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TRIAL SYSTEM TO ASSIST WITH PUBLISHING LETTERS IN LOCAL NEWS MEDIA (FoE
Cymru)
These web pages describe a
scheme to help local groups of FoE Cymru to get good letters published in local
newspapers or broadcast on local radio. It is based on the following main ideas:
- Local newspapers and local radio stations (‘media’) are an excellent way to
communicate ‘green’ ideas to the public because it is relatively easy to get a
letter or even an article published in local media and because local newspapers are widely
read and many people listen to local radio. (For the sake of brevity in the rest
of this website, "letters or articles" will be referred to as "letters").
- The non-green 'opposition' (eg people who oppose wind farms
for narrow NIMBY reasons) are often very well organised and make very effective
use of local media. FoE needs to be at least as well organised and successful in
getting its views across.
- To be effective in promoting the 'green' perspective, letters
should be not merely expressions of concern. They should contain significant and
useful information and cogent arguments.
- Given the range of green campaigning issues and their
complexity, it is very difficult for any one person or any local group to be
fully conversant with all the facts and arguments that are relevant to any given
issue.
- In principle, FoE full-time staff can provide advice but,
realistically, most of them are already overloaded and cannot easily spare the
time to help local groups in drafting letters for the press.
- Fortunately, many non-staff members of FoE are very well
informed on particular issues and it is likely that many of those people will be
willing to give advice or to draft letters when required. Someone who is familiar with a particular area can draft a letter much faster and much more
effectively than someone who is not familiar with the ideas.
The following sections describe the main elements of the scheme:
Last updated:
2006-09-03
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