Media Resources

Creating A Message • Letter to the Editor • Op-Ed • Press Release • Interviews

Creating a Message

The Language of Conservation: How to Communicate Effectively to Build Support for Conservation by Public Opinion Strategies and Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & AssociatesTemplate for Developing Messages– His is a checklist for developing and evaluating conservation messages and communications materials.

Letters to the Editor

Letters to the editor are quick to write, relatively easy to have published, and appear in the most widely read section of the paper, the editorial page. Politicians and government agencies routinely clip and circulate letters to the editor as an indicator of what is important to their constituents

The Community Tool Box provides an excellent guide to writing letters to the editor.

The best way to learn to write a letter to the editor is to look at examples.  Here are some letters to the editor that we think are good models.

• http://newsminer.com/view/full_story/20844274/article-Pebble-questions
• http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444592404578032590121915464.html
• http://juneauempire.com/letters/2011-04-24/jobs-are-not-issue#.UNDmOKza_Xh

Op-Ed

Op-eds are opinion pieces that are usually published opposite the editorial page in a newspaper. They are written by columnists, leaders of organizations, public officials, and community members. At most papers, anyone can submit an op-ed to convey a clear point of view about a topic of public interest.
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The Results Campaign provides an excellent guide to writing an op-ed.

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Sample Op-eds:

• http://juneauempire.com/opinion/2012-06-25/my-turn-aj-mine-twisted-new-path#.UNIbmKza_Xh
• http://newsminer.com/view/full_story/20385603/article-Seductive–silver–Pebble-project-is-ethically-and-environmentally-indefensible?
• http://newsminer.com/view/full_story/21076773/article-Don%E2%80%99t-prejudge-Pebble-mine—Protect-fisheries-but-don%E2%80%99t-close–off-our-options

Press Release

The Activist Toolkit Wiki provides a guide to writing a press release.

Sample Press Releases:

• Resolutions Create Uncertainty for Beard Co Yakutat Mine
• Conservation and Native Groups Concerned about Alaska’s Clean Water Policies Challenge State’s Antidegradation Implementation Methods

Interviews

The National Association of State Legislators Interview Guide has great information on how to make the most of an interview, whether it is over the phone, in person, on the radio, or on television.

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