Backgrounderandpositionpapers 101006123025-phpapp02

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Writing a Backgrounder

+What is a backgrounder?

It looks at a situation or problem in the present by considering its origins and implications for the future.

+Companies and organizations need to be prepared.

+WTO Agricultural Negotiations Backgrounder

+Conduct an online search to find examples of backgrounders Find a style that you would

like to use as a model for your project and share it with the class.

Backgrounders are produced for many purposes and often serve as a means or basis for producing other works of communication.

+Backgrounders are not all the same You will find that some are very complex and contain a

great deal of information. Others are more down-to-earth and contain easily readable information.

The following image of a backgrounder designed for the web its simple only in the sense that it condenses 5000 years of history.

+Determine the Mood or Image that you want to convey If you are developing an

Online Press Center, people other than the media are going to read your backgrounder.

If you are developing a Press Kit to send to the media, you may want to get into more specific details and industry jargon.

Source: The Write Market

+Press Backgrounders

Philips: Sense and Simplicity

+What often follows a backgrounder is a white paper or position paper. The white paper resembles a research paper that takes

a point of view and marshals evidence in support of the position taken.

+Both documents are ways to form responses to the press or your public.

What’s your position?

No Comment won’t be good enough.

+When Do Companies Use Backgrounders?

Serves as an information base to executives and employees

Provides source material for campaign media kits

Serves as a document to hand out to the media and public

Can be used on a speech circuit

+Research, Research and More Research

+Always begin a backgrounder with a statement of the issue and why it is important Be precise and concise.

+Provide Background Information

+Examine the Current Situation

+Discuss the Implications

+Provide Documentation

+Format. In our case, we will produce a web page.

+Consider special uses for your backgrounder.

Lobbying EffortsWorkshopsOnline presentationsOp-eds

+Provide links to more information:

Alliance for Rural Electrification

http://www.ruralelec.org/245.0.html