1.I am glad to see IABC do this. PRSA added this feature last year, and with their advocacy program, it has been helpful to keep track of their statements and actiities.

I have to admit,I like the format of the PR Newswire Press Room better than the Tek Group International format used by PRSA. There is another source for online pressrooms, ipressroom, but I haven't seen their product in action.

Does anyone know of any others? I sure would like to get a completete list. I remember reading about an open source pressroom software a few years ago, but I can't seem to find it anywhere.

2.Kami,
IMHO, just about any open source content management system could be used to build an online pressroom. What separates the PR Newswire MediaRoom is the direct link to the wire. Business Wire just announced a partnership with TEK Group yesterday. Although they've arrived late to the game, I'm sure they'll offer the same cabability. iPressroom's newsroom tool is very similar...Vocus has an online newsroom, but you need to own the Vocus platform to use it.

The point of all solutions is to give the communications team direct access to their online content without dependence upon IT or a webmaster. The solutions have been out there for years. Like many new technologies, adoption can be slow in the marketplace until there is a proven demand by the audience of journalists. RSS is proving to be much like that. Journalists have been slower to adopt RSS than have tech-savvy consumers.

But if the appetite for our MediaRoom solution is any indication, that may be changing finally.

3.Kami, there are several of these out there. Eric Schwartzman (who contributes content to my podcast) has iPressroom. There's another one offered by Vocus, and another from Audience Central. Probably more.

I remember recommending the concept of hosting media sites for companies to a midsize PR agency back around 1997 or 8, but they didn't think there was any money in it.

4.Shel,

I emailed Joe to ask how people can contribute to the Centre, but haven't heard back yet. I want to know whether someone like the IABC Belgium president, who launched a podcast in December (as heard on FIR), could use this as a communication vehicle. If this is only open to IABC staff members as contributors, it has limited appeal to me.

Do you know whether any IABC member can post to it?

5.Tom, I didn't see any means of submitting content to the newsroom. I suspect, like most corporate newsrooms, it's restricted to the media relations staff (in this case, Joseph). But since Joseph's email address is in the newsroom, it should be easy enough to send submissions directly to him!

6.Shel,
I questioned Joseph on this and he clarified with the following email message:

Hi, Tom.

We welcome news items from chapters for the News Centre. To be included on the site, the announcements would need to be regional or international in scope. Local updates on chapter board appointments, events, etc. would be more appropriate on the news rooms of chapter web sites.

IABC staff will have password access to postings. Chapter leaders are encouraged to submit their news items to me for possible inclusion on the News Centre. We?re looking at both press releases and media articles with a broad appeal. We?ll communicate this through Leader Letter, the monthly e-newsletter that we send to all chapter presidents.

I look forward to working closely with chapter representatives to spread the word about IABC?s programs and increase awareness about the profession.

Regards,
Joseph Ugalde