Last week the SEC said it will release new guidelines concerning its fair disclosure rules, which seek to ensure that material information by public companies is widely distributed as soon as is released. The SEC said that a company's web site could be an adequate way to distribute information. That means that companies might not require the services of news release distributors such as BusinessWire or PRNewswire.

SEC Likely to Change Fair Disclosure Rules - No Need for Press Releases Through Wire Services?

Some commentators have said that this move will kill the press release and that the "social media" release will now come into its own. But such speculation has nothing to do with the SEC moves, which are focused primarily on distribution channels rather than the format of content, which just needs to be "readable.".

Also, the large newswire services will still have a role in distribution except that companies will now likely have a set of options that allow them to meet the SEC FD rules and avoid potential fines or legal actions.

I discussed this issue in the following podcast with Chris Heuer, Brian Solis and Shel Holtz:

For Immediate Release: The Hobson and Holtz Report

The New Media Release Podcast, episode can be downloaded here, heard directly from this page, or subscribed to via the NMRCast feed. Also, the Apple iTunes subscription is now available here or by searching for NMRCast at the Apple iTunes store under “podcasts.” If you subscribe to the FIR “everything” feed, however, this podcast will not be included.

Content summary:The usual suspects: Chris Heuer, Shel Holtz, Tom Foremski, and Brian Solis. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced it will unveil new Reg FD rules that allow the use of blogs and web pages in some circumstances to satisfy regulations for fair disclosure. The group discusses the impact on wire services and the social media news release.