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Tips on Writing Letters and Op-Ed Pieces
to the Editors of Vermont Papers

We've collected some samples and information for you to review, revise to fit your town, and send to your local paper. Here are some suggestions made by David Shipley of the New York Times for letters to the editor and op-ed authors.

• Letters to the editor usually respond to an article or editorial that appeared in the paper.
• Op-ed pieces tend to cover subjects and make arguments that have not been covered elsewhere in the editorial space or are current topics of wide interest and debate.
• Editors look for timeliness, ingenuity, strength of argument, freshness of opinion, clear writing and newsworthiness.
• Personal experiences and first-person narrative can be great, particularly when they illustrate a larger idea. So is humor, when it's funny. Eschew, um, I mean, stay away from Olympian language and bureaucratic jargon (infrastructure, inputs, outlays). Write the article the way you'd like to write it — not the way you think an editor wants it.
• Make one argument thoroughly, point by point; the more detail the better. If you try to do too much, you can wind up with an article that, in striving to say everything, ends up saying nothing.
• Also, you shouldn't feel that you have to rely on the written word alone. Maybe your point is expressed best in a chart, a graphic, an annotated illustration or a series of photographs.

In Vermont, most local papers have similar approaches.

• Limit letters to the editor to 200-300 words. An op-ed piece can be as long as 700 words. It's important to check with the editor about size.
• Since papers prefer material that hasn't appeared elsewhere in exactly the same form, it is best to put things in your own words or revise the sample to reflect you.
• Usually editors prefer several months between publications from a contributor. Enlist some friends to join in the letter writing campaign.

The Sample Topic below includes bulleted information and a simple conclusion or call to action. We've included references. They are intended as a resource and will always benefit from revisions or additions. We will add more topics in months ahead, and we welcome suggestions from you.

Please send suggestions or questions to info@vthca.org

• TO FIND your legislator, use this link which takes you to a map: www.leg.state.vt.us/legdir/findmember.cfm. 
  
• OR use this link, which takes you to a directory www.leg.state.vt.us/legdir/legdir2.htm.  
  
• OR use these links, which take you to a list of daily newspapers (www.vtliving.com/newspapers/) and to a list of weekly newspapers (www.vtliving.com/newspapers/weeklies.shtml).  

SAMPLE TOPIC: THE POLLS TELL US AMERICANS WANT HEALTH CARE REFORM MORE THAN TAX CUTS; IS ANYBODY LISTENING?

• The Harris Poll recently asked thousands of Americans if they thought Health Care should be a Public Good (Entitlement) or a Private Economic Good? The questions was: Do you think public policy should treat health care and health insurance more as an entitlement like education, police and fire protection and highways or more as a kind of product or service, like cars, house, food and clothes, or homeowners insurance where you get what you can afford and want to pay for?
   
  The answers were: 65 percent favored an entitlement, a universal health insurance financed by tax payers; 23 percent favored the purchased product approach that most of us under 65 currently have and 12 percent were not sure.
   
  
• In an ABC News-Washington Post poll, by an almost 2-1 margin those questioned preferred a universal government program (62 percent) as opposed to the current employer-based system (32 percent). More than half (54 percent) are dissatisfied with the overall quality of health care in the United States while 44 percent are satisfied. Many are satisfied with their personal care but they have "significant concerns” about the health care system and they worry about future costs, possible rationing, declining coverage if jobs are lost, and the problems of people who lack insurance already. Eight in 10 said it is more important to provide health care coverage for all Americans even if it means higher taxes, than to hold down taxes but leave some people uncovered.
   
  
• The Pew Research Center Survey's poll found “fully 72 percent of Americans agree that the government should provide universal health care, even if it means repealing most tax cuts passed since Bush took office.” There were some differences among political party affiliation: Democrats, 86 percent agree-11 percent oppose; independents, 78 percent-19 percent; and Republicans, 51 percent-44 percent. A majority (61 percent) of all those who support universal health care think of it as a moral as well as a political issue, while most opponents (58 percent) tend to see this in strictly political terms.
   
  
• No wonder the politicians are talking so much about health care. They recognize it is important to voters. Voters are listening to them but are the politicians listening carefully to the voters?