When the media mischaracterizes business aviation, make your voice heard. When news organizations, radio talk shows, Internet web sites or other outlets produce misstatements or mischaracterizations, some simple tools can be used to correct the misinformation. This web site provides sample opinion pieces, letters that can be sent to newspaper editors and points for giving televised interviews.
Interview Tips
Every media interview has a purpose. The news organization wants to tell a story, and so do you. This list of practical tips will help ensure that your effort to explain the value of business aviation to communities, companies and citizens across the U.S. is as effective as possible.
Letters to the Editor
If a newspaper or other news organization has published erroneous or misleading information about business aviation, readers can send a letter to the editor to provide perspective and balance to the coverage. The following sample letters can be used with local and national news organizations alike.
Sample 1 reminds readers that 85 percent of companies that rely on business aviation are small- to mid-size enterprises. A business aircraft allows businesses to be efficient, flexible, travel to more than one location in a single day while conducting business en route, or carrying equipment that is difficult or even impossible to transport via commercial airline.
Sample 2 explains to readers that tens of thousands of well-managed American companies rely on their airplanes to stay competitive, especially in tough economic times.
Opinion Pieces
Newspaper opinion pieces, or op-eds, are submissions from readers that appear on the page opposite the editorial page. The following sample op-eds can be submitted to a newspaper or posted to a news organization’s web site.
Sample Op-Ed 1: Complete and submit this op-ed to provide a first-hand account of how business aviation helps your company succeed and supports millions of manufacturing and service jobs across America.
Sample Op-Ed 2: Complete and submit this oped to outline the ways a business airplane serves as a workhorse, not a showhorse, for your company and others like it across the country.
Sample Op-Ed 3: Complete and submit this op-ed to tell the real story of business aviation so that readers can see first-hand how it helps your company and so many others in America.