How much time do you spend writing comments on DailyKos or other blogs? Do you hit the rec list? Do you get praise?
Do you write letters to the editor?
I have just got some exciting news: the letter to the editor I wrote to the NYT will be published! (In Gratitude to Gail Collins)
This is my second letter to the editor that's been published in the past 6 months. My first was in the Oakland Tribune back before Super Tuesday (the original one), and was my explanation for why I support Barack Obama.
Some interesting follow-up questions I was asked before NYT agreed to publish my letter: was I prompted to write it by a website? (I wasn't.) Am I affiliated with a professional organization? (I'm not.)
I have written many letters to many editors, and I always feel good when I do it. I figure I have a small chance of being heard, but I also figure the fact that I took the time to carefully explain my feelings about something could possibly get the attention of someone somewhere. I think part of the rise of conservatism and the religious right in this country has to do with the "squeaky wheel" rule. Individuals who raise hell and complain with personal passion to editors and representatives tend to get noticed -- while "petitions" and mass-produced letters of action do not.
So, if you've got a knack for expressing your views concisely and forcefully, start writing letters to the editor. Become a squeaky wheel. It is through these small acts of individual might that we can reach the broader public and influence what gets covered in the MSM.
Some tips for getting your letter to the editor published:
-- Reference an article written in that publication in the past day or two (make it clear that you are responding to that particular article rather than the "issue" in general)
-- Keep it short. Do a word count and use a fine-toothed comb to weed out every unnecessary word (this is what journalists and editors of papers do all the time). Keep it to 150 words max.
-- Include all of your contact info with your letter, even if it's an email (your full name, address, phone numbers, and email)
-- Use your own voice to make your point vivid and personal (don't use the same language that all the pundits are using, like talking points)
-- Don't expect your letter to get published. It will probably end up on a "slush" pile of letters. Just be happy when one day, after you've written many editors about many different articles, you will be successful.
UPDATE:
My letter was published today, July 12, 2008.
Here's the text of it:
To the Editor:
My gratitude to Gail Collins for "The Audacity of Listening" (column, July 10). She points out that those people who are wringing their hands about Barack Obama’s "flip-flops" haven’t been paying attention.
Most of what people are calling flip-flops are long-held positions of Mr. Obama that some voters chose not to pay attention to during the primaries.
Mr. Obama is working to change the process and practice of politics as we know it through a rejection of ideology in favor of common sense and by affirming the need for grass-roots change.
He is building the narrative that will convince all Americans, once and for all, that we need universal health care, that we need to invest heavily in education, that we need to rebuild our economy in a way that addresses climate change.
Leadership requires compromise, and as long as Mr. Obama uses compromise as a means to reach an end and not as an end in itself, then I say, "Yes, we can!"
Liz Arnett
El Cerrito, Calif., July 10, 2008
If you're interested, here's the link: NYT Letters to the Editor