Newspapers

Opinion drivers in your local community

Your local newspaper's opinion pages are an important outlet for the afterschool message. Generating positive editorials, letters-to-the-editor, opinion columns, op-eds and cartoons should be part of your overall media strategy—after all, they're read by opinion leaders, elected representatives, reporters, your colleagues, the families your program serves, and many others.

In the recent past, dozens of newspapers around the country have featured pro-afterschool messages on their opinion pages. If your local newspaper hasn't yet joined the chorus, or if it's only singing meekly in the background, don't sit back and wait, take action. Here's how.

Here are the basics:

Newspaper opinion pages usually have five elements:

Editorials

Letters-to-the-Editor

Op-Eds

Columnists and Cartoons