Get Started Using Newswires

Send a press release to global, national, and/or regional newslines

Whitney W. avatar
Written by Whitney W.
Updated over a week ago

Welcome to your go-to guide to Newswires! The Newswire feature allows you to assemble a press release and send it to global, national, and/or regional wires­; groups of publications and downstream partners rapidly.

This article will walk you through the following:


What is Newswire?

Newswire is integrated into the Meltwater Platform, so you now have the luxury of sending your release whenever you'd like (whether it's in real-time or scheduled), on your own and without the hassle of going through a representative.

Newswire will take a press release and put it on the wire, an electronically transmitted service providing up-to-the-minute news stories to news desks and journalists. With over 100+ newslines, you can gain targeted, guaranteed coverage in a particular geo or beat.


Initial Set-Up

Before you send your first wire, you need to provide some details about your company (Name, Address, Primary Contact and a ticker symbol if you're public).

This approval process is in place to avoid spoofing and it takes the place of the verification call that used to happen with every single Newswire distribution. This process can take up to 24 hours to be completed. Because there is a one-time vetting process during the initial set-up, don't wait until the last minute to send your first wire.

To manage your accounts available to distribute wires:

  1. Select Media Relations from the left-hand side navigation bar

  2. Select the Newswire tab

  3. Select the purple Actions button in the top right-hand corner (if you do not see this, check your user settings)

  4. Select Manage Accounts

  5. All approved companies will be displayed in the list with a green tick icon

  6. To add a new company, Select + Add Company

  7. Complete the fields

  8. Select Ok


How to send a Newswire

Check out the steps below and/or this product tutorial video to learn how to send a newswire directly from your Meltwater platform.

  1. Select Media Relations from the left-hand side navigation bar

  2. Select the Newswire tab

  3. Select the purple Actions button in the top right hand corner

  4. Choose to Create a Newswire

  5. Select the destination for your newswire.
    This page will display the number of wire credit remaining on your account. For further details into the exact areas included within your wire credit, please Live Chat into our Support team who can review your specific account details

  6. Select Next

  7. Complete the fields on the page, all fields with a * symbol are required.
    Enter the Headline and point of origin within the designated fields and exclude this content from the body of the release.
    When entering the Body content, we recommend copying the content from an already formatted document onto the text box. Remember to keep your formatting as simple as possible.
    To include images, please note that these can not be embedded in the body of the release rather must be uploaded as attachments and require a byline for each image.

  8. Select up to 3 Industries (trades) available for the wire circuit you've selected.

  9. Select up to 5 Subject Codes. Select the purpose for the release from the preset list (i.e. company announcement, etc)

  10. Include 3 - 5 Release Tags. Tags improve your release's SEO with downstream partners.

  11. Select Next

  12. Select one of the scheduling options for when you want your newswire to go out. Here you can choose the release to be distributed to 'Send as soon as possible', 'Schedule date and time', or 'Save as a draft'.

  13. Select Next

  14. Review the final version of your release via the Preview Release option.

  15. Under Send Notification Emails, enter recipient email addresses to receive reports on the wires progress such as the Cross Time and Full Reports.

  16. Select Save

Once the status of your release has been updated to Scheduled, please note that the details of the release have been submitted to our newswire distribution partner and can not be edited.

If you would like to edit a scheduled distribution follow the steps below:

  1. Hover over scheduled newswire, click 3 vertical dots, and then "Cancel"

  2. The status of the newswire will change from "Scheduled" to "Cancelling"

  3. After a few minutes, refresh the page. The release status will read "Canceled"

  4. Hover over the canceled release and click "View Release"

  5. A prompt will appear asking if it's okay to return the drafted newswire to a draft status - Click OK

  6. Now that the newswire is a draft again, it can be edited and re-scheduled accordingly


Newswire How-To Video


Rejected Wires

If your wire is rejected that status of the release will update to 'Rejected'. For further details as to why this was rejected, please reach out to our team via Live Chat with the details of your release.


Translations & Financial Wires

There are regulatory requirements for earnings releases and financial wires with limit the ability for these to be submitting with the app.meltwater.com platform. As such our Support team will assist in the submission of these specialized wires.

Please note that if this is your first release we must allow time for additional account set up to ensure the distribution is formatted to meet regulatory requirements.

Wires which require translation also need additional processing time and as such our Support team will assist in the submission of these specialized wires. Note that the translated wires can be distributed at different times to the original wire if desired.

Please follow the below steps for our Support team's assistance with specialized wires:

  • Provide your release instructions within the GNW Required Form Required.docx

  • Download the file linked above and email the following items to wires@meltwater.com Completed Wire Required Release Form Press Release in a Word Document Issuing Company Logo in a JPEG format


Difference between Newswires and Pitching to Journalists

Distributing a press release with the Newswire integration and sending an email to Meltwater journalists are both great ways for you to publicize your brand, campaign or issue. However, they should be used differently.

Newswire Integration

Pitching to Journalists

What and how?

Coverage from a newswire is essentially paid media. Some even call it an advertisement. Because it’s paid, it guarantees a certain amount of coverage.

Coverage from interacting with a person is earned media. You’re selling to a person, not a machine. Create very personalized communication in order to build a relationship. Remember: people don’t like to be spammed.

When to use them

It’s good if you’ve got general news that you want broad coverage on.

Examples: company announcements, new board members, funding & investment news, financial news

If you’ve discovered a journalist who writes about things that are similar to what you want to publicize.

Example: You found a tech writer that profiles female CEOs and you represent a tech company with a female CEO

How does a journalist interact with them?

Traditionally, journalists subscribe to a newsline. Newswire services help them identify new stories & fact check.

More often than not, journalists do not interact with them. Local papers & online sites will automatically reprint the release verbatim or pull headlines from distributions.

They are also used by individuals in other roles, such as assignment editors, who distribute the releases to their writing staff based on their area of interest or beat.

If the email looks like a brochure or a press release, they’ll probably delete it or mark it as spam.

If the email is personalized and shows you’ve done some research, they may respond


Key Takeaways

Approval process

Before you send your first wire, you need to provide some details about your company (Name, Address, Primary Contact and a ticker symbol if you're public).

This approval process is in place to avoid spoofing and it takes the place of the verification call that used to happen with every single Newswire distribution. This process can take up to 24 hours to be completed. Because there is a one-time vetting process during the initial set-up, don't wait until the last minute to send your first wire.

Attachment Sizes

The total size of all wire attachments and your company's logo is up to 1.4MB

Logos appear properly on many downstream endpoints – like Yahoo – with the following dimensions: 400x400 with a white background. These dimensions are the most compatible we have seen, but it also does depend on the logo (rectangular vs square, for example).

Headline requirements

All headlines must be submitted in lower case as all caps headlines can not be accepted. Please ensure your submitted headline is accurate as this can not be changed after publishing.


Where can I find out more information? I want to become a Newswire expert.


💡 Tip

Need more help? Feel free to reach out to us via Live Chat or check out our Customer Community.

Find answers and get help from Meltwater Support and Community Experts.


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