Potential press release for Red Hat to distribute

Max Spevack mspevack at redhat.com
Mon Nov 9 22:21:47 UTC 2009


On Mon, 9 Nov 2009, Kara Schiltz wrote:

> I think this is a good news item that we could make some noise with in 
> the press. It is something that I'd be willing to put out through the 
> Red Hat channels. However, it's important to note that this press 
> release and any other future Fedora press releases distributed by Red 
> Hat would be subject to review and approval. That said, there could be 
> changes (some minor and others perhaps a little more heavy) to a press 
> release drafted by the community and distributed via Red Hat channels.
>
> Red Hat always aims to stay true to the spirit of Fedora in the 
> Fedora-related communications we distribute. But, as a publicly-traded 
> company there are rules and regulations Red Hat must follow. All press 
> releases must be reviewed by Red Hat's Legal team to ensure that we're 
> adhering to SEC and company guidelines. We also try to follow AP style 
> guidelines which could result in some formatting changes.

Of course -- and I never thought otherwise.  Let's compare past Fedora 
press releases with a (proposed) new method:

In the past, Paul Frields or I would draft something, show it to one or 
two people, and then hand it off to you for revisions, legal approval, 
etc.  Then it gets published.  The total number of press pieces was 
pretty low, and we only really did this at release time.

Now, we're trying to figure out a more community-friendly way of writing 
up things that look and feel like press releases.

We want to be able to give Red Hat first look at this stuff -- for you 
to be able to say "I like this one, let me work on turning it into 
something Red Hat can release" and then doing that, and for the other 
stuff to be distributed via blogs, Fedora Insight, etc -- less formal 
ways.

That's all.

> Let me know if you'd like to move forward in pushing out the Creative 
> Commons press release via Red Hat press channels. I'm happy to help 
> get things started!

So for this particular Creative Commons one, the questions we have for 
you are:

(1) Given the other press releases Red Hat is putting out in the near 
term, is this something you think is worthwhile for *that particular 
channel*?

(2) If so, then we fully expect that there will be some tweaks -- we are 
just trying to put together a draft, and the community goal over time is 
to get better and better such that the tweaks necessary are less, making 
your job easier.

(3) If not, we'll figure out other channels of publicizing this news.

Hope that's all a bit more clear.

Thanks as always,
Max




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