Non-aggressive tone

Email received today, followed by a reply:

ohhhh so you think that if we are polite and considerate to these people that they will listen better? (the journalists you suggest we write to re: media blackout)

Do you think that if we are kind and loving that it will all get better?

Do you think that if we pretend that we are not progressives or liberals or whatever that we might get their ear????

I DON'T THINK SO! They are the ones who thrive on sensationalism, lies and corruption, greed and vice---

or are you afraid that if we make too many waves that we might get arrested? We're not dealing with rational human beings here, we're dealing with killers, murderers and assassins and their helpers, promoters and enablers.

I know you wish to be "reasonable" , "compassionate" and "polite" but really, what good do you think these letters are going to do? I think it is NONSENSE to think that letters are going to change anything. ALL of the 2 Senators here (I am in the USA) voted to send $80 billion MORE to continue this travesty in Iraq. I can guarantee you that the senators from Illinois got MANY letters and the people of Illinois elected them specifically because they held anti-war views. But they still voted for that. Those are people who are supposed to have principles, who represent us.

So WHY would those who do this for a living, who are there to make a PROFIT even pay attention to a few letters that ask for coverage of something long past in their short attention span? Why don't you politely write to Tony Blair while you're at it and ask him to stop being so cosy with Bush.

I might have written a letter or two to BBC if you hadn't given me instructions to behave nicely. I don't think we should become "like them" but I think you need to get REAL about who we're dealing with here. (and by the way, I do listen to BBC here, it is on our PRI, and sometimes I hear things I wouldn't hear in the US) ..... I don't know why it struck me so strongly, but it really bothered me when I read that about being polite and all. PEACE

[Name Withheld]


Dear [Name Withheld]

Many thanks for your interesting email.

We are under no illusions that many journalists will fail to listen to people who are rational and restrained. But we feel sure that journalists are even less likely to listen to abuse. A key factor, particularly with the liberal media, is that journalists see themselves as the 'good guys'. Many of them sincerely believe they are honest and fiercely critical of power. So when they're presented with undeniably credible and important information that is being ignored, they have a real problem justifying (to themselves) not reporting it. We've seen a large number of examples of this happening, and sometimes it's had important results.

But, again, we are under no illusions about how much can be achieved by letter writing. One of the main reasons we encourage people to write to journalists is that what comes back provides immensely powerful ammunition exposing the crass and irrational nature of mainstream assumptions. This has really helped open people's eyes - when you challenge journalists their ignorance and self-delusion become particularly clear. A lot of people have written to us to tell us how astonished they have been by this aspect of our work - they assumed journalists were +far+ smarter and far more sophisticated than they actually are. It turns out the reason they look as good as they do is that they are almost completely protected from the public. We're trying to change that.

Writing also encourages people to feel involved, hopefully to feel inclined to get involved in other, more important ways. In particular we hope people will join together to produce powerful alternative media capable of taking on the mainstream. And, above all, we hope they will work to create compassionate political movements working for deep structural change of the media system.

Best wishes

David Edwards