The press release survives as a document type in almost perfect health. Volume is up. The wire services are profitable. Companies still employ people whose primary output is a two-page document beginning with a city name and a date, containing a quotation from an executive that no executive said. What has died is the mechanism the format was built for. The release now persists for reasons that have nothing to do with communicating with a journalist, and understanding which reasons those are tells you what the format is turning into.