A Letter to the Editor is a short letter to the local paper which gives your opinion on an issue.

The Letters page(s) are one of the most read parts of local papers. We encourage co-operators to write Letters to the Editor to:

• Raise awareness of an issue and the Co-operative Party in your community
• Highlight an issue to our elected representatives, or to thank them for being responsive and helpful
• To win over readers to our campaigns

Campaigners like Letters to the Editor as they are easy to do and have an impact.

The letters page(s) are the first part of a local paper which is ‘put to bed’ i.e. laid out.

This is often done a week ahead of the publication date, allowing journalists to spend time on news stories. Editors want their letters pages to be sparky and controversial; they want their newspaper to feel like it’s the centre of important debates in the community. They want to see a diversity of strongly held views from local readers which will in turn generate yet more letters.

Before sending your letter, it’s worth thinking about the following:

• Keep it relevant to the local area
• Keep the readership of the paper in mind
• Short letters have more chance of being printed
• Make one or two points emphatically
• Include your name and contact details – but you can ask for these not to be printed if you wish
• Be polite
• Read a few back copies of the letters pages before you write to get an idea of the style of letter that tends to get printed.

It’s a good idea to read the letter out aloud before you send it.

• National policy discussion wouldn’t work unless you can demonstrate its impact locally.
• Using sample letters we provide without making it local and personal to you.

When it comes to putting pen to paper (or more likely turning the computer on) you want to:

• Keep it short – 300 words maximum normally
• Make your point in the first sentence
• Tell your story
• Keep it local
• Be emotive
• End the letter with a Call to Action (CtA) asking readers to do something.

Nearly all letters are emailed to the Editor nowadays, and you can normally look for the email address online.

Typically the email address will be letters@…. And the domain name of the paper.

Keep an eye out! Make sure you read the paper the following week to see if your letter is printed.

If your letter is printed, share your success on social media and send a picture or a link to it to the Co-operative Party so that we can share it. Very often the newspapers will have their own share buttons – use them.

If you have branch members willing to help, encourage them to write follow up letters responding to your letter to keep the issue alive.