This is a copy of a letter that I wrote to be published in my local newspapers, only to find out that the newspapers have decide they are no longer going to print candidate letters. The reason I was given is that the publishers think that not printing them will increase ad revenue as people who want to express their support will buy ads. It has been sent to the Des Moines Register and the Sioux City Journal in hopes that they will publish it before the election.
I think this policy change will cause less information to be shared with voters. People are going to think twice about spending money to run an ad for a candidate, and a lot fewer people will participate. Issues will not be discussed and the differences between candidates will not be expressed.
What are your thoughts on my local papers not publishing candidate letters? Do you think that letters to the editor are an effective way to communicate with voters? Any other thoughts?
Letter to the Editor
One of the Democratic Candidates running in the Primary for Steve King's office is Mike Denklau. I met Mike last August when he first started his campaign for office, since then he has been working hard to build a grassroots organization and has raised over 35,000 dollars and outraised Matt Campbell in the first quarter of 2010 in contributions from individuals to finance his bid for Congress. I have been following and watching Mike since then and he continues to impress me and I will be supporting him in the Primaries and hopefully in the Fall General Election. For more information to to: http://www.denklauforcongress.com/vision/html
I also met Matt Campbell at the District Convention in Atlantic, although he seems to be a fine man, he was rather vague about his vision for the 5th District and his concentration was on Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, as he says on his website. Iowa has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation, and there are lots of other issues that need to be addressed that unfortunately, I was unable to get a satisfactory response from Mr. Campbell about.
I would also like to encourage everyone to vote in the Primary on Tuesday, June 8th or you may vote absenteeat the Auditor's office at anytime they are open between now and then. FYI, the Auditor's office will be open next Saturday from 9 to 5 for the purpose of allowing absentee voting. You do not need a reason to vote absentee; it is now available to make it easier for people to participate.
In closing, whomever you decide to support, please vote and have your voice heard.
Thank you,
NWIA Granny
5 Comments
many newspapers get way more letters
to the editor than they have space to print. To get printed, you need to keep the letter short (under 150 words, but ideally under 100 words) and if possible have some kind of catchy phrase. Referencing some other article or editorial the paper has already published sometimes can be helpful too. I’ve seen the Des Moines Register publish letters supporting a particular candidate; usually those focus on one or two issues.
In the years before I started blogging I wrote quite a few letters to the Des Moines Register, but only two or maybe three ever got printed.
I don’t think letters to the editor are hugely important, but they can help draw attention to an issue that’s been overlooked. Editors may notice if they get lots of letters on a particular topic, and maybe they assign someone to do a story on that.
desmoinesdem Wed 2 Jun 4:45 PM
I agree, what do you think of my local papers decision?
They are no longer going to print candidate letters, as they feel it is “shooting myself in the foot” by not getting ad revenue if they print the letters. I’m not sure that they need to print all letters, but now they aren’t going to print any. I do think they play a part in educating voters on issues and who candidates are. I know there have been times that the only way I heard about somethings going on in my county was because someone wrote a letter.
It will be interesting to see if they decide to change this policy in the future.
nwia-granny Wed 2 Jun 7:57 PM
IA 5 Newspapers not publishing candidate letters
I am curious which Iowa newspaper is doing this. They know individuals are not going to buy ad space in lieu of a letter to the editor. Letters to the editor are VERY important because (1) you can reach the people who aren’t hanging out on progressive blogs; (2) it is similar to neighbor-to-neighbor contact because it is an opinion of someone in the community; (3) You amplify your voice exponentially by getting a letter published. Fact: The opinion page is the most read section of the newspaper. I would like to invite you to join the Iowa Rapid Response Action network. We specialize in getting individuals’ progressive letters published in Iowa newspapers.
I don’t want to be too cynical, but I think the paper you’re talking about understands how powerful a bunch of anti-King and anti-Grassley letters would be. I think it is unconscionable and irresponsible to the community to make a blanket policy like that. You can contact me at blog3@democracyforiowa.com. Trish
tnelson Mon 21 Jun 8:25 AM
Candidate letters
If you’ve read the “Letters to the Editor” and the other opinion columns in the Sioux City Journal, you will find that there are two sides to every debate- the extreme right, and the liberal (I choose to say its not extreme, but then again, I have been called, rather nastily, a Socialist). They say that their opinion columns are moderated, but I think not. Perhaps they moderate the cuss words out, but other than that, they are rude, and very insulting. both sides.
Sioux City Journal is probably Steve King’s fav paper. There was a comment about the time Steve King grabbed a journalist and told him to turn off the camera, it was done and Steve King very loudly berated the journalist. (while the other camera was still turned on), remember that? The SCJ printed Steve King’s side of the story. I wrote to the editor of the paper, asking him to please report both sides to the story. The journalist that wrote the one sided piece about Steve King, emailed me requesting links. I sent them to him, but never saw any retractions or additions in the SCJ,.
wahela Wed 2 Jun 8:26 PM
Update, I just got a call from the Sioux City Journal,
they are going to publish my letter. They just called to make sure that I wrote it. Should be out in the next day or so.
nwia-granny Thu 3 Jun 8:18 PM