Letters to Editors
Newspapers get tons of letters for their editorial pages, so yours will have to stand out if it ever wants to grab the attention of the person who sorts through all those letters to the editor.
A few tips to help get you published:
- Play by the rules (number of words, etc.) or your letter will be discarded
- Sign your name, give address and give phone number
- Do not send e-mail attachments. All info must be included in the body of your letter
- Be thoughtful, be different, give good info, give sources
- Don’t just quote statistics but make it personal, numbers are cold – people are warm
- Be to the point e.g. if you are writing about violent video games, make the connection to how it affects children
- Stay away from Biblical quotes - it does not mean anything to non-believers. Other readers will discard what you say no matter how good it is.
- Be truthful but courteous.
- Your letter to the editor is educational for others – we can sway public opinion through those letters by being thoughtful, showing through studies and statistics the pros and cons of certain issues, etc.
- Your letter might be a short, simple opinion/experience or more academic with studies and statistics.
- See if you can find a new angle to an already discussed topic – take the issue from another angle and show a different side.
- If you don’t have e-mail go to a local library or go to a friend’s house
- Have a friend help you set up a hotmail account for you that you could use for such purposes.
- Maybe have a friend write a letter for you and you sign it. It’s a start.
- You can take this a step further and consider writing an opinion piece (Vancouver Sun) = 750 words (depending on newspaper) – You can get together with others and write one = get info on topic (e.g. Insite, for drugs) - particularly helpful if you work in the particular field (e.g. health care)
