Not to journalists, at least. Don't even think about demanding that a news item be used because your business is an advertiser - nothing is more effective at irritating a journalist. There is a long-standing, deep-seated hostility between editorial and advertising departments in the media.

Create a media kit

A media kit (aka "press pack") is a pack of information which summarises your organisation and its values. In fact the effort of creating the media kit is a useful marketing exercise, since it forces you to identify the important features and the critical messages of your business.
    The pack should be a mix of (a) instant explanation and (b) explanatory background. A journalist skimming your press release needs the instant explanation; the background might be filed for future reference, for use say when the journalist is preparing to interview you or researching a feature article about your business.
    It should be available for immediate despatch to enquiries from journalists; you'll also want some or all of the information available at press conferences and supplied as backgrounders with major press releases (but don't bother for run-of-the-mill releases that at best will generate only a few lines of publicity). And if you attend a trade show, be sure to leave copies of your press kit in the press room - along with a description of your exhibit and an accompanying press release, of course.
    The press kit is best maintained as a directory of word-processor documents and relevant images on your PC, so that all or part of it can be printed off as required. For press conferences you'll probably want to put the material into a folder or binder; these days it's also acceptable to supply background information on CD-ROM. And of course it will be available for reference on your website (though make sure the online version is kept up to date - it's easy to neglect those web pages).
    So what should you include in a press kit? That depends on your organisation and how much you really have to say, but the basics would include these:

• A one-pager on your company - bullet points for what it does, what named products or services it has, target markets, who's in charge, key dates (starting with how and when the company started), significant customers or milestone orders.
• A bio sheet - one-page biographies for key personnel along with a photograph and contact details (direct-line phone number, email address)
• Product sheets - one page on each of your major product or service lines, hinting at USPs and including indication prices
• Your corporate brochure
• Contact details for key spokespeople
• Anything else that might be relevant and/or available - reprints of previous articles about your business, for instance, or a list of customer references
• Prints of photographs - mugshots of your key people, perhaps a pic of your main office, and product shots of some kind: plus a graphic of your logo - with the promise that digitised images are available on request.

Put this lot in a folder (don't staple it - the journalist may want to bin some of your material to minimise the storage requirement) with your company name and contact details on the front. Alternatively, or additionally, put the whole lot on to a CD-ROM: that way you'll also be able to include a good selection of ready-to-use digitised photographs.

"Off the record" isn't

Or at least it probably isn't. For both parties, the most satisfactory basis for an interview is where anything you say can be used and quoted by the journalist. If you don't want to see something in print or hear it on the air, don't say it at all. This includes any conversation before and after the formal interview.
    There may be occasions when you and the reporter will want to cover some topical issue that you would prefer to be non-attributable or off-the record; your comments might be quoted, but not in such a way that you could be identified. In that case it is vital to establish some unambiguous ground rules before the interview starts. Crucially, you cannot say something and then remark "that comment was off the record, but the way".
    You can lay down the law here, and most journalists will be happy to accept the restrictions (make sure the notepad is laid aside and the tape recorder switched off when you go off the record). If the journalist cannot accept your terms it would be better to terminate the interview before it starts.