hi everyone -
it's very rare that city newspapers publish an article about
constructive work going on in our communities -- and even rarer when
such an article appears on the front page.
the following article might be indicative of a positive change
going on in the editorial room. we need to encourage such changes.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/10/AR2005061001843.html
http://shorterlink.com/?1V8ZEO
what are the best ways of encouraging such changes? here are
5 ways of doing so.
- blog about such articles when they come out. newspapers can
gauge buzz in the blogosphere. if you don't have a blog yet, you
can set one up for free at blogger.com or use the free blog that
comes with registration on the digital divide network web site.
http://www.digitaldivide.net (visit your DDN profile to set up your
blog. it takes just a minute or two to do so.)
- send a hard copy letter of encouragement to the reporter of the
article. if he or she tells their editor, "i received 5000
encouraging letters," that will be a good step forward. hard
copy letters to the washington post can be sent to:
Reporter's Name
The Washington Post
1150 15th St. NW
Washington DC 20071
while it's possible to send a letter-to-the editor via email to
newspapers, the volume of email they receive is so high that
this is probably not an effective communication route. (just
as sending an email to your member of congress is a waste of
time. all those emails get deleted before being read.)
- if the article appears on the new york times web site, use the
built-in web site tools to email the article to friends and
colleagues. doing so makes such an article one of the "most
emailed articles." editors take note of that.
- if you live in a large city, cancel your hard copy
susbscription to your city newspaper. newspapers will only
change their tired old practices when the marketplace indicates
readers want something different.
- get involved in citizen journalism initiatives of any kind in
your area. we can not rely on newspapers and television
stations to tell the important news stories in our communities.
we must present the mainstream media with model citizen
journalism projects so that they can better understand the
directions they need to be moving in.
- phil
if you're not acquainted yet with the community technology centers and
public access television stations in your area, this is a good time to
stop by and visit them. you can find lists of these at
http://www.ctcnet.org/membership/directory/index.htm
and http://alliancecm.org/org_members.php
the information on these web sites is not always entirely up to date,
although the sites are about 90 to 95 percent accurate. help the
webmasters of these sites if you come across information that needs
updating.
if the public access television stations in your area don't know about the
digital bicycle project, tell them about it.
http://www.digitalbicycle.org
keep in mind that all digital creative work you do can change the course
of history. make sure it's good. be proud of your excellence and expect it
of others.
--
Phil Shapiro [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.his.com/pshapiro/ (personal)
http://www.digitaldivide.net/blog/pshapiro (blog)
http://www.digitaldivide.net/profile/pshapiro (technology access work)
http://mytvstation.blogspot.com/ (video and rich media)
"There's just so much more creativity and genius out there than
our media currently reflect." FCC Commissioner Michael Copps
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