ABSTRACT
The traditional fact sheet is a what, who, when, where, why, how outline of the accompanying news release in a media kit. Broadcast editors may prefer fact sheets because they’re not written as newspaper stories. Fact sheets exist as paper documents in traditional paper media kits, such as those distributed at trade shows, and as documents in large digital media kits, such as a kit that announces the programming for a network’s new television season. A fact sheet must be so complete that a journalist could write a short news story—often called a news brief—using only the fact sheet. Fact sheets are single-spaced, with double-spacing between paragraphs. Everything in the fact sheet should be in the news release. A different category of fact sheet functions as a backgrounder. This kind of fact sheet does not summarize the accompanying news release. Instead, it provides interesting background facts that support the story in the news release.
