Many newspapers will publish birth announcements for free, while longer announcements or those with photos may be charged. Most allow press releases to be submitted electronically and some will print them. Others require that material be sent directly to the newspaper's publicity department. In addition to traditional newspapers, today many other media publish birth notices. These include radio stations, television news programs, and online news sites. Some of these media may charge for access to their databases of birth notices; others may give it away for free. Your best source of information on published birth notices will be your local newspaper or magazine. Press releases go out under the editor's byline so they are considered public information and can be found by anyone doing a news search. Editors choose which ones to use. As long as there have been births and deaths, people have wanted to know when someone has been born or died. Birth announcements tell families that a baby has been born and are printed in newspapers everywhere. Death notices tell families that someone has died and are also printed in newspapers everywhere. Newspapers publish birth announcements because it is one way they can help families by giving them hope that missing persons cases are being investigated seriously, without knowing the result.