TO:
Managing editors;
news reporters and photo directors;
radio and television editors and producers;
television talk show hosts
FROM:
Public Information Committee of Alcoholics Anonymous
SUBJECT:
ANONYMITY
We seek your continued support by presenting AA members:
- only by first name
- using no recognizable picture. and
- without identifying them by a unique set of events or circumstances
Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of our Fellowship and assures our members that their recovery will be private. Often, the active
alcoholic will avoid any source of help which might reveal his or her identity.
Alcoholics Anonymous is not affiliated with any other organization, although many have adapted AA’s Twelve Steps for their own use. AA is self-supporting, declining any outside contributions; and we are non-professional, offering only the voluntary support of one alcoholic helping another.
Throughout the world, favorable media coverage has been a principal means of bringing alcoholics into our Fellowship. You have helped make this possible, and for that we thank you.
If you are a professional and wish us to send you further information please e-mail us your postal mailing address so that we may send you the material.
Anonymity Statement
There may be some here who are not familiar with our tradition of personal anonymity at the media level.
The public relations policy of Alcoholics Anonymous is based on attraction rather than promotion. We need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press radio and films.
Therefore we respectfully ask that no AA member be identified by full name or photograph in published or broadcast reports of this meeting.
We also alert members of Alcoholics Anonymous who are concerned about their anonymity, that they “share in a general way” that cannot identify them from unique events or circumstances in their life.
