Write to Your Local News and Media Outlets!

Write to Your Local News and Media Outlets

Writing to your local news and media outlets is another great way to raise awareness for, and during, National Tinnitus Awareness Week. Below we have provided a sample cover letter and press release to make it nearly effortless for you to reach out and raise awareness in your own communities.

Many times, you can find the email address of the news desk and other reporters on media outlets Web sites. So you might consider searching for an email address and send then this information via email. This will likely be the quickest way to reach them!

Please feel free to use the cover letter and press release as they are, in an email or regular mail, or to edit and include your personal tinnitus experience.

COVER LETTER (printer-friendly version)

Date

Name of Newspaper or Television Station
Attn: News Desk
Address
City, State Zip

Dear Editor or News Program Director:

I am writing to you about tinnitus – most commonly referred to as “ringing in the ears”, a condition which impacts 50 million Americans. And I am one of them. (If you are not one of them note your connection to tinnitus.) Tinnitus is also the number-one service-connected disability for veterans from all periods of service, accounting for 840,000+ veterans at the end of 2011. It is impacting Iraq and Afghanistan veterans at historic rates.

A little “ringing in the ears,” may not sound like a big deal to most people. But imagine constant noise 24 hours a day, for the rest of your life. Imagine there’s no cure. Imagine this condition is poorly understood, and that many healthcare professionals think nothing can be done about it. They tell you “to go home and live with it.” Now imagine that the noise you hear was probably caused by exposure to loud noise – on the job, on the battlefield, while motorcycling, snowmobiling, hunting, while playing with fireworks, or listening to loud music. In other words, while living a fairly normal, modern life.

May 13-19, 2012 is National Tinnitus Awareness Week, sponsored by the only member-based tinnitus organization in the United States- the American Tinnitus Association. ATA is the foremost tinnitus research funding organization in the United States. For over 40 years, they’ve been helping tinnitus patients like me (if you don’t have tinnitus, delete ‘like me’) try to live a better quality of life with tinnitus.

If you are interested in doing a story on tinnitus, please contact ATA Director of Public Affairs, Jennifer Born at jennifer@ata.org or 800-634-8978 x215. She can put you in touch with local tinnitus health professionals, patients and other experts who are willing to be interviewed about this life-altering condition.

Please tell your readers and viewers about the growing problem of tinnitus during the week of May 13-19, 2012 and send them to ATA’s website at ATA.org/TAW2012 for more information about this week and great cause.
 
I would also be willing to be interviewed and can be reached at (provide contact information).

Sincerely,

Your name, contact information and group, if any, that you represent

PRESS RELEASE (printer-friendly version)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                           Contact: Jennifer Born
April 15, 2012                                                            jennifer@ata.org, (800) 634-8978 x215

Carrying the Torch For Silence
  - National Tinnitus Awareness Week is May 13-19, 2012 -

Portland, Ore. – The American Tinnitus Association (ATA) is celebrating National Tinnitus Awareness Week (TAW), May 13 - 19, 2012. This year, ATA is “going for gold” in its efforts to raise awareness and encourage people across the United States and around the world to help educate people about “ringing in the ears.”

The premiere TAW 2012 event is the Tour de Tinnitus, a new bike ride fundraiser for the organization that was started last year by long time ATA member Mark Church. His efforts last year spawned great interest and the ride has grown to incorporate five new teams that will participate in four separate rides to raise money to support tinnitus research.

“While we are increasingly encouraged by the growing interest in and pace of tinnitus research, there are still hundreds of millions of people worldwide who suffer with this condition on a daily basis,” said Mark K. Johnson, J.D., Chair of the ATA Board of Directors. “ATA’s mission is to silence tinnitus by funding research, and we can only accomplish this with increased awareness of how tinnitus can ruthlessly reduce a person’s life and increased visibility for ATA’s mission. That’s why the efforts of the folks who are participating in the Tour de Tinnitus are so crucial to the success of our mission – and why we’re so grateful to them for their volunteer spirit and desire to stand up for a cause that means so much to all of us,” said Johnson.

Tinnitus is the perception of sound where no external source is present. Most commonly caused by noise exposure, tinnitus impacts up to 50 million Americans and of those 16 million suffer from chronic intrusive tinnitus. Tinnitus disproportionately impacts veterans and at the end of 2011 over 840,000 veterans were service-connected for it, making it the leading disability for that population. This includes over 215,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who are developing tinnitus in record numbers. Because of these surges, raising awareness of this lesser-known condition is imperative.

ATA has developed a TAW 2012 section on their website at ATA.org/TAW2012. From requesting proclamations from locally and nationally elected officials, to contacting your local media outlets, sharing tinnitus-related crosswords and posters, ATA has all the information you’ll need to get started in raising some serious tinnitus-awareness!

About the American Tinnitus Association
The American Tinnitus Association (ATA), headquartered in Portland, Ore., is the nation’s foremost organization committed to curing tinnitus. For over 40 years, ATA has helped tinnitus patients understand and manage the “ringing in their ears.” ATA exists to cure tinnitus through the development of resources that advance tinnitus research. Founded in 1971, ATA has contributed millions of dollars to medical research projects focused on curing tinnitus. The association also provides information on tinnitus to the public and advocates for effective public policies that support its mission of curing tinnitus. ATA.org.
 

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