Like the answer to most general questions on PR, the answer is "it depends." And that's basically the answer Jeremy received, based on the wide variety of responses to his Twitter poll on the topic. Jeremy includes 10 great tips to help you make your decision.
My favorite: Figure out where you'd like your news to appear. I think that is one of the most overlooked considerations. If you are targeting dailies, the question is what time of day. If you are going after weeklies, what day of the week. Monthlies... Monthlies? If you're considering a monthly is it really news?
In addition to his advice, I would offer that it's best to know the deadlines of your target outlets and build in time for the reporters to react. Most will need to do some additional reporting before writing on your pitch. They won't be inclined to invest the energy if they are up against a deadline.
Another option to consider is the pre-release. Depending on the news value, you could offer your story to a publication to cover before you issue the release. Make sure you have an agreement on when they would publish their story. Most people go for the same day of the release or maybe even a day before. The exclusive news scoop is always appealing to journalists. Another benefit of the pre-release, when the story runs, other (non-competing publications) might be inclined to give your release a second look.
Finally, with most releases and stories living forever on the web, the day it crosses the wire might not be as important as making sure it can be useful over time -- that includes content as well as keywords.
Action Plan - Using your media list of favorite journalists (I'm sure you have one), ask reporters for their deadlines and when they need information to consider it for publication. I'm sure you'll see some trends emerge for your industry. In other words, consider your audience. That's the best way to determine any communications decision. Other than that, I'll have to go with 'it depends.'
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