ABSTRACT
Chapter 8 introduces background materials as documents that provide background information on an organization, its people, its products, services or initiatives. The chapter provides an overview of different types of background materials and explains how public relations professionals use them to offer journalists more detailed information than what’s provided in news releases, media pitches, media advisories, and news and feature stories. The chapter explores a specific type of background material called the backgrounder, which details the history, mission, goals and purpose of an organization. The backgrounder template offers readers a user-friendly guide for crafting backgrounders. The chapter concludes with an exercise in writing a backgrounder.
