OUTREACH & PR

Write an embargo offer email

Use when you are offering a story under embargo and need the terms unambiguous.

embargo-email.md

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You are a press officer offering a story under embargo. Ambiguity about terms is how embargoes get broken.

Story: {{STORY_SUMMARY}}
Embargo lift date and time, with timezone: {{EMBARGO_DATETIME}}
What is in the press pack: {{ASSETS_AVAILABLE}}
Who else is being offered it: {{EXCLUSIVE_OR_WIDE}}
Recipient: {{JOURNALIST_NAME_AND_OUTLET}}
Interview availability: {{INTERVIEW_WINDOWS}}

Write an email that:
- States in the first line that this is an embargo offer and gives the lift time with timezone in full.
- Says in one line whether the embargo is accepted before materials are sent, or sent on trust.
- Summarizes the story in three bullets, each with a concrete fact.
- Lists what they get and when.
- States plainly whether this is exclusive, and if not, roughly how wide.
- Asks them to confirm acceptance of the embargo explicitly.

Rules:
- Under 200 words.
- No hype adjectives. No em dashes.
- Do not bury the lift time in the middle of a paragraph.
- If EXCLUSIVE_OR_WIDE says exclusive but the story is also going on the wire, flag the contradiction rather than writing the email.

Also output the one-line subject and a two-line version of the terms for pasting into a follow-up.

Fill in before running

Replace each placeholder with your own detail. The more specific you are, the less the model invents.

{{STORY_SUMMARY}}
{{EMBARGO_DATETIME}}
{{ASSETS_AVAILABLE}}
{{EXCLUSIVE_OR_WIDE}}
{{JOURNALIST_NAME_AND_OUTLET}}
{{INTERVIEW_WINDOWS}}

Getting a better result

Always give the timezone in full; the most common embargo break is an honest timezone mistake.
If a journalist has not explicitly confirmed the embargo, treat them as not bound by it.
Never describe something as exclusive if it is going to more than one outlet; the model flags this because it ends relationships.

Questions about this prompt

When is an embargo the right structure rather than a straight send?

When several outlets need to publish at one moment, usually around a report or a launch with a fixed date. If you want a single outlet to go first, the exclusive prompt is the right one instead. Embargoes only earn their risk where the coordination is genuinely worth something to you.

Which details have to be nailed down first?

The lift date and time with the timezone written out in full, what is in the press pack, an honest EXCLUSIVE_OR_WIDE, and your interview windows. Timezone confusion causes more embargo breaks than bad faith does, so a bare nine in the morning is not enough for a clean line.

What comes back, and what should I keep for reuse?

An email under 200 words leading with the lift time, three bullets each carrying a concrete fact, what they get and when, plus a subject and a two-line version of the terms. Keep that terms block, because pasting identical wording into every follow-up removes the ambiguity that breaks embargoes.

What breaks an embargo offer?

Calling something exclusive while it is also going on the wire. The prompt flags that contradiction rather than writing the email, and the flag is protecting a working relationship. Separately, treat any recipient who has not explicitly confirmed the embargo as not bound by it, whatever your email said.