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Letters to the editor are a
very important way to increase the public’s awareness and
comprehension of the issue of U.S.-sponsored torture. All effective
community organizing begins with basic informational and educational
efforts, and the media is a key tool.
A letter to the editor should be very short and to the point. Each
newspaper will have its own rules about the length of letters, as
well as other guidelines. Before you write, you should call the
editorial department and ask about these. You also can ask if they
would prefer the piece to be sent by e-mail, regular mail, or fax.
Some common guidelines are:
- There will be a very short word limit,
which is strictly enforced. A general guideline would be 200-250
words.
- You must not submit the same letter to
more than one publication at the same time.
- Whenever possible, the letter should
refer to a specific article recently published by that paper or
magazine.
- There may be a strict deadline for
responding to a given article. The sooner you respond to a
specific article, the more likely it is that your letter will be
published. A good standard is to send a letter no later than
seven days after the date of the article to which you are
responding.
- Many newspapers ask for a daytime phone number (not for publication) so they can call you with questions or for confirmation.
A sample letter is provided below. Please feel free to edit or rewrite as you see fit.
Sample letter to the editor
Dear editor,
As a citizen of the United States, I vigorously protest the use of torture in the name of national security. "(Headline from the article in your local paper)," p. 1, Feb. 17, 2006.
On the same day as the publication of new photographs of abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, a United Nations report calls for the closing of the Guantánamo Bay detention facility because it is effectively a torture camp. How much more evidence does anyone need that the torture of the detainees under U.S. control is not an aberration, but rather a policy of our government’s intelligence agencies?
In December, Congress put aside partisan political interests to agree on a new law that
clearly prohibits the use of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of detainees. However, the president issued a signing statement suggesting he is bound by the law only if it does not interfere with his authority as commander in chief to protect the United States from further terrorist attacks.
The president isn’t getting the message, no matter how often it is repeated. The use of torture is antithetical to our nation’s cherished ideals and puts our own soldiers more at risk if they should become prisoners. Moreover, U.S.-sponsored torture clearly encourages reciprocal treatment against our own troops and spreads hatred against American citizens.
Sincerely,
Name
Address
City, State, ZIP
Daytime phone number