Letters to newspapers

Newspaper Email Addresses

Note: always include your postal address & phone number (they demand it).
You can, of course, give bogus details.

UK newspapers:
The Guardian
letters@guardian.co.uk

The Independent
letters@independent.co.uk

The Times
letters@the-times.co.uk

The Daily Telegraph
dtletters@telegraph.co.uk

The Observer
letters@observer.co.uk (subject field of email should say “Letter to the Editor”)

Daily Mail
letters@dailymail.co.uk

Mail On Sunday
letters@mailonsunday.co.uk

Daily Express
express.letters@express.co.uk

Financial Times
letters.editor@ft.com

The Sun
letters@the-sun.co.uk

The Mirror
mailbox@mirror.co.uk

News of the World
your.letters@news-of-the-world.co.uk

Daily Post (Liverpool)
letters@liverpool.com

The European
letters@the-european.com

The Irish Independent
independent.letters@independent.ie

The Morning Star
lettersed@macunlimited.net

Magazines/Other:
Newsweek
letters@newsweek.com

Time
letters@time.com

New Statesman
letters@newstatesman.co.uk

The Economist
letters@economist.com

Today (BBC Radio 4 morning news)
today@bbc.co.uk

PM (BBC Radio 4 evening news)
pm@bbc.co.uk

US Newspapers:
New York Times
letters@nytimes.com

The Wall Street Journal
letter.editor@edit.wsj.com

Washington Post
letters@washpost.com

Los Angeles Times
letters@latimes.com

USA Today
editor@usatoday.com

San Francisco Chronicle
letters@sfchronicle.com

Chicago Sun Times
letters@suntimes.com

San Jose Mercury
letters@sjmercury.com

Boston Globe
letter@globe.com

Seattle Times
opinion@seattletimes.com

Houston Chronicle
viewpoints@chron.com

Baltimore Sun
letters@baltsun.com

(Click here for a longer list of US and other countries newspaper emails).

Crafty Multiple Mailings

Newspapers want to be the sole recipient of a letter. So, if you’re sending a letter to multiple recipients, make sure you disguise the fact. This is easily done. Either send a separate email to each newspaper (copy and paste the content), or save time by using a program like Group Mail (download it free from www.infacta.com).

If you use Group Mail (or similar), you can make things easy by importing a list of email addresses you want to use. As a start, you might want to copy & paste the following list into a .txt file, then follow the program’s instructions to import the file.

letters@guardian.co.uk
letters@independent.co.uk
letters@the-times.co.uk
dtletters@telegraph.co.uk
letters@observer.co.uk
letters@dailymail.co.uk
express.letters@express.co.uk
letters.editor@ft.com
letters@the-sun.co.uk
mailbox@mirror.co.uk
today@bbc.co.uk
pm@bbc.co.uk

How to be Published

• Be concise.
• Make an original point.
• Respond quickly to a story.

Why bother?

Letters pages in newspapers seem the most interesting sections of the mainstream media. The reason for this is probably that editors feel less responsibility for the views of readers than for the main editorial/journalistic content. As a result, some unusual and subversive letters are often printed. Readers say what they think, whereas journalists and editors are conscious of how their own published viewpoints will affect their careers – which results in a sort of respectable cautiousness.

A few years ago, the UK's Labour government gave a press conference in which they boasted of their record on employment – of "getting people into jobs". Most newspapers covered this in exactly the same language as used by the government's press release, with little criticism or scrutiny. But then The Guardian published no less than five reader's letters, all on the same day, attacking the government's claims in remarkably scathing terms, with descriptions of appallingly awful low-paid jobs and vivid portrayals of Britain as a sort of deeply unpleasant forced-labour camp. One of them said:

"The situations vacant are low-paid, demoralising, mind-numbing and soul-destroying, unrewarding graft in fast food joints, security firms and the new sweatshops, call centres"

All of the letters were eloquent/forceful, and every word rang true – unlike the PR syrup from the government and the pathetic journalists' acquiescence.

Writing letters to newspapers can be therapeutic when media coverage angers you. Distil your anger into a few concise paragraphs, then send to all the newspapers (see the Crafty Multiple Mailings section, above).

Even if your letter isn't printed, you have the satisfaction of knowing that the letters editors on all these newspapers have read your views (which might influence their future choice of letters for publication). You can also recycle the material you've written – eg post it to Internet newsgroups.