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An 'open letter' is a letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally.
Open letters usually take the form of a letter addressed to an individual but provided to the public through newspapers and other media, such as a letter to the editor or blog. Especially common are critical open letters addressed to political leaders.
Letters patent are another form of open letter in which a legal document is both mailed to a person by the government, and publicized so that all are made aware of it. Open letters can also be addressed directly to a group rather than any individual.

Contents

Motivations for writing open letters

Examples of open letters

Resources

Motivations for writing open letters

There are a number of reasons why an individual would choose the form of an open letter, including the following reasons:

★ To state the author's position on a particular issue,

★ As an attempt to start a wider dialogue around an issue,

★ As an attempt to focus broad attention on the letter's recipient, prompting them to some action

★ For humor value

★ Simply to make public a communication that must take place as a letter for reasons of formality

Examples of open letters

★ Many of the epistles of the Bible (such as the Pauline epistles) are open letters

★ J'accuse by Émile Zola over the Dreyfus Affair

★ Martin Luther King's Letter from Birmingham Jail

★ Bill Gates's Open Letter to Hobbyists attacking sharing and cooperation in software development, practices of which he did not approve

★ David Cross's Open Letter to Larry the Cable Guy [1]

★ The open letter given to Tarja Turunen by the other members of Nightwish at the climax of End of an Era

★ Bobby Henderson's Open Letter to the Kansas School Board [2]

★ Google's Open Letter to the net on net neutrality [3]

★ Steve Jobs's Thoughts on Music concerning the past and future of DRM.

★ Siegfried Sassoon's , questioning the judgment of Britain's leadership in WW1.

Resources

★ Open Web Letter - for composing and publishing open letters online

★ Open Letter - select letters written by the public are published online daily