to you rather than the other way around, and that you're spending most of your time responding to information requests instead of coming up with new stories to pitch. That's fine, every organization is different.

What you need to do in this case is make sure that your team is aligned on your organization's official values, and know what it stands for.

In terms of storytelling, think of it more like a character play – the organization you represent is your main character whom you need to know inside and out, so that you can clearly understand how that character will act in any given situation.

More practically speaking, as well as the standard advice on how to write a press release, PRs working in the public sector might want to be especially mindful to:

• Know what you can and cannot disclose
• In-house experts you can use for quotes and interview opportunities
• Your readership (it's likely to be the public as well as media)
• Security and legal regulations for responding to media queries