Anatomy of a Successful LTE
To date, that letter (see below) has not been printed. Why not you might ask?
In my humble opinion, letters to the editor (LTE) ought to be:
- short and to the point (space is always issue in newspapers)
- of relevance to readers / timely
- grammatically sound (not so much a consideration with the good ole TNT print media)
Common-sense would also indicate that LTEs will not make it to print if they:
- contain libelous material
- offend the sensibilities and the interests of the editor, board of directors (these folks are human too, have their own set of prejudices and are likely to be concerned about the bottom-line and pleasing their shareholders and advertisers)
My Acquaintance’s letter was:
- a tad long
- [WARNING: Possible illogical argument to follow] of a subject-matter that would likely not be of any interest to those that do not own a home, are not ballers of any kind (wonder how much of the TnT population that eliminates based on the housing thrust of the past election and last year’s world cup mania?)
Good news though for Acquaintance:
- not bad on the grammar
- having your LTE posted to a blog is not a terrible alternative to the newspapers…
I certainly hope that you have better luck with your next attempt. I just might give it a try myself.
For those of you who are interested in writing LTEs, the following may be worth reading:
- http://www.hrw.org/community/action/lettertoeditor.htm
- http://www.bread.org/take-action/offering-of-letters-resources/how-to-write-a-letter-to-the.html
- http://www.concernedjournalists.org/print/68
Mosquito
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