Contact the Media
If you’re reading this, chances are you’ve got an important story to tell about lung cancer.
Getting the media to cover stories and information about lives touched by lung cancer is vital. It will help patients, survivors, and caregivers bring the disease to light.
The more publicly involved and visible lung cancer is, the more we can shift a public attitude of blaming people with lung cancer to one of encouraging compassion for them.
Compared with other cancers and diseases that cause far fewer deaths each year, lung cancer research is woefully under funded by the federal government.
Your personal experience and persistence in stating the facts can lead to media coverage of topics that should be of national concern. After all, even if all smoking stopped tomorrow, lung cancer would be with us for decades.
Tell your story:
Here are some suggestions to help you organize and present your thoughts:
- Decide which personal story or situation involving someone with lung cancer affects you most and why. So many of the large issues in the world become more real through personal accounts.
- Write down what you know from your own life.
- Broaden your story's impact by adding some key lung cancer facts plus other information you gather from respected sources.
- State your goals. These could include: faster development of effective and affordable lung cancer screening methods, more research funding for better treatments, broader access to good medical care, less blaming of people who have lung cancer, meaningful FDA regulation of tobacco products, and serving the needs of people who may be especially affected by lung cancer.
- Keep your message short and target it well. Print space is limited and airtime expensive, so be brief but persuasive.
E-mail, fax, or send your opinion or story to newspaper and magazine editors, television and radio talk show hosts. Not sure who to send things to? Call the media outlet and explain the subject matter. Ask who covers the health/social issues/metro/lifestyle beat.
Follow up a few days later and speak with the reporter or leave word that you called. Many media outlets do not respond to submissions, but don't be discouraged. Call again the next month or whenever other cancer stories or major illnesses are covered. Keep trying. Thank them for considering your story. Write special thanks when any lung cancer coverage appears and suggest another topic they could present, too.
Resources to contact the media:
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