Press tips

Press releases

Press releases can be sent to area newspapers to announce events or meetings for which you want media attention before the event takes place. See “sample press releases” for examples of press releases.

The press release starts with:

For immediate release
Date: (today’s date)
Contact: (your name, email address, and phone number)

A press releases answers the questions:

Who?
What?
When?
Where?
Why?

Deadlines

Make sure you know the deadline of your newspapers so that you submit the press release in time. Typically, this will be the week or more before your event. See the Media Spreadsheet for newspaper deadlines.

Photo and details: The article will be more appealing if you include some details about the speaker and/or what will be happening at the event. It gets more attention if you include a photo of the speaker(s). Ask them for a headshot and send that along with the press release. Without a photo and an enticing description of the event, it’s more likely to end up as a brief notice in a calendar of events.

If you want media coverage: If you want someone from the local newspaper to cover your event, call them after you’ve sent the press release and ask them to send some to the event.

Letters to the editor

Helpful hints

  1. Have the most important points in the first or second paragraph.

    People tend to scan the article to see if it’s something of interest to them. They may not read beyond the beginning. So, make your point early on and try to grab their attention.

  2. Tell a story. People relate to personal stories more than they do to sterile facts. It calls out empathy and understanding.
  3. Consider talking about just one issue rather than a long list.
  4. Call for action from an elected official or action by the reader (such as contact your elected officials).
  5. If possible, refer to something that was in the newspaper to which are you submitting the LTE, including the title of the article and the date.
  6. Duluth News-Tribune (daily) and Mesabi Tribune (2X/week) require that the letter be exclusive, meaning the letter must be submitted to that newspaper only. Weekly newspapers don’t usually have that requirement.
  7. Check the LTE spreadsheet for any word limits. 300 words is most common. Shorter is better.

    Some papers publish longer letters (Timberjay, Cook-News Herald, & Cook County News Herald among them).

  8. Put “Letter to the Editor” at the top of the page and your name, address, and phone number at the bottom. (They will only publish your name and city, not your street address or phone #.)
  9. The best letter to the editor is one that is sent. It doesn’t have to be perfect!

    Write a quick letter—short and to the point—and submit it right away. Don’t overthink it, and don’t delay.

For more information, contact hello@northernprogressives.org.