The 24/7 Rolling Press Conference: For Immediate Release

The 24/7 rolling press conference is the permanent, round-the-clock flow of news, posts and questions that replaced the scheduled press event, and it means any brand must be ready to answer within hours. This excerpt from Chapter 6 of For Immediate Release by Ronn Torossian, first published in 2011, argues that everyone with a phone is now in PR, so businesses cannot leave the podium.

What does the chapter say about the 24/7 rolling press conference?

The chapter says that the digital age turned press relations into a continuous event that anyone can join.

Times have changed drastically. When people ask me what my next few days will look like, I often ask them if they know what the top headline in the newspapers or the most popular Google search result will be tomorrow or next week. Since they can't predict either, I can't tell them what I'll be doing. The digital age has created a 24/7 rolling press conference that has changed the face of PR forever (marketing and advertising, too). Around-the-clock cable news stations, social networks, newswires, bloggers, tweeters, and "Diggers": everyone is in PR these days.

Whether they realize it or not, anyone commenting on the Internet or participating in social media is doing PR. They're creating trends if they are commenting on stories, tweeting, and making videos that are spread quickly and able to reach millions within hours. Pros are competing with or reacting to mommy bloggers, self-styled political pundits writing from their basements, and anyone in the street with a smartphone sending live messages and uploading videos.

Want proof? The world's most wanted man, Osama bin Laden, was killed in a top-secret mission. Who broke the news of his death first? It wasn't CNN or Fox News. An individual on Twitter got the news out before any of the major networks. Keith Urbahn, chief of staff to former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld, tweeted the following: "So I'm told by a reputable person they have killed Osama bin Laden. Hot damn."

Businesspeople with brands to protect or build can never leave the "podium." In an ADD world, everyone expects instant responses and immediate satisfaction. Try not calling back or e-mailing your best friend for 24 hours; he'll probably think you died. Getting a "couldn't be reached for comment" mention in a newswire story that runs on 80 websites, simply because a reporter didn't get a call back within the hour, is not a result you want. Businesses are required to continuously keep on top of what's going on and to have the ability to give quick but thoughtful responses. This has made the world of professional PR even more complicated to navigate.

Owning a PR agency, I realize that times have changed forever, and it's not just because of the relatively recent rise of social media.

How should a brand respond to the rolling press conference?

A brand should respond to the rolling press conference by preparing answers before reporters ask and by assigning someone to reply within the hour.

Name one person who answers reporter calls and emails during every business hour, and a backup for evenings and weekends.
Pre-clear short statements on the questions a reporter is most likely to ask about the company.
Track mentions of the company and its executives, so the team sees a story as it forms.

The chapter's warning about "couldn't be reached for comment" is concrete: a missed call can become a line in a wire story that other sites repeat.

What does the rolling press conference mean today?

Today the rolling press conference includes AI answer engines such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews, which summarize published coverage into a single reply.

The podium is wider and the response window is shorter. A brand that answers reporters quickly gets its own words into the coverage that engines summarize, and a brand that does not leaves other sources to describe it. This is the same lesson the chapter drew in 2011, applied to a new reader.

Where can I read the rest of Chapter 6?

Three companion pages continue Chapter 6.

Build on Every Media Hit shows how to turn one article into many uses.
BornFree and BPA, Part 1 begins the baby-bottle case study.
BornFree and BPA, Part 2 finishes the case study.

The chapter overview is Part 6: Getting Out in Front, and all ten chapters are listed on the For Immediate Release book hub.

Originally published April 2012. Last updated October 8, 2026.

What does the chapter say about the 24/7 rolling press conference?

The chapter says that the digital age turned press relations into a continuous event that anyone can join.

Times have changed drastically. When people ask me what my next few days will look like, I often ask them if they know what the top headline in the newspapers or the most popular Google search result will be tomorrow or next week. Since they can't predict either, I can't tell them what I'll be doing. The digital age has created a 24/7 rolling press conference that has changed the face of PR forever (marketing and advertising, too). Around-the-clock cable news stations, social networks, newswires, bloggers, tweeters, and "Diggers": everyone is in PR these days.

Whether they realize it or not, anyone commenting on the Internet or participating in social media is doing PR. They're creating trends if they are commenting on stories, tweeting, and making videos that are spread quickly and able to reach millions within hours. Pros are competing with or reacting to mommy bloggers, self-styled political pundits writing from their basements, and anyone in the street with a smartphone sending live messages and uploading videos.

Want proof? The world's most wanted man, Osama bin Laden, was killed in a top-secret mission. Who broke the news of his death first? It wasn't CNN or Fox News. An individual on Twitter got the news out before any of the major networks. Keith Urbahn, chief of staff to former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld, tweeted the following: "So I'm told by a reputable person they have killed Osama bin Laden. Hot damn."

Businesspeople with brands to protect or build can never leave the "podium." In an ADD world, everyone expects instant responses and immediate satisfaction. Try not calling back or e-mailing your best friend for 24 hours; he'll probably think you died. Getting a "couldn't be reached for comment" mention in a newswire story that runs on 80 websites, simply because a reporter didn't get a call back within the hour, is not a result you want. Businesses are required to continuously keep on top of what's going on and to have the ability to give quick but thoughtful responses. This has made the world of professional PR even more complicated to navigate.

Owning a PR agency, I realize that times have changed forever, and it's not just because of the relatively recent rise of social media.

How should a brand respond to the rolling press conference?

A brand should respond to the rolling press conference by preparing answers before reporters ask and by assigning someone to reply within the hour.

Name one person who answers reporter calls and emails during every business hour, and a backup for evenings and weekends.

Pre-clear short statements on the questions a reporter is most likely to ask about the company.

Track mentions of the company and its executives, so the team sees a story as it forms.

The chapter's warning about "couldn't be reached for comment" is concrete: a missed call can become a line in a wire story that other sites repeat.

What does the rolling press conference mean today?

Today the rolling press conference includes AI answer engines such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews, which summarize published coverage into a single reply.