A press clipping is an article physically cut from a newspaper or magazine and kept as a record, historically collected by dedicated clipping bureaus for clients tracking their own coverage. The term now also describes the digital equivalent: saving or archiving a piece of coverage for a similar record-keeping purpose.
Clipping refers to the practice of cutting out articles from a paper publication, such as a newspaper or magazine, to keep for reference, research or sentimental reasons. Wikipedia notes that a clipping-services industry existed formally by the late nineteenth century, citing a New York Times piece from August 1895 on 'The Newspaper Clipping Market' as evidence that organized clipping bureaus were already an established business at that time.
For organizations, clippings historically served as the evidence base for measuring public relations activity: a scrapbook or file of coverage that could be shown to leadership as proof a campaign generated attention. As digital publishing overtook print, the practice shifted from literal scissors and paste to saved links, PDFs and screenshots, but the underlying purpose, a durable record of what was published, has stayed the same.
Today, tools such as note-taking and read-it-later apps serve some of the same personal archiving function that clipping once did for individuals, while organizations generally use dedicated media monitoring services to build a coverage archive at scale rather than manual collection.
How to: 1) Keep a durable, dated archive of coverage, whether as saved links, PDFs or screenshots. 2) Record the outlet, author, date and URL for each item, not just the headline. 3) Store the archive somewhere the whole communications team can access, not only in one person's inbox. 4) Use the archive to inform, not replace, more structured coverage tracking and reporting.
QUESTIONS
What is a press clipping?
Traditionally, it is a physical newspaper or magazine article cut out and kept as a record of coverage. The term now also covers the digital equivalent: saving a link, PDF or screenshot of an article for the same record-keeping purpose.
How old is the clipping services industry?
It goes back at least to the late nineteenth century; a New York Times article from August 1895 describes an established 'newspaper clipping market,' indicating organized clipping bureaus already existed as a business at that time.
Is clipping still relevant in the digital era?
The literal scissors-and-paste practice has largely been replaced by saved links, screenshots and digital archiving tools, but organizations still keep the equivalent of a clipping file to document coverage over time.
What should a digital clipping record include?
At minimum the outlet name, author, publication date and a working link or saved copy of the piece, so the record remains useful even if the original page later changes or disappears.
SOURCES
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