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Challenging Stereotypes: An Action Guide

Delivering Your Message

After you have written a letter, where do you send it? This section is intended to give you the information you need to guide your message to its destination.

The Internet is helpful in providing Web home pages. There you are likely to find E-mail addresses urging Internet users to “contact us.” (Mailing addresses and phone numbers, however, are rarely listed.)

Gradually you will develop your own list of useful contacts, allowing you to keep abreast of changes that occur often in the communi-cations field.

Contacting the National Media

This section contains lists to simplify locating addresses for the major national media. Because of rapid changes in the media industry, it’s a good idea to double check any personal names before using them.

A media list of your own is perhaps the best way to have frequently needed contact information at your fingertips. You will see it develop gradually as you write letters or E-mail your views to the media.

National Newspapers
The most likely reason for getting in touch with a national newspaper is to respond to an article or column — typically, with a letter to the editor intended for publication. Letters to the editor are sent to the address listed on the editorial page. But lots of letters don’t get published because of limited space. If you can, send copies of your letter to the reporter, columnist, or critic who wrote the article, and also to the executive editor of the paper who will forward it down the line. You may also send copies of leters to the appropriate section editor — news, editorial, arts and entertainment, health and science, lifestyle, business, or magazine section. Even if your letter is not published, it will deliver its message to important people. A call to the newspaper is the easiest way to get the names and numbers of the editors and critics.

National Magazines
Most magazines give contact information in their Letters to the Editor section. They also list their E-mail and Web sites.

National Broadcast Media: TV, Cable, Radio The addresses and phone numbers of major broadcasters are listed in this section. Address letters to President, or call the main operator for the chief executive’s name. If you wish to write to the program’s producer, his or her name will appear in the broadcast credits. For the phone number of a particular national program, call the national broadcaster’s main operator. Another way to get contact information is from a local affiliate of the national broadcaster. If none of these options work, call your library and see if they give reference information over the phone. If you go to the library, a media directory such as the Gale Directory of Publications and Broadcast Media would be the place to look. Lastly, there may be a Viewer Comment option on the national broadcaster’s Web site.

Contacting the Local Media

The place to start, when looking for contact information for a local media organization, is probably the newspaper or broadcast itself. All of your comments, in praise or in protest, will interest the journalist who covered the story. If you read it in the newspaper, take down the name of the reporter who wrote the story.

If you’d like to speak with him or her, look for the newspaper’s telephone number — it’s on the editorial page or near the beginning of the newspaper — and ask the operator to connect you. Try not to call after 4:00 P.M., as that’s when reporters are feeling the most pressure to finish their stories. If you’d like to write a letter to the editor, ask the operator for the name of the Editorial Page editor (and, if you wish, the fax number). It’s always a good idea to address this editor — like all editors — by name.

If you have something to say about a headline, news story, or feature article, send a copy of your letter to the executive editor. To comment on an advertisement, write to the publisher. Their names are listed on the masthead in the editorial section of the paper.

If you heard it on the radio or saw it on TV, following up may take a few extra steps. Your local telephone directory is probably the place to start looking for contact information. Radio and TV stations have “call letters” and these are usually listed alphabetically in the directory. When you call, you’ll probably get the station’s operator. Ask him or her for the information you need. Operators are typically polite and try to be helpful.

Radio stations have station managers. Television programs have producers. These are the people you want to reach when you have something important to say. Get their names, addresses, and phone numbers.

If, when you call a radio or TV station, you learn that a particular segment of a news report, or any other program, originated elsewhere, find out where. Ask for the name of the media organization that provided the segment. Try to get a name there, a phone number, or address so you can follow up.

Broadcast networks often have Viewer Comment voice-mail numbers. Taped comments are an excellent way to convey your message, since broadcasters rely on feedback from their audi-ences. If you wish, you can call back after plan-ning what you want to say.

Locating Difficult-to-Find Media

When looking for information, it’s best to begin right in your home or office with your local telephone directory or the Internet. If the information you seek needs a bit more digging to uncover, the place to go is your local library. Many community libraries offer telephone reference services — a luxury worth exploring.

At the library, chances are you will see a media directory on the reference shelves. The best come in several volumes, and they are very complete. They are also expensive. Do not be disappointed, then, if the volumes your library owns are well-thumbed and a few years out of date. Instead, start digging. Even older media directories are crammed with useful information. Your trip to the library will be productive enough for you to be able to follow up at home with phone calls.

The most complete media directories are: Bacon’s Newspaper Directory, Bacon’s Magazine Directory, and the Gale Directory of Publications and Broadcast Media.

Bacon's Newspaper Directory. This is a very comprehensive directory of national dailies, major news services and syndicates, newspaper publisher chains, Sunday supplements, plus local dailies, semiweeklies, and monthlies. Newspapers are listed alphabetically, by State and city.

Contact information typically includes general phone and fax numbers, as well as the names and telephones of editors, writers, and critics. This contact information is also given for domestic bureaus of national dailies and major news services.

Bacon's Magazine Directory. The publications are organized according to markets (women’s, health and fitness, and so forth) with classifications corresponding to contents (e.g., advertising, radio, and TV).

Contact information includes general phone and fax numbers, often E-mail and Internet addresses, and the names and telephone numbers of editors, news writers, and critics.

Magazine publishers that own three or more magazines are listed under “Multiple Magazine Publishers.”

Gale Directory of Publications and Broadcast Media. This directory lists national newspapers, magazines, TV and radio networks, newspaper and radio news services, and cable systems (C-Span, CNN/Headline News, etc.). It also lists local dailies, weeklies, monthlies, and free newspapers; local TV and radio stations, and trade publications.

Contact information includes the names of editors and writers for newspapers and magazines, and key personnel (such as station owners and managers) for local radio and TV stations, plus phone/fax numbers, mailing addresses, and E-mail addresses.

Newspapers are arranged geographically, by States and cities; magazines, by State and type (entertainment, health and fitness, mental health). Radio stations are grouped by type (classical, talk radio, public radio), with entries appearing geographically, by States and cities, with call letters and frequencies on the dial. Trade publications are arranged by subject (advertising, music, psychology) and, within subject, by States and cities.

Other Useful Directories

The Directory of Business Information Resources lists associations, newsletters, mag-azines and journals, tradeshows, directories, and databases. These are grouped alphabetically, by industry (example: advertising, communications and media).

Professional/Trade/Associations Directories. Media and other industry associations often have codes of conduct that their members agree to observe. Possible violations of these codes can be brought to the attention of the top decision makers of the organization. They can also be prevailed upon to educate their members.

Encyclopedia of Associations. This directory of professional, trade, and other groups lists organizations by State. Contact information includes the executive director’s name.

Media Directories (Internet)

Television, Cable & Radio Networks

Telvision Networks

Cable Networks

Radio Networks

Television News Programs

Print Media: Magazines, Newspapers, Syndicates

Film & Television Production Companies

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