The American Academy of General Dentistry has recently added something to their web site that is a great tool. OCF looked at buying this but was unable to afford the service to add to our web site. But that does not mean that we cannot use it from someone else's...

This link will take you to something called CapWiz which is a zip code driven search engine that allows you to get current contact information for people that you may wish to contact in government, or for us more importantly in the media. http://capwiz.com/agd/home/

I want to contact the medical editor for the LA Times with a story that I think is important, say viruses and oral cancer. I put my zip code in the guide to the media box, sort down the list till I find the LA Times, up comes a list of all their editors and contact information, and at the bottom of the list you can sort by departments - for us, health news, and when I click on that. Under staff, I can click on a name to send an email directly to their medical editor David Olmos. Too simple.

This is a very expensive piece of software that we looked at for the OCF site last year. Too expensive. But there is no reason that you cannot use the AGD site to get to this service to find the right people to get the word out about oral cancer, your own personal story, an oral cancer event, or more. Since we have had people here that are willing to make the contact and write the letters, here is a tool to see that they end up in the right hands. Once you have writeen it, if it is of national interest there is no reason that you can't send it to papers etc. outside your area, by selecting new zip codes to get the contacts.

Be advised: The LA Times list is several years out of date.

Many of those on it either have different assignments now or are no longer at the paper (including David Olmos, who left in 2005). I expect this is true for the lists of other publications, particularly given the staff cuts that have occurred at papers across the country in recent years.

-- Leslie (who works at the LA Times)

And the people that want to sell us this service for $6,000 per year are telling me that it is updated quarterly... thanks for this insight. I

Most newspaper websites have a staff list somewhere -- you might have to go into the site map to find it. It may be hidden under "member services" or "media center" if it's not immediately apparent. In addition, many papers are now putting e-mail addresses at the end of articles or, in the online version, as links from bylines. You can always try a Google search on, for example, Los Angeles Times staff or Washington Post staff list or similar.

Alternatively, some papers, like the NY Times, have an e-mail address where you can send a blank e-mail and get an automated reply with the e-mail addresses of staff members who have chosen to make theirs public (the NYT address is staff@nytimes.com).

Most reporters and editors hate mass e-mails. Make sure the reporters or editors you want to contact actually cover health or medical issues. A more personal approach will likely have far better success; when you contact reporters or their editors, show that you have some knowledge of the publication -- if you subscribe, say so -- and try to provide a reason the reporter should write (or the editor should assign) a story NOW about the topic you'e suggesting: Is there new information in a scientific journal about the HPV link? Has a local dentist begun using the VelScope? Is a fund-raising event (like the Chicago walk) coming up? etc. etc.

Don't be concerned if you can only get a suburban paper to bite on the story; reporters for the big dailies read those papers and often will pick up on something that looks interesting.

-- Leslie

Also, be sure to mention the Oral Cancer Foundation as a resource for reporters and editors, and give them the website address. When I suggested to the health policy reporter in our bureau (who used to cover homeland security) that he should take a look how the TSA restrictions on taking water on airplanes were affecting people with dry-mouth issues -- an idea I got from messages here -- he got in touch with Brian and got permission to post here. Several contacts he made on these boards ended up in his article, and their voices gave the issue far more immediacy and impact.

-- Leslie