Posted on 08/29/2004 12:22:12 AM PDT by Former Military Chick
Can we all please just agree to end the cribbed letters to the editor? About 70 times a week we get fake letters, unoriginal, recycled “thoughts” fobbed off as real by some advocacy campaign.
Some arrive with the signature “your name here.”
Election season brings out the worst, a blizzard of ersatz letters from both major political parties trying to feed the nation's newspapers. How? Their Web sites provide everything a plagiarist could want. Talking points. Letter contacts. Forms.
The canned spiels are known in the journalism trade as “AstroTurf” or simply “turf” for their look-like-the-real-deal letter qualities. The election is still more than two months away and the righteous “pre-baked” commentary is zipping across the nation in larger numbers than ever.
What a shame. Don't fall for it. Write us a letter with your own thoughts and we'll attempt to give you the space to share them.
Sometimes the sausage-factory letters arrive with funny twists. Sen. John Kerry's presidential campaign came up with a “Media Corps” Web site section that mistakenly (one would assume) attached Kerry-Edwards campaign logos to the letters.
Now partisans are stealing from opponents' Web sites — with a welcome sense of humor.
Wrote one last week, “Re: Keeping America Safe from Thought: I'm writing this letter from georgewbush.com, where the President's campaign has provided a handy-dandy tool to send letters to the editor.
“They are so helpful.
“If I was inclined, I could choose one of their nice talking points to be included in my letter. I wouldn't even have to type it.
“Let me show you.
“Hold on.
“New job figures and other recent economic data show that America's economy is strong and getting stronger — and that the President's jobs and growth plan is working. The Labor Department announced that employers added 288,000 new jobs in April. In total, over 1.1 million jobs have been added since August, with 8 consecutive months of gains.
“Bam, just like Emeril.
“No wasteful effort or thought, just the President of the United States providing words for me, so I don't have to do it myself. Supposedly, this letter will go to all newspapers near my home. That is, of course, unless they prevent my letter from getting there.
“Any bets?”
This letter itself is likely turf, as we've heard other papers are receiving similar missives.
Political junk mail is giving newspapers, including this one, a royal headache. What newspapers want are letters that are authentic, honorable, honest and original.
Done right, letters sections offer glimpses into a community. They should be places for dissent, attention to topics not receiving enough coverage, praise, jeers and personal opinions on news of the day.
We want to encourage real, old-fashioned issue-based discussion. If partisans can restrain themselves from stealing actual verbiage, the presidential Web sites offer decent tips to letter writers.
Keep it short. Stick to one topic. Be timely.
The Kerry-Edwards site even offers the good-neighbor advice to “avoid negative ‘insult' language.”
But their letter “samples” bear an uncomfortable, close-to-home quality. One suggested sentence: “The Star seemed to fall short of its normally high standards in presenting Senator John Kerry's views on high gasoline prices in Tuesday's edition.” Granted, The Star is a fairly common newspaper name. But later in the same tips column about how to make a letter “local” it says: “Senator Kerry is a strong supporter of common sense solutions to America's dependence on foreign oil and has a great plan that will work for Kansas.”
Yuck. It gets even thicker later. For describing Kerry, the site urges writers to use “positive” words like “active, building, capable, caring,” … followed by lots more … and ending with “warmth, we, wisdom, work.” Someone's thesaurus got a workout.
Meanwhile, the Republican National Committee has added “prizes” for their stalwart thought-couriers. Join gopteamleader.com and “earn GOPoints for each action item completed.”
That includes letters to the editor. Redeem the points for “collateral of your choice, ranging from leather PDA covers to folding chairs.” The pictures of loot possible to “earn” includes jackets, caps and bags.
Wow, payola for print. That's truly despicable.
Letters editors who have challenged senders of the spam letters sometimes get back defenses of the plagiarism. The “writers” argue that they agree with the points, so what's the problem?
The problem is newspapers don't want to publish recycled thoughts. And when the borrowed lines sneak past our checks, we fail to foster genuine conversation.
Here's my campaign idea: blot out the cut-and-paste crowd. Think for yourself. You don't have to be Hemingway.
Write letters for the common good of our community. Originality matters. We hope it does for most of our readers, too.
To reach Miriam Pepper, editorial page editor, call (816) 234-4421 or send e-mail to mpepper@kcstar.com.
Lets see thus far the NYT is running articles on selling of votes, questioning the longevity of the electoral college and now this frauds writing into the op-ed pages.
What is this world coming to?
Lets see thus far the NYT is running articles on selling of votes, questioning the longevity of the electoral college and now this frauds writing into the op-ed pages.What is this world coming to?
Now just fill in your name and we will send this to all the newspapers in your area.
Maybe if you actually covered the news fairly people wouldn't feel compelled to bombard you with fake letters.
Think any of these editors refuse to run a column when the author just spouts the DNC talking points?
I guess the ironic point about this is many "news"papers cut-and-paste from the Dem's talking points of the day. Why should they get upset when their readers do the same?
This is absolutely awesome. I hope the liberal press gets so overwhelmed, that they have to cancel thier editorial sections cause they cant find any real editorial pieces amongst the garbage lol.
Perhaps you can dust off your smith/corona and resume your letters to the editor.
What readers want are newspapers that are authentic, honorable, honest and original. Doesn't look like anybody's going to be happy I guess.
Er...right. Probably close to the truth is:
The problem is newspapers don't want to publish recycled thoughts. (We receive and employ the DNC talking points already. Thanks.) And when the borrowed lines sneak past our checks, we fail to foster genuine conversation because we look like total freakin' idiots!!!
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