A letter to the editor of your local newspaper should be short and sweet – it shouldn’t be any longer than 200 words. 

If you’re looking for some inspiration for how you might write a letter to the editor about empty homes, here’s one that was recently published in the Southern Star. Make sure to personalise your letter – editors will want something that appeals to the local community, and make sure to sign off with your full name and the town, village or city you’re based in.

EDITOR – It amazes me how many houses lie empty on every road, every village and streets of our towns across West Cork. Meanwhile, there are thousands of families and people desperate for a secure roof over their heads. Why is this allowed and why is it so hard to get accurate information or access the grants that are supposed to help?

Then there are those politicians and agitators who are very happy to blame vulnerable people, who have made West Cork their home and only want a safe place to lay their heads too. Why is this? Maybe it’s because they have nothing to offer voters and it’s easier to stir up division and hate in the hope of distracting us all.

I’m not fooled and neither are the people around me. Turning empty houses into homes is what the people want. I hope candidates in the local and European elections who come knocking on my door have the cop-on to know this.

If you want to get into local news, sending a press release is a great way to do it. A press release should read like a news story, so make sure to write about yourself in the third person. A good structure is as follows:

• Opening paragraph: Who? What? When? Where? How? Try to answer as much of these as possible while also keeping it succinct. For example: “A local activist has launched a petition calling on Mayo County Council to take action on empty homes.” 

• Second paragraph: Start rounding out the rest of the crucial details. You might include a bit more information about yourself, i.e., your name, age, where you’re based, how many signatures your petition has gotten.

• Round out your story: Take another paragraph or two to get across the extent of the problem (“There are more than 1,000 vacant homes in the area, and some of the homes that are derelict pose safety concerns for residents”).
• Quotes: Including good quotes is essential for a press release. This could be one to three paragraphs long and should reinforce what has already been said above, but is less about the facts and more about the emotion. For example: “I’m amazed by the number of empty homes across [insert area here], especially when there are so many people who are desperately searching for a home of their own.”
• Notes: At the end of the press release, include your mobile number, your email address and let editors know they can contact you if they need any more information. Also, make sure to either attach pictures of yourself to the email or send a link to photos. Try to include a few pictures of yourself and have a good mix of landscape and portrait. Make sure pictures are high quality to maximise your chances of getting your press release published.

Another good option is to write an opinion piece for your local newspaper about the issue you’re campaigning on. Some people might find this easier than writing a press release — it’s more about the emotion and communicating the extent of the problem from your own perspective, and there’s more creative freedom. There’s a good guide on writing opinion pieces from Harvard University that’s available here. 

Some of this advice is more geared towards national newspapers — most local newspapers probably won’t have an opinion or comment editor, so feel free to contact the overall editor of the newspaper. If you don’t hear back after a few days, don’t hesitate to follow up — editors are often busy, and they might have missed your first email. Finally, if you still don’t hear back after a second email follow up, try giving them a call.

Another great way to get your campaign into your local media is by getting on your local radio station. You can do this in one of two ways: by sending a press release to your local station, or by reaching out and asking if they would be interested in interviewing you about your campaign. 

If you’re doing the latter, try to find a few different people to contact — you can approach presenters and producers, and make sure to communicate in your email why the issue is so important. If your campaign has already had some success, such as a few hundred people signing a petition, make sure to tell them that so they know locals are engaged on the issue.

Before going on air, ask whoever is interviewing you if they can give you a steer on the kind of questions they’ll be asking. This will help you get prepared before going on. If they ask a question you don’t know the answer to, that’s OK! Just say it’s a difficult question to answer, or you don’t have all the facts, and try to pivot to talking about something you are more certain on.