I've been thinking about how we--DKos, liberals--can become more powerful. One theme emerges. And we at Kos can make it happen. It requires some action, so join me on the flip.
Not many people know about DKos though it helps get out the liberal message, along with the Nation, Atrios, Alternet, Air America, etc., which people also don't know about. Lots of people would use these sites if they'd heard of them. So *1) we need to spread the word about our news to more people.
People also don't know that they can't trust MSM news sources, and that MSM does not report major news. Believe it or not, most people have no clue about Armstrong Williams and James Gannon. It wasn't a feeding frenzy like Howard Dean's scream or Dan Rather's Memogate... Republicans have bought off the media with things like 1996 Telecom Act, which the Republican Congress helped spearhead, and Michael Powell's deregulatory agenda. (But it goes back to Eisenhower at least...) So *2) we have to get the word out that the MSM is unreliable, so people should turn to the liberal sources for truth.
Finally, people don't realize they can make a difference. Members of DKos helped break Gannongate with some real important work and helped bring Sinclair to its knees. We do "action" all the time, not just "journalism" (e.g. when we gave flowers to Boxer). This action can all be done exponentially more easily and efficiently with more people (see economics articles below, if you're curious). If we had more people, our actions could be bigger and more important. So *3) all these points suggest we should have an action TO GET MORE PEOPLE INVOLVED IN DKOS and other liberal sites.
How do we do this? "We" meaning you and I... "This" meaning directing people to liberal sites and letting them know why they should go there. We could get the word out in a variety of media, but the law affects our ability. DIRECT MAIL may be key.
- TV ads. No. Turns out TV stations don't have to take our money and put ads on. For example, the CBS-Moveon.org affair, and also a Supreme Court case called CBS v. DNC.
- Cable ads. No. Same law. Comcast bumped anti-Iraq-war ads in DC...
- Newspaper ads. No. Same law on advertisement. For example, NY Times apparently rejected anti-Nafta ads in the 1992-94 period.
- Billboards. No. Project billboard has been successful, but it might not work for us. Viacom, Clear Channel, etc. own a ton of billboards, and may not be receptive to ads saying "Clear Channel is lying to you. Go to DKos or Alternet, etc."
- Flyering. Maybe. There are only a few places you can flyer as of right--parks and streets, not shopping malls. In some areas, there aren't many people on parks and streets. But if we collectively produce good flylers, people in some areas may print them up and hand them out.
- Email. Maybe. The law doesn't stop us because the CAN SPAM act only applies to commercial mail. But then it would seem like we're spamming our friends or sending chain letters...
- Talk radio. Maybe. We can't legally require anyone to take our ads. We should, at the least, direct people to Air America Radio.
- Direct mail. Yes. At least I think so. Legally, we can mail just about whatever we want. The government can't say no the way a TV station can. I've been reading a book called America's Right Turn, about how conservatives used "alternative media" like direct mail to take the country, and it's amazing how effective direct mail is. It helped Reagan's rise (75% of contributions came from direct mail). It can be done by a large number of people. We produce a good letter--apparently an 8 page letter... People will eventually read it. We list just a few sites, just a few books, just a few radio shows and DVDs... Then we send it out. The KEY to direct mail is addresses. We don't have any. But each person can print up the letter and send it to 25 friends for less than $10. With some people, use your address; with others, just use place for the return address the name of our project (whatever that is... "The Six Media Companies Lies To You" or "Operation Media Freedom").
This project is great because unlike other projects--Gannongate--we don't care if the media reports it or not. We're going straight to "the people" with our message.
So
(I) What do you think of my conclusion for direct mail? Problems?
(II) What do we include in the direct mail letter? Thoughts? Drafts of paragraphs?
[Articles on economics of our action, for the curious: http://www.benkler.org/CoasesPenguin.html
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=640942
UPDATE:
I like the idea about single issue mail. We could have someone do an environmental kernel for us, someone do a media kernel, an abortion one, religion, etc... Or we could begin with Kos diaries on the subject (recommendations?)
Also, let's target a day to send these by. You may be motivated, but I need deadlines. March 27 is Easter Sunday. Let's send the letters March 20. Right before Easter, family members get these letters, they travel for easter, and it will come up at dinners across America? That way students targeting student friends could even help, since they travel.