Idaho County Democratic Party Newsletter

Writing a Letter-to-the-Editor

Goal: To maintain a continual Democratic presence in Idaho's newspapers.

What Could Happen: If every person in the Idaho County Democratic Party wrote just 1 letter per year, we'd have at least 1 letter in every edition of the area weeklies and in more than 1/3 of the editions of the dailies each year. That would result in thousands of Idahoans' consistently hearing the Democratic voice.

Idaho's Newspapers — Letter-to-the-Editor Contacts:

Statewide, click here.
Local, click here.

Your audience:

Newspaper readers, of course, but those particularly who are moderate-to-conservative and who vote.
Your fellow Democrats who want and need to hear their viewpoints confirmed and to know there are many of us in Idaho.

Your purpose:

To challenge conservative ideas, statements and legislative action.
To support Democratic legislators and other elected officials.
To open the minds of moderates and conservatives to progressive ideas, values, legislation and policies.

A few letter-writing reminders:

Keep letters brief. Each newspaper has word limits - 250 is typical.
Stick to one focal topic per letter.
Always have 1-2 other people edit and suggest content and tone revisions before you submit your letter to the newspapers.
Be straightforward and unafraid to say what you think, yet write with civility. Let's help Democrats maintain their image as the rational bunch.
Many letters may be sent just to newspapers read by folks living in Idaho County or in the 4 Legislative District 8 counties — Clearwater, Lewis, Valley and Idaho Counties. But many should be sent to newspapers statewide.
Always type "Letter-to-the-Editor at the top of your letters.
Always type your name, address, phone number, and email at the bottom.
Monday noon is typically the deadline for weeklies. However, for the dailies, any day and any time is ok.
You may wish to create an "Editors" folder in your email address book where you can store newspaper email addresses for reuse.

Newspaper E-mail addresses: Most newspapers now have websites with online forms for submitting letters-to-the-editor. But if you need a roster of newspaper email addresses contact the Website Manager.