A message to newspaper editors, TV and radio news directors and other media professionals.

OA's Eleventh Tradition states: "Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, films, television and other public media of communication."

OA is a Fellowship founded in 1960 and patterned after Alcoholics Anonymous, except that it deals with compulsive eating rather than drinking. Thanks to stories in the public media about our recovery program, OA has attracted thousands of compulsive overeaters who were without hope and have now found recovery in OA.

Like AA, OA's most valued tradition is personal anonymity at the public level. This means that the Fellowship itself is not anonymous, but its members are. Media professionals have established a great tradition of their own in helping members of the two Fellowships preserve their anonymity.

We hope you will continue to avoid identifying OA members in your articles and interviews and will maintain your coverage of the recovery program. We ask that in your reporting on OA, you use only first names or pseudonyms (indicated as such) of OA members and that you obscure the faces of those who identify themselves as OA members in on-camera interviews. Please contact us for any further information and materials you may need regarding the OA program and Fellowship.

Please contact us at publicinfo@oasf.org and we will gladly assist you in spreading the word about OA.