The private release is a chance to get feedback from the community so we can refine Tavern before we release it fully in the wild. There's some sample content highlighted on this page: http://zurb.com/tavern
Establishing a relationship with a reporter is far better than writing a press release. Dmitry Dragilev, formally of ZURB, wrote an excellent article on how startups (and larger businesses) can do this: http://mashable.com/2012/02/27/how-to-pitch-media/