Media TARGETS FOR TUESDAY-28 Jun--from Downing Street Memo.Com

[Douglas Carpenter]

More than a month after this document was published, the news media in the US had produced barely a trickle of reports on it (mostly coverage about the lack of coverage). Most of the news giants had ignored it entirely; some have belittled its significance while actually rebuffing citizens’ requests for serious news reporting. The last few days have seen some progress, more coverage and good questions being asked. We are confident, however, that a campaign to inundate these journalists with earnest requests will continue to keep their attention focused (just as the Washington Post finally produced some reports after a recent deluge of letters).

Thus our campaign: Every weekday in June, in cooperation with other activists and bloggers, we will publicize contact information for three distinct media outlets. We ask that you:

• Write a brief letter requesting the journalists to report on the Downing Street Memos, stating succinctly why you believe the leaked document is significant for the US.

• Send that letter as an email to each of the day’s three contacts.

• Return the next day and contact the next three targets of our media campaign.

TARGETS FOR TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 2005

1. Chicago Sun Times
Contact EITHER
Managing Editor Don Hayner
email: [e-mail]
OR
Washington Bureau Chief Lynn Sweet
email: [e-mail]
phone: [phone]
fax: [phone]

2. Jacksonville Florida Times Union, Managing Editor Mike Richey
email: [e-mail]
phone [phone]

3. Birmingham News
Contact EITHER
Executive Editor Hunter George
email: [e-mail]
phone: [phone]
fax: [phone]
OR
Washington Correspondent Mary Orndorff
email: [e-mail]
phone: [phone] fax: [phone]

The Chicago Sun Times lags behind all the other large papers in its coverage of DSM (aside from the Wall Street Journal, which publishes its first article today). It has published only two abbreviated AP articles (on 17th and 19th), neither of them remotely the best of the AP stories on DSM. Managing Editor Don Hayner was a City Desk reporter and then Metro Editor until recently; his interests seem to be foremost in the city of Chicago. Lynn Sweet may be a good bet to interest in DSM, however. She has a high profile as an investigative journalist, and likes a challenging story. A professional journal recently described her thus: "She careens from story to story, describing her modus operandi as ‘journalistic triage.’ 'I'm always willing to stop on a dime and change what I'm doing.'" The other two papers appear not to have published anything at all on DSM to date, though it is far from clear why that should be.


After over a month of an almost total news blackout, the media are now beginning to report on this issue. It is up to us, their customers, to force this issue into the center of public discourse. Use the banner above to link to Awaken the Mainstream Media! from your website or blog.









Despite the memo’s disturbing and explosive revelations, there has been a virtual media blackout with some newspapers deliberately turning a blind eye to the Downing Street Memos. We hope you are already participating in the Awaken the Mainstreem Media campaign, and if you have time, contact other media outlets and ask them to do their job in reporting and investigating the information in the memo. Write a letter to the editor, call in to radio shows. It's time for the media to address real news.

MediaBlaster (Democratic Underground)—Here is the link:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/cu/cu.php?az=blaster

MediaGuide (Townhall.com)—Here is the link:

http://capwiz.com/townhall/dbq/media/

[Douglas Carpenter]

1. .

:kick:

[Douglas Carpenter]

3. Let's keep at the media--especially now

http://www.downingstreetmemo.com/takeaction.html

[ClassWarrior]

2. Done!

I've bookmarked this page - http://www.downingstreetmemo.com/takeaction.html - and I send out the targeted emails every morning.

NGU.

[Douglas Carpenter]

4. kick--because its important

:kick:

[Douglas Carpenter]

5. kick

:kick:

[Douglas Carpenter]

6. Don't Let Up on The Media

PLEASE

[Douglas Carpenter]

7. it's still not too late to write

:popcorn: