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Home > Resources > Editorial Meetings
Advocate’s Guide to Editorial Board Meetings
An editorial board meeting is usually a face-to-face meeting between an advocate and key members of the staff
of a newspaper who write editorials. These are the key decision-makers at the newspaper, and convincing them
of your point of view is very important so that they will write about your issue with the right frame. Editorial
board meetings are sometimes open to beat reporters, depending on the newspaper. Usually editorial board
meetings last for about an hour.
Preparing For an Editorial Board Meeting
Make sure you have your messages ready in a “problem, solution, action” format, and that you are framing your
issue in a way that will resonate.
As an advocate, be aware of levels of thinking that resonate with the public. George Lakoff writes that there are
three levels of thinking:
Level One thinking encompasses big ideas and values like justice, fairness, family, equality and opportunity.
Level Two thinking is made up of issues like women’s rights, the environment, child welfare and work
Level Three thinking entails specific policies and practices like treatment of women by the Taliban, saving
rainforests, daycare quality and minimum wage.
So, if you start out about talking about the minimum wage laws and statistics showing how it differs across the
nation or how certain European nations take a fairer approach, you won’t be as effective as if you talk about
justice and fairness.
Setting Up The Editorial Board Meeting
You should set up an editorial board meeting when there is a news hook relevant to your work. For example, if
you’re working on minimum wage issues and legislation to raise the minimum wage in your state is proposed,
you should jump on the opportunity to set up an editorial board meeting.
Contact the editorial page editor of the newspaper via email or phone suggesting an editorial board meeting and
tying it into the news of the day. If you are not able to reach the editorial board editor directly, often the people
in his or her office are the ones who schedule the meetings anyway, and they will be able to help you. If you
send an email, follow it up with a phone call the next day. Make sure that all of your outreach efforts and
materials -- phone calls, faxes and emails -- are framed in the most effective way possible, and be concise.
Sample email:
Dear XXXX,
Janice Stevens,
President of
the American Alliance for Arts Education, would like to meet with the Editorial Board of the Star Tribune. As you know, the state legislature is considering budget cuts for arts education and Janice can discuss how arts education increases student achievement. Please let me know if the editorial board is available to meet with Janice.
Thank you for your consideration.
Calvin J. Fortenberry
Douglas Gould & Co., Inc.
914-833-7093
Editorial Memo
Editorial memos tell newspaper staff why they should comment on your issue and provide them with a brief
analysis. Below is a sample editorial memo on arts education funding.
Sample Editorial Memo
TO: Editorial Writer/Columnist
FROM: Calvin Fortenberry
DATE: April 14, 2006
RE: Governor Schwarzenegger’s Proposed Block Grant Funding for Arts Education
Governor Schwarzenegger has proposed allocating $100 million in block grant funding to enhance and expand
arts education programs in California’s public schools. This funding is a critical step towards ensuring that arts
are a part of every student’s education in California, whether that student comes from Oakland, Humboldt,
Trinity, Imperial, Bakersfield or Orange County—and all of those in between. Strong communities need great
schools that develop the potential of every child and arts education is essential to offering the quality education
that every child in California deserves. The California Alliance for Arts Education (CAAE) urges your
newspaper to editorialize in favor of this vital proposal on or before April 25 when the Assembly Budget
Subcommittee on Education Finance meets on this issue. Assemblyman Laird, as you know, oversees the
Assembly’s Committee on Budget and will ultimately have a final say in the outcome for this grant.
The arts promote basic academic skills and learning and are crucial to meeting the state’s goal of preparing all
students for success after high school regardless of gender, age, economic status, physical or learning ability. To
that end, arts education develops well-rounded students who are able to think clearly, express their thoughts and troubleshoot complex problems. Research shows that arts education can improve students’ skills in core subject
areas, such as reading and math. Without arts, our schools will continue to struggle to prepare students to be
better citizens, neighbors and workers. Arts education provides a key link to building better schools and in so
doing, better communities.
While California state law mandates arts education in public schools, students in wealthy districts have typically
benefited from arts education while students in poorer ones have gone without. Because local school boards
and superintendents have diverted funding away from the arts, arts education has all but disappeared for too
many children. The block grants would level the field by offering each district equal funding per pupil for arts
education. After all, a child’s access to arts education should not be predicated by where they happen to live.
The California Alliance for Arts Education has additional information and background available on line at
http://www.artsed411.org/. We look forward to discussing this important issue with you.
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