An Open Letter to the News Directors of America

To whom it may concern;

It is clear to all of us, regardless of political inclination, that the scandal surrounding New York Governor Elliot Spitzer is huge news.  It will be covered in excruciating, painfully explicit detail.

However, this morning, multiple media networks showed two of Gov. Spitzer's teenaged daughters leaving their home to attend school.  As a viewer, a citizen of New York, and a human being, this is unacceptable to me.  What these young girls have to endure is certainly going to be traumatic.  And they are not public figures, and you have no right to invade their privacy.

I don't want to know what those girls look like.  I don't want to be responsible for adding to their pain.  I ask that you please refrain from making them any more of this story than absolutely required.  This story can be reported with decency.

Sincerely,

To: ABC News
   77 W. 66 St., New York, NY 10023
   Phone: [phone]
   General e-mail: [e-mail]

   Nightline: [e-mail]
   20/20: [e-mail]

   CBS News
   524 W. 57 St., New York, NY 10019
   Phone: [phone]
   Fax: [phone]

 
   CBS Evening News: [e-mail]
   The Early Show: [e-mail]
   60 Minutes II: [e-mail]
   48 Hours: [e-mail]
   Face The Nation: [e-mail]

   CNN
   One CNN Center, Box 105366, Atlanta, GA 30303-5366
   Phone: [phone]
   Fax: [phone]
   Email forms for all CNN news programs

   Fox News Channel
   1211 Ave. of the Americas
   New York, NY 10036
   Phone: [phone]
   Fax: [phone]
   [e-mail]

   Special Report with Brit Hume: [e-mail]
   FOX Report with Shepard Smith: [e-mail]
   The O'Reilly Factor: [e-mail]
   Hannity & Colmes: [e-mail], [e-mail]
   On the Record with Greta: [e-mail]

   NBC
   30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10112
   Phone: [phone]
   Fax: [phone]

 
   NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams: [e-mail]
   NBC News Today: [e-mail]
   Dateline NBC: [e-mail]

   MSNBC
   One MSNBC Plaza
   Secaucus, NJ 07094
   Phone: [phone]
   Fax: [phone]

   CNBC
   2200 Fletcher Ave.
   Fort Lee, NJ 07024
   Phone: [phone]
   Fax: [phone]

   Hardball with Chris Matthews: [e-mail]
   MSNBC Reports with Joe Scarborough: [e-mail]

   PBS
   1320 Braddock Place, Alexandria, VA 22314
   Phone: [phone]
   Fax: [phone]

   The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer: [e-mail]

•  Not much of a post, I know...

  ...but I thought perhaps others felt my disgust at seeing that this morning, and would want the info I used to complain.

  by Jay Elias on Tue Mar 11, 2008 at 05:41:55 AM PDT

•  Good for you! n/t

  by TheFatLadySings on Tue Mar 11, 2008 at 05:43:35 AM PDT

•  Thank you for the contact information

  I will put it to use today.

  by sheddhead on Tue Mar 11, 2008 at 05:45:04 AM PDT

  •  We should all put it to good use.

    It is about being decent.

    by Owllwoman on Tue Mar 11, 2008 at 06:00:44 AM PDT

•  I don't watch TV anymore

  because of antics like this.

  If advertisers would like my family (with our disposable income) watching the toob again, they're going to need to clean up their act.

  by elmo on Tue Mar 11, 2008 at 06:03:56 AM PDT

  •  At least you realize the exchange is ...

    ... content for watching advertisements.  It does put the news in its proper light.

    by Yellow Canary on Tue Mar 11, 2008 at 07:02:40 AM PDT

•  Interesting point,

  it always seems that in the event a public official, or athlete, is caught in a sex scandal that they drag their wives in front of the camera too, as if to share responsibility for the husband's crime or make it appear as if the husband actually has some shred of decency, somewhere.

  That should be stopped too.

  I remember Michael Irvings antics while he was with the Cowboys- when he went before cameras explaining his sex trist in a hotel- he had his wife and 1yr old daughter with.

  I could have thrown up.

  by borkitekt on Tue Mar 11, 2008 at 06:13:31 AM PDT

•  The media loves sex scandals

  especially when you combine it with politics. There is no way that they are going to stop covering this. I bet they got a bump in ratings yesterday too from this. And once they find a ratings winner, they keep on hitting it.

  by redheadedwoman on Tue Mar 11, 2008 at 06:27:29 AM PDT

•  It's all about the ratings

  When the news broke, I said, "uh-oh," better keep the tv off for the next week.  But I couldn't help myself.  I cheated and did a few spot checks, every few hours or so.  What I saw did not surprise me.  It's all-Spitzer, all the time.  Never mind the price of wheat is exploding, leaving the hungry even more desperate.  Never mind that oil is now $109.00 a barrel.  Never mind that the loss of confidence in the credit market is spreading wildly.  Never mind that troubling findings by the AP show traces of prescription drugs, hormones, etc. in our drinking water.
  Sex will out.  And with all that time to fill, there is a need for images.  What is more logical then, than staking out Spitzer's home and filming his children?
  The news media has no shame and these producers have no heart.  What if it were their children?
  For shame.

  by CarolynC967 on Tue Mar 11, 2008 at 06:28:16 AM PDT

  •  And what do the ratings measure again?

    Oh yeah: public interest.

    So the task seems simple. Make wheat futures et al.  more interesting than Spitzer's follies.

    by valion on Tue Mar 11, 2008 at 08:42:26 AM PDT

•  Save you sanity and stop watching

  US news organizations, their reporters, and the pundits aren't worth a second glance anymore. They aren't interested in anything other than their own careers and kissing the asses of their pay masters and DC power brokers.

  Anyone who thinks they aren't going to dissect the Spitzer sex story is dreaming. Staking out the Spitzer family is truly unsavory, and we can expect nothing less.

  by bunny99 on Tue Mar 11, 2008 at 06:43:53 AM PDT