How to Review Press Releases with AI: Step-by-Step Guide
Learn how to use AI content review to improve your press releases quality. Includes evaluation criteria, common mistakes, and a step-by-step review workflow.
Why Press Releases Need AI Review
Press releases follow strict conventions — inverted pyramid structure, attributed quotes, AP Style, and a newsworthy angle. AI review catches structural issues and style violations before your announcement reaches journalists.
Traditional review processes for press releases are slow, inconsistent, and don't scale. AI review gives writers instant, scored feedback against your specific quality criteria — so every piece meets your standards before it reaches a human reviewer.
Step-by-Step AI Review Process
Follow these steps to review press releases with AI:
- Paste the complete press release including headline, dateline, body, quotes, and boilerplate.
- Use a "Press Release" reviewer weighted toward news value (30%), structure (25%), quotes (20%), AP Style (15%), and boilerplate (10%).
- Check structure first — does it follow inverted pyramid? Is the most important information in the first paragraph?
- Verify quotes are attributed, relevant, and not overtly self-promotional.
- Run a final AP Style check for number formatting, capitalisation, and abbreviations.
Key Evaluation Criteria for Press Releases
Set up these criteria in your AI reviewer for press releases:
- News value — is this actually newsworthy? Would a journalist care?
- Inverted pyramid structure — most important info first, supporting details follow
- Quote quality — attributed correctly, adds perspective, not a sales pitch
- AP Style compliance — numbers, capitalisation, abbreviations, dateline format
- Boilerplate accuracy — company description, contact info, links all current
Common Mistakes to Avoid
When reviewing press releases, watch out for these frequent pitfalls:
- Leading with the company instead of the news. Journalists care about the "what", not the "who" first.
- Using quotes that sound like ad copy instead of genuine executive perspective.
- Forgetting to include journalist contact information.
- Making it too long — 400-600 words is ideal. Journalists scan, they do not read.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I set up AI review for press releases?
AI review checks inverted pyramid structure, AP Style compliance, quote attribution, news value, and boilerplate accuracy. It catches the structural issues human proofreaders often miss under deadline pressure.
What makes good press releases?
AP Style has hundreds of rules. The reviewer checks the most common: number formatting (spell out one through nine), capitalisation (job titles, proper nouns), abbreviations, and dateline format.
How fast will AI review improve my press releases?
News value is the hardest dimension to score. The reviewer looks for specifics: numbers, dates, named entities, and impact statements. "Company launches product" scores lower than "Company's new product reduces review time by 60% for 500+ customers".