• Feature articles,
• Editorials,
• Letters to the editor, and
• Advice columns.

Feature articles. Many newspapers regularly publish feature articles about family planning and other health-care topics. Possibilities for feature articles can be found everywhere. Here are some feature ideas about family planning, based on questions that many people ask:

• Who is choosing vasectomy?
• What is it like to visit a family planning clinic?
• When is the best time to begin using contraception following a birth?
• Where can young people find information about reproductive health?
• Why do many couples space their births?
• How do contraceptive methods work?

Dhaka. When a 38-year-old villager named Anwara picks up her bag of family planning materials and heads down the dusty alleyways of Pirojali, a village of fruit orchards and rice paddies just north of this capital, she is greeted with smiles and waves from many village women.

Not long ago, many of the women would have shunned Anwara. Enveloped by a profoundly conservative, male-dominated culture that centers on their Muslim faith, the women of Pirojali, like 75 percent of Bangladesh's 120 million people, are mostly illiterate. But largely due to the efforts of family planning workers like Anwara, nearly 60 percent of the Pirojali's women of child-bearing age use contraceptives.... (The Baltimore Sun, September 25, 1994)

• Suggest a feature idea. Give your idea to only one newspaper at a time, however. A newspaper expects you to give the feature to it on a exclusive basis, not to all newspapers at the same time, as with a news release. Offer it elsewhere only if the first newspaper decides not to use it.

• Help a reporter develop a feature idea. If a reporter comes to you with a feature idea, give all the support and assistance possible. To honor the expectation of exclusivity, keep everything about the story confidential from other news media until the feature appears.

• Write the feature yourself. Many editors will accept feature articles written by contributors who are not on their staff. If such articles are written well and are filled with substance, not self-promotion, editors may use them. Offer the story to only one newspaper at a time.

By studying feature stories that appear in the newspapers in which you are interested, you can learn the favored style (67). Also, the following guidelines will help you write features:

Lead. A quotation, a provocative question, or a short declarative sentence can make a strong feature lead. For example:

Nairobi. Anne Switi, a 28-year-old marketing executive, is in a dilemma. Anne has to choose between her one-month-old baby and her career. (Daily Nation, October 28, 1992)

Drama can make a good feature lead. In another article from the Kenyan Daily Nation, the reporter began a feature about training teachers to become good counselors in this way:

Nairobi. The class is so quiet that one could hear a pin drop as the course participants and facilitators wait expectantly. In comes a "student" sobbing and the "teacher" takes charge in a cool but firm manner that gets respect and obedience.

Body. The body of the feature develops, elaborates, and explains the theme. It is best to use only one central theme in a feature. In writing the body, you want to present a problem as drama, show how it can be resolved, and show how the resolution can improve people's lives.

Conclusion. Features often conclude with a dramatic climax, a memorable message, a summary of salient facts, or a restatement of the lead for emphasis. The feature story cited above about family planning in Bangladesh ends with this quotation from a senior health ministry official:

"We are already bursting at the seams," Mr. Azizul said. "To think of 160 million people by 2005, and 250 million people by 2030, seems horrifying. But if we can sustain our present successes, I believe we can stay out of the quagmire. In any case, we simply cannot admit the possibility of failure." (The Baltimore Sun, September 25, 1994)

Editorials. Sometimes also referred to as an opinion piece, an editorial takes a position, clarifies a point, or urges action. Editorials, which can be written by the editor or publisher of a publication, often mirror viewpoints held by many of their readers (67).

How can you generate informed editorials about family planning? Editors do not want to be told what opinions to hold or how to express them, but many do want information upon which to base their opinions. To suggest material for an editorial, gather your facts, organize your information, and then telephone the editor for an appointment or send the material by mail or messenger. You can offer information about demographic trends, the impact of population growth on the economy or environment, the benefits of family planning, and other policy-related topics. You also may offer interviews with organization staff to provide background for editorials.

Whether or not an editorial appears as a result of your efforts is up to the editor. If an editorial appears, take time to thank its writer. Even if no editorial appears, you will have informed the editorial writers about family planning, and your effort may result in future editorials.

Many newspapers also invite guest editorials, or opinion pieces written by members of the community. This department of the newspaper provides an opportunity for you to raise public awareness and inform policy makers (19, 77). Editors seek well-written guest editorials that discuss current issues, suggest new ideas, and offer fresh views. In many countries guest editorials often discuss family planning and population, both favorably and unfavorably, particularly where some groups oppose family planning. The more controversial the issue, the more likely people are to submit guest editorials to newspapers, and the more likely readers are to be interested in them.

Especially where your communication objective involves reaching policy makers and informing public opinion, guest editorials can be a powerful medium. Your purpose should be to inform readers and to provide solutions to problems that they face. Since most readers will not be familiar with your topic, the article should be clearly written, positive in tone, and focus on how your ideas affect people (77). To be effective, keep the editorial short (typically no more than 750 words), deal with a single subject, take a point of view, and support this view with examples or research results.

Letters to the editor. Letters to the editor provide a forum for people to express opinions, give reactions, and make rebuttals. Consider writing a letter to the editor to set the record straight after an inaccurate or biased article has appeared; to point out the connection between a news item and family planning issues; to respond to differing points of view; or to praise and elaborate on an article with which you agree (19, 67).Whatever the purpose of your letter, its tone should be polite and restrained, and it should conclude with a positive point of view.

Letters to the editor should be brief, clear, to the point, and, above all, accurate. An inaccurate letter not only will create a bad impression but also may lead to a negative response from someone who is correcting your letter. Official letters should be on the letterhead of the organization and should be signed by the director, even though you or someone else may have drafted them.

In a public debate you can ask opinion leaders or citizens who support you also to write letters to the editor. Editors often gauge public opinion by the number of letters they receive. Because many radio and television stations keep track of feedback from listeners, letters can be influential there, too, even if they are never mentioned on the air. You can write to radio and television station managers giving your reactions to the programs that they air or to suggest that they run more programs on family planning issues.

Advice columns. Advice columns are popular and are often one of the best-read sections of newspapers (26). Readers with questions about topics related to childbearing, reproduction, and personal relationships may know of no other place to find accurate information, or they may prefer to pose their questions anonymously. While many newspapers do not have the resources or expertise to produce a regular advice column on reproductive health, they may be willing to print regular columns prepared by family planning staff. You can suggest the idea to editors, present a list of topics that could be covered, and even provide a sample column.

Rural and community newspapers. Rural newspapers are good channels for family planning news. They are written in the local language, and the information is disseminated in cost-effective ways. Sometimes even just a large blackboard in the middle of the village serves as a newspaper (67). Coverage about family planning in the rural news media can help efforts to encourage community support for family planning.

Many countries have rural news media. For example, Kenya's Rural Press Project published its first rural paper in 1975. Today, rural papers flourish throughout the country and are expected eventually to reach more than 70% of the rural population(72). In Nigeria in the mid-1980s the president redirected development efforts into the rural areas by establishing, with the assistance of the United Nations Economic and social Commission (UNESCO), Africa's first chain of community-based newspapers, which focused on social issues including family planning (1).

To suggest stories for community and rural newspapers:

• Identify the information needs of the newspapers.
• Send news releases that relate to the area or that involve a local resident. The story should contain information that is relevant to the rural community.
• Ask field workers if they know of interesting people or activities to feature.
• Help local editors understand how important family planning is to their community. Ask them to take the initiative in providing family planning information, and offer your assistance (67).