While there are several types of press releases (such as the general news release, event release, product press release, financial/earnings releases and, more recently, the social media release), press releases very often have several traits of their structure in common. This helps journalists separate press releases from other PR communication methods, such as pitch letters or media advisories. Some of these common structural elements include:

* Headline — used to grab the attention of journalists and briefly summarize the news.
* Dateline — contains the release date and usually the originating city of the press release.
* Introduction — first paragraph in a press release, that generally gives basic answers to the questions of who, what, when, where and why.
* Body — further explanation, statistics, background, or other details relevant to the news.
* Boilerplate — generally a short "about" section, providing independent background on the issuing company, organization, or individual.
* Close — in North America, traditionally the symbol "-30-" appears after the boilerplate or body and before the media contact information, indicating to media that the release is ending. A more modern equivalent has been the "###" symbol. In other countries, other means of indicating the end of the release may be used, such as the text "ends".
* Media contact information — name, phone number, email address, mailing address, or other contact information for the PR or other media relations contact person. (Source wikipedia)(CC by 3.0)