How to: Write a Letter to the Editor

An unexpectedly great way of getting bold climate policies passed

Letters to the editor are an unexpectedly great way of getting bold climate policies passed. They’re a major part of physical newspapers, and are still a quick and effective way to get your message out there. They often have a broad, diverse audience, magnifying your reach far beyond your social media and other personal networks (for example, in 2022, the NZ Herald reached 598,000 people!) 

Why should I write a letter to the editor?

Letters to the editor are short segments generally found in the first section of the newspaper. They’re short enough that you could write one on your phone, but they are a great way to generate discussion around an issue in your community and prevent it from being forgotten. 

Writing to the public means that you can use your own voice to make meaning and join dots for people, by giving a perspective that is really grounded in your own experiences. It’s also a good chance to get the attention of the media, as well as politicians.

It doesn’t matter whether you get published

The good news is that whether or not you get published, the people working at the newsletter still see it. They will then see that there are people concerned about this topic, and that there is a story there, keeping the issue (the climate crisis in our case!) front of mind.

How to write a letter to the editor 

Choose the newspaper you want to write to and check their submission guidelines, and then use our writing tips below. 

Be timely: respond to an article published in the last two weeks
Letters to editors will almost always be on a topic that is timely or based on a recent article in the newspaper. The letter should feed into a conversation that is already happening, as it is really unlikely that letters that are not currently relevant will be published. For example, in the past few months, we will have seen letters about flooding, and disaster management. 

Part of being timely is explaining why it is timely - so if we are talking about a longer term issue like the climate crisis, you’ll need to tie it into the events of the day. Make it easy for editors to see the connection between their articles and your letter. 

What can I write about?

Topical issues are usually the most commonly published in letters to the editor - so if there’s a contentious climate, housing or transport policy in your region / city / neighbourhood, use it! 

Here are some other examples of stances you could take: 

• Investing in trains (where could you go on holiday if you had a better train line?)

• Pick an attention-grabbing stance and link it to the news: Why we should ban short-haul flights / ban meat in schools / etc! 

• Any points from Climate Shift

Use your own words - not jargon. 

Our goal is to bring people along with us, so it’s important not to use language that feels academic or specialised. Jargon can make people think that it’s not for them. Imagine you’re writing for a teenage relative, or an elderly person who doesn’t know anything on the topic.

Make it short. 

Focus on making one clear, concise point. There’s a physical limit of the size of the newspaper page, so 100 words is good - 200 words is around the max, around the length that can be written on your phone. You don’t need to do heaps of research, as these letters are meant to be quick and engaging. 

Connect it to your everyday experience

You can use the first line to position yourself - who you are, and why you’re talking about this topic. This can be “as a young person/renter living in Wellington…” This doesn’t have to be a position of authority in terms of qualifications, but can come from lived experience. 

Note that people in newsletters really want to hear from young people, and really want to know that young people are reading their newsletter! 

Tie it all together with the last line and leave people something to do

There’s a convention that letters to the editor often have a pithy final line that wraps the letter up and ties it all together. Because this is a convention, it makes it more likely that you’ll get published. 

This should include a clear call to action for the people reading, and could also mention elected representatives by name, for example: “Mayor Brown, please accelerate building cycle lanes in our city,” because most elected representative offices will have a media alert set up. 

Bring people along with you

Stating emotions is good, eg. “I feel x”, but you are less likely to get published if you resort to anger or insults. Anger might still get published, but could undermine your message. This is context-specific though, since in some situations it may be the right approach, but generally it shouldn’t be the first port of call. 

We should also be careful of power - you don’t want to fight people who don’t have power. For example, while you may want to talk about clean water, it is not helpful to talk about farmers in particular. They are a broad group, made up of many people - some with lots of power and some with very little. Particularly in Aotearoa, they are the broader public. Writing about farmers would not be targeting power; while writing about the agricultural sector leadership is. You don’t want to push away the people you want to bring along with you. 

You can always use a pseudonym

If being associated with your chosen topic could lead to problems at work or home you could always write under a nom de plume. What matters is that the newspapers know this issue matters to people, it doesn’t need to be directly linked to you. 

Newsletter contact details

• Whangarei - Northern Advocate letters@northernadvocate.co.nz 

• Auckland - New Zealand Herald letters@nzherald.co.nz

• Hamilton - Waikato Times editor@waikatotimes.co.nz

• Tauranga - Bay of Plenty Times editor@bopt.co.nz

• Rotorua - Rotorua Daily Post editor@dailypost.co.nz

• Gisborne - Gisborne Herald editorial@gisborneherald.co.nz

• Hawkes Bay - Hawkes Bay Today editor@hbtoday.co.nz

• Wanganui - Wanganui Chronicle letters@wanganuichronicle.co.nz

• New Plymouth - Taranaki Daily News editor@tnl.co.nz

• Palmerston North - Manawatu Standard editor@msl.co.nz

• Wairarapa - Wairarapa Times Age editorial@times-age.co.nz

• Wellington - Dominion Post letters@dompost.co.nz

• Marlborough - Marlborough Express mailbox@marlexpress.co.nz

• Nelson - Nelson Mail editor@nelsonmail.co.nz

• Westport - Westport News editorial@westportnews.co.nz

• Greymouth - Greymouth Evening Star editor@greystar.co.nz

• Christchurch - The Press letters@press.co.nz

• Ashburton - The Ashburton Guardian enquiries@theguardian.co.nz

• Timaru - Timaru Herald editor@timaruherald.co.nz

• Oamaru - Oamaru Mail news@oamarumail.co.nz

• Dunedin - Otago Daily Times odt.editorial@alliedpress.co.nz

• Invercargill - Southland Times letters@stl.co.nz