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TV-Turnoff Sample Letters |
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To organise a Turnoff, get together some helpers and contact teachers, doctors, libraries, charities, and local businesses asking for support and help arranging TV-Turnoff activites. You'll need to send out a press release to local newspapers. And if you're a teacher, you'll want to write to parents. Below is a sample press release and a sample letter to parents.
Using your computer's mouse, you can cut and paste them into a word processor or save this page using the Save As File (save as text) option on the File menu of your browser. Adapt them to your own activities. Press Release Thistown Joins International TV Turnoff Week 22-28th April, 1998 Last year 4 million people and 25,000 schools turned off their televisions for a week, rediscovering their friends, their families and the sound of their own thoughts. They took part in International TV-Turnoff Week, and this year they will be joined by people in Thistown, who will be celebrating the event with (party, dinner, school activity, party at a pub, poetry reading, football game, etc..) Local organiser (your name) hopes to show people some answers to the question "What do you do if you don't watch TV?" The real answer is: everything! His/her local Turnoff committee has sent out letters to teachers, librarians and local businesses, asking for their support. They've responded well because they know how television drains the life out of a community. Teachers know how TV saps children's creativity and attention spans. (quotes from people who responded) Turning off TV, even for just a week, is great idea. It doubles your free time and puts you back into your real life. The event began in the United States, where it was organised by a group called TV Free America. This is the second year that the event has run in Britain, organised by White Dot, a quarterly anti-television magazine. Thistown will be joined by people turning off all over the country. We invite people's comments and ideas for the Turnoff, and hope they'll send us a written pledge telling us if they're taking part. The TV-Turnoff is not about quality. It doesn't matter how good a programmes is, it's no substitute for what people miss by staring at TV for half the time they're not working or sleeping. Even if they just watch now and then, a healthy break from TV will refresh their minds and help them realise how much they have really been watching. Life's more fun without TV! In America, TV-Turnoff Week has been endorsed by: Children's Defence Fund, Libraries for the Future,The American Medical Association, American Federation of Teachers, National Association for the Education of Young Children, National Association of Elementary Schools, American Psychiatric Association, Council for Basic Education, American Heart Association, Association of Library Service to Children, National Parenting Association, Family Research Council, Student Environmental Action Coalition, Child Welfare League of America Contact: 1. your details 2. White Dot - PO Box 2116, Hove E Sussex, BN3 3LR, whitedot@mistral.co.uk 3. TV Free America - 1611 Connecticut Avenue, NW Suite 3A, Washington, DC 20009, tvfa@essential.org Letter to Parents Dear Parents: As you may know, you child's class/school plans to participate in International TV-Turnoff Week together with thousands of other schools and communities around the world. The purpose is to take a healthy break from TV and re-focus on activities that are more academically, sociall and physically rewarding. We encourage your whole family to participate in this experiment by leaving your television sets off for the entire week of 22-28, April 1998. The success of the previous International TV-Turnoff Weeks (more than four million people and 25,000 schools have participated) demonstrates that a solid one-week recess from television allows people more time to talk, read, volunteer, exercise, play, create and participate in their community. The purpose of TV-Turnoff Week is to examine the extent to which television detracts from more productive and rewarding activities and to reconsider the role of television in our daily lives. It is also about having more fun. As part of this TV-Turnoff, there will be classroom activities for students and special events for families. More information will follow. Please join us in this week--long celebration! TV-Turnoff Week has been endorsed by: Children’s Defence Fund, Libraries for the Future,The American Medical Association, American Federation of Teachers, National Association for the Education of Young Children, National Association of Elementary Schools, American Psychiatric Association, Council for Basic Education, American Heart Association, Association of Library Service to Children, National Parenting Association, Family Research Council, Student Environmental Action Coalition, Child Welfare League of America TV Turnoff Week Response from Parents Please complete this form and return it to your child's teacher by (date) Student's Name __________________________ Student's Teacher ________________________ Check as appropriate: _ Our whole family will participate in the Turnoff. _ Let me know how I may support the group effort! _ Just our child will be participating. _ No one in our family will be participating in the TV-Turnoff |