4

For example:

"The English StackExchange site will pwn the crap out of all the other English language resource sites on the interwebs," said Jeff Atwood, CTO of Stack Overflow.

Though I can't find a reference at the moment, I feel I have also seen this form before:

"The English StackExchange site will pwn the crap out of all the other English language resource sites on the interwebs."
— Jeff Atwood, CTO of Stack Overflow

Is the second form acceptable? Is it proper?

Furthermore, is the person's title in the second form proper? Or should it be:

— Jeff Atwood, CTO, Stack Overflow

PS. No, it's not a real quote.

apaderno
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Nate Pinchot
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  • How about just "Blah blah blah" (Jeff Atwood, CTO, Stack Overflow) – FumbleFingers Jun 06 '11 at 23:30
  • Seriously, if you're in the business of handing out press releases, you should already know what style you use. If you're not, why would you care? The press themselves will recast it for publication anyway. – FumbleFingers Jun 06 '11 at 23:33

4 Answers4

6

There are many ways to quote someone in a news release without using "said" in the sentence. Here are a few:

According to Jeff Atwood, ...

Jeff Atwood let slip that ...

Jeff Atwood announced that ...

With a bit of a laugh, Jeff Atwood intimated that ...

In a press release, Jeff Atwood stated: ...

There are as many ways to say this as there are synonyms for "said" — and if you read many news articles you will know that journalists and their editors (if they have any) like to avoid dull repetition. So do public relations people.

As for setting off a quote with an em dash, that's usually reserved for epigraphs or collections of quotations.

Community
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Robusto
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  • Also, as far as including the person's title in different ways, it can be as simple as so and so, who is the..., or president of x, so and so. Like Robusto said, it's about synonyms, and word order perhaps. – Elizabite Jun 07 '11 at 01:18
3

Both are acceptable, depending on the requisite flow of the release. "Quote," said Someone. is perfectly fine. Just reference some top corporations' PR areas and see how it's done. I always reference Apple PR on such things for professionalism and feel.

David Metcalfe
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2

For flowing text, keep it simple and use "said Name, Position" or "Position Name".

The second form is acceptable, but I'd use when compiling a list of quotes, rather than flowing text as is usual in press releases.

For the title, both forms are correct, use whatever sounds the most natural in context.

Here's some examples from Nokia:

"Since we announced the Nokia N9 in June this year, the feedback that it has gotten from discerning and avid smartphone users across the world has been nothing short of fantastic," said Ilari Nurmi, Vice President of Marketing, Nokia. "With the innovations in industrial design, user interface, and the Qt developer experience, the Nokia N9 sets the bar for how natural technology can feel, and represents the first in a number of products from Nokia that will be brought to life in similar fashion."

"We would both like to extend our sincere thanks to Olli-Pekka for his contribution and dedication to Nokia Siemens Networks," said Nokia CEO Stephen Elop and Siemens CFO Joe Kaeser.

The Game category grand prize winning app is Sparkle by 10tons. Sampo Toyssy, co-author of the app from 10tons, commented "We were surprised and feel greatly honored as we know many great games were submitted. Sparkle is one of our most successful products in Nokia's Ovi Store and the extra marketing promotion Nokia will do on our behalf is a tremendous boost for us." The Sparkle app, a mobile version of the popular PC game, was inspired by games like Puzz Loop and Zuma.
...
"Our developers continue to delight us with amazing, fun and useful apps," said Marco Argenti, senior vice president, developer ecosystem and marketplace. "We are pleased to present 10tons and BLStream the top awards in their respective categories for their creativity and innovation."

And some from Apple:

“Steve’s extraordinary vision and leadership saved Apple and guided it to its position as the world’s most innovative and valuable technology company,” said Art Levinson, Chairman of Genentech, on behalf of Apple's Board.

“Lion is off to a great start, user reviews and industry reaction have been fantastic,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “Lion is a huge step forward, it’s not only packed with innovative features but it’s incredibly easy for users to update their Macs to the best OS we’ve ever made.”

“We’re thrilled to deliver our best quarter ever, with revenue up 82 percent and profits up 125 percent,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Right now, we’re very focused and excited about bringing iOS 5 and iCloud to our users this fall.”

“We are extremely pleased with our performance which drove quarterly cash flow from operations of $11.1 billion, an increase of 131 percent year-over-year,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the fourth fiscal quarter of 2011, we expect revenue of about $25 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $5.50.”

Hugo
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I am probably very old school PR but we were taught to always say "said" and let the journalist/editor choose what words they want in there. "said" is neutral compared to "explained" "yelled" "stated" etc etc etc and does not lead to negative impressions.

guy from jakarta
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