DrugSense FOCUS Alert # 247 Saturday, December 29, 2001 IT'S TIME TO THANK OUR MEDIA OUTLETS AS WE reach the end of our most successful year ever at The Media Awareness Project, it would be a great time to thank our various media outlets for their coverage of drug policy related news and opinion. Since our inception in February, 1996, MAP has grown from an email list which collected news clippings from the major national newspapers, to the world's most accessed website for drug policy news and opinion. See our history at http://www.drugsense.org/history.htm Thanks to the tremendous support from literally hundreds of volunteers both in the USA and around the world, we have passed the 70,000 mark for clippings. More importantly, our primary mission of using this archive as a tool for letter writers to respond directly to the target media outlets has bloomed to a level we could only dream of in 1996. In 1997, we archived 105 published Letters to the Editor (LTEs) that met our general criteria of "Moving the Discourse on Drugs from Hysteria to Sanity and Humanity" These letters, which averaged two per week, carried an equivalent advertising value of $104,895. Five years later, we reach the end of 2001 with over 2,772 PUB LTEs for the year, averaging 53 per week. This past year's equivalent advertising value was in excess of $2,769,228. See http://www.mapinc.org/lte/ WHILE this success can be primarily credited to our huge base of volunteers: newshawks, LTE writers, editors at MAP and others; NONE of it would have happened were it not for the many hundreds of media outlets, mostly newspapers and magazines, who have elected to not only publish our letters, but also to greatly increase their overall coverage of drug policy news and opinion. In 1996, the general stance of most media was about 90% in favor of national drug law policies, or at best, they were silent. As we close the year 2001, this stance has moved strongly towards mirroring the attitudes of the public at large. Now about 75% of editorials, columns, and opinion are either overtly critical of the Drug War, or at least strongly calling for re-examination of various aspects of traditional government and law enforcement approaches to drug policy. See http://www.mapinc.org/opinion.htm For this special year-end FOCUS ALERT, we invite you to please contact the newspaper outlets in your home area - and those you read regularly or have contacted in the past - and THANK them for whatever level of coverage they are providing. You can find the email addresses of most papers at: http://www.mapinc.org/resource/email.htm The more LTEs you send, the larger the potential impact - but please send your LTEs to each newspaper one at a time - newspaper editors tend not to be impressed if they think you are sending the same message to others. Regardless of where a newspaper may stand, please consider a short note of some kind which thanks them for coverage and asks them to please consider increasing coverage. It should be noted that the primary intent of this ALERT is to thank the media outlets. Thus it is less likely these letters will actually be used for publication. Of course if they are, we have accomplished our goal two-fold! Thanks for ALL your effort and your support. WRITE A LETTER TODAY It's not what others do it's what YOU do PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER OR TELL US WHAT YOU DID (Letter, Phone, fax etc.) Please post a copy your letter or report your action to the sent letter list () if you are subscribed, or by E-mailing a copy directly to if you are not subscribed. Your letter will then be forwarded to the list with so others can learn from your efforts and be motivated to follow suit. Subscribing to the Sent LTE list () will help you to review other sent LTEs and perhaps come up with new ideas or approaches as well as keeping others aware of your important writing efforts. To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm and/or http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form This is VERY IMPORTANT as it is one very effective way of gauging our impact and effectiveness. CONTACT INFO If you are not aware of newspaper contact info, you can use this link to easily see not only CONTACT INFO, but also the number of clippings we have archived from every outlet. Clicking on the clippings line will bring up a list of up to 200 of the latest clippings. You can use the 'List by Area' dropdown to focus on specific countries or states. http://www.mapinc.org/media.htm Below are two samples of letters which you might use as a framework for your own letter. If you choose to utilize the Sample, please modify it at least somewhat so that the paper does not receive numerous copies of the same letter. SAMPLE LETTER 1 (to media with good drug policy reform coverage): To the editorial board This note is to thank you for your coverage of drug policy related news and opinion. In the past year you have carried a number of opinion items discussing very important subjects, including (INSERT whatever is appropriate based on your newspaper's coverage like: zero tolerance policies, mandatory drug sentencing, prison reform issues, police corruption, medical marijuana, changes in drug laws -- or perhaps a specific example of special coverage -- for example in St Petersburg, FL -- the 3 part series this past summer on the Drug War.....or in some states -- local ballot initiatives, etc.). With the high value of column inches, the selection of topics and priority of subject matter is often challenging. Thus I appreciate your choosing to allot coverage on the very important issues relating to the Drug War and our national policies regarding substance use and abuse. Drug War spending currently accounts for almost half the money expended by our criminal justice system, as well as the related prison industrial complex. There is no one who is not affected by the decisions related to how we educate ourselves and how we treat those in our communities who have drug-abuse problems. Thanks again and have a great 2002. Sincerely, SAMPLE LETTER 2 (for outlets less favorable) To the editorial board This note is to thank you for your coverage of drug policy related news and opinion. With the high value of column inches, the selection of topics and priority of subject matter is often challenging. Thus I appreciate your choosing to allot coverage on the very important issues relating to the Drug War and our national policies regarding substance use and abuse. Drug War spending currently accounts for almost half the money expended by our criminal justice system, as well as the related prison industrial complex. There is no one who is not affected by the decisions related to how we educate ourselves and how we treat those in our communities who have drug-abuse problems. (In the case that your newspaper(s) are pro drug war you may wish to add: I would appreciate your consideration in printing alternative ideas to our current drug-war and zero tolerance policies. A balanced viewpoints page increases the value of any newspaper.) Thank you again and have a great 2002. Sincerely, IMPORTANT Always include your address and telephone number ADDITIONAL INFO to help you in your letter writing efforts http://www.mapinc.org/resource/ Prepared by Steve Heath with editing by Richard Lake, DrugSense FOCUS Alert Specialists TO SUBSCRIBE, UNSUBSCRIBE, OR UPDATE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS Please utilize the following URLs http://www.drugsense.org/hurry.htm http://www.drugsense.org/unsub.htm We wish to thank all our contributors, editors, Newshawks and letter writing activists. REMINDER Please help us help reform. Send any news items you find on any drug

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