Yo, PR Folks: Get It Right

I get lots of press releases, and I think I tolerate their grammatical oddities well. Typos and gobbledy-gook set me off — read the bloody thing once more before you press Send — but if you’ve got dangling modifiers, run-on sentences, or whom instead of who, I’ll survive. I read blogs, after all.

But if you’re going to tout your client’s writing staff as an “all-star roster of contributors” and “journalists with impeccable credentials,&rdquo push that press release through a tamis before you send it to me. Writing mistakes in a press release about great writers hurt your client, even if s/he didn’t write it.

I just got a note about the new writers who have joined Wine Review Online. I’ve written for that publication, I know several of the other writers, and I bear the site no ill will. But let’s look at some choice sentences in the press release sent out in their name.

“She is the author of 2005 World Gourmand Cookbook Award and James Beard IACP-nominated The Emperor of Wine, on the life of wine critic Robert M. Parker, Jr.” — When did the James Beard Foundation and the IACP merge?

“She is the wine & spirits columnist for Bloomberg News, where she writes a monthly column for Markets magazine, several columns a month for the Bloomberg newswire, and appears on Bloomberg TV.” — You can’t make two items in the list objects (“a monthly column” and “several columns”) and the third item a predicate (“appears on Bloomberg TV”).

“She is also the columnist for Shattered, a new global publication for executive women, and is a former contributing wine editor for Food & Wine.” — Do you really need the second “is”?

“[Michael Apstein] was a regular contributor to The Boston Globe, is a frequent contributor to The San Francisco Chronicle, is a wine educator for more than 20 years, freelance contributor to many national magazines, James Beard Award winner for wine writing, and regular judge for national and international wine competitions.” — This list is a mishmash of predicates and verb-less predicate nominatives: Break the list apart and you find that “Michael Apstein is a frequent contributor to The San Francisco Chronicle” but also that “Michael Apstein freelance contributor to many national magazines.” At least it’s consistent once it changes over. I would opt for “has been” in “is a wine educator for more than 20 years,” and I question the decision to start the list with a past status instead of the present-day statuses that follow.

“ He is the former editor of Wine Spectator and staff wine writer for The San Francisco Chronicle,” — Technically, this isn’t wrong, but doesn’t it sound like he’s still the staff wine writer for the Chronicle? And who knew they only had one?

“He is a regular columnist with Wine Review Online, and is also a regular contributor to the Food Section of the Los Angeles Times, has contributed to the San Francisco Chronicle’s Wine section, and appears regularly in Food & Wine, Bon Appetit and the Robb Report.” — How about: “He is a regular columnist with Wine Review Online and a regular contributor to the Food Section of the Los Angeles Times. He has contributed to the San Francisco Chronicle’s Wine Section and appears regularly in …”

“ Editor and columnist Michael Franz is editor of Wine Review Online, and is the former wine columnist for The Washington Post (1994-2005), columnist for FRANCE magazine, freelance contributor to several international wine magazines, instructor for Washington Wine Academy and L'Academie de Cuisine, and consultant to 11 restaurants.” — Take out the reminder that “Editor Michael Franz” is, in fact, the editor of Wine Review Online, and you fix the whole sentence.

“Columnist Ed McCarthy is author of Champagne for Dummies and co-author of Wine For Dummies, White Wine For Dummies, Red Wine For Dummies, Wine Buying Companion For Dummies, French Wine For Dummies and Italian Wine For Dummies, as well as regular contributor to QRW magazine, and columnist for Nation’s Restaurant News and Beverage Media.” — Articles are okay, folks. The author. A regular contributor. A columnist.

“She also contributes to Food & Wine magazine, epicurious.com and the San Francisco Chronicle, where she was the wine editor from 2003 to 2006 she won two James Beard Awards for best food/wine section.” — Something is missing between “2006” and “she.” Or maybe it should just say “2006, garnering two … ”

“Columnist Marguerite Thomas is travel editor for The Wine News, and author of monthly column, ‘The Intrepid Gastronome,’ for The Los Angeles Times International Syndicate. She is the author of a cookbook and of two books about wines in the Eastern U.S., and is a frequent contributor to national wine magazines.” — They don’t need a comma after “The Wine News,” but they do need an article before “monthly column.”