I recently put up all my new and old press releases on one of my sites, under the news section. http://www.txtdrop.com/news.php Now, since other web sites, like PRLeap.com and PRWeb.com have these press releases as well, and had them first, is it going to penalize my site at all by having these up the way that they are? If so, is there any way I can put those up without getting penalized? I don't want Google to think it's dup. content, when its really content that we created in the first place. My site recently moved from the first page of the SERPs to the second to last, so I'm trying to do everything I can to get it back! So if you have any other suggestions for SEO for that site, let me know!
Nope, press releases are seen as a natural marketing technique. There is no way they can penalize you for it. Though I wouldn't reccommend releasing more than 5 a month. And that would be an extreme case.
Duplicate content is usually more of a FILTER issue than a PENALTY.... I wouldn't be at all concerned in your situation Some info on Duplicate Content SNIPPET