Contact MSNBC about Chris Matthews
December 5, 2008
by Sheryl Lee
|The New Agenda member Anna has provided us with a draft letter to use to contact NBC regarding their conflict of interest issue with Chris Matthews. Please modify it however you like, and send it to Chris Matthews’ bosses at the network.
Let us know what you did, and whether you got a response.
(Thanks, Anna!)
Dear __________,
I am writing to express my profound concerns regarding the journalistic integrity one of your prominent commentators, Chris Matthews. It has now become widely known that Mr. Matthews is considering running for the Senate in Pennsylvania in the 2010 mid-term elections. While he has not yet made a definitive decision regarding this matter (at least not one that has been made public), it is my belief that as long as he is considering such a political move, he should not be serving in his current role on Hardball, or in any other major commentary role.
At present, with one hand in the media realm and one in the political realm, he is in a position to use your network to advance his political ambitions. There is a serious conflict of interest which not only compromises his own journalistic integrity, but that of your entire network.
Until Mr. Matthews makes a clear decision regarding his political ambitions, he should be removed from his current post so that Americans can continue to have faith in your network’s professional standards. Needless to say, should he decide to run for the Senate, his hiatus from his media role should be made indefinite until such time as he is no longer actively involved in politics.
Thank you very much for taking the time to read my correspondence and for considering my perspective. I trust you will take this matter seriously.
Sincerely,
—o—o—o—
Contact:
Mr. Jeff Zucker
President and CEO of NBC Universal
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10112
Chris Matthews
hardball@msnbc.com
MSNBC
Mr. Phil Griffin,
Senior Vice President, News
NBC Television Network
30 Rockefeller Plz
New York, NY 10112
phil.griffin@nbc.com
Steve Capus,
President, NBC News
steve.capus@nbc.com
MSNBC
letters@msnbc.com
MSNBC/Microsoft-NBC
30 Rockefeller Plz
3rd Fl
New York, NY 10112
(212) 664-4444
From Media Matters:
When contacting the media, please be polite and professional. Express your specific concerns regarding that particular news report or commentary, and be sure to indicate exactly what you would like the media outlet to do differently in the future.
Someone at one of the networks told me that mailing the letters is better. I don’t know if it makes that much difference but we are going to print, sign, and mail ours as well as emailing them.
Anna- Great letter! Thanks for saving me the headache!
This has nothing to do with the letter campaign except it’s a link to more misogyny from MSNBC.
scroll up to top of comments. Halfway through video you’ll hear something we’ve all become very familiar with.
http://hotair.com/archives/200...../#comments
There have been some recent internal disputes between the news personnel at NBC and the MSNBC people like Keith Olbermann. Therefore, I will address “abuse of the NBC brand name”, and sent it to NBC rather than MSNBC.
John-
I heard that too. I guess I will send it to both and add the “abuse of the NBC brand as well.” Good idea.
O/T, sorry, but just a suggestion for another possible call out.
Could we ask The Atlantic why they are still letting Andrew Sullivan obsess over Sarah Palin’s uterus? (h/t Cannonfire)
http://andrewsullivan.theatlan.....ictur.html
OMG.
One more. How do you like this “change?” (h/t PUMApac)
http://voices.washingtonpost.c.....stion.html
Obama’s new speechwriter is a young frat boy who publishes pictures of himself drinking with buddies while mugging with a cardboard cutout of Hillary.
That’s Obama’s speechwriter, groping Hillary’s breast.
He should be FIRED. Period.
Zee-
What does the last line in the article mean? Is that a joke?
Zee, that’s incredible.
If he isn’t fired, it will be Obama sending a message to frat boys everywhere that date-raping college girls is cool with the President.
RE: The post on how best to communicate (snail mail, e-mail, phone, etc):
It is an established fact that snail mail carries the most weight. Presumably one snail mail is equal to 10 e-mails in terms of how it is perceived and the weight it carries. I suppose it’s viewed as something that takes a bit more time and effort. Not sure. Anyway, if you want to cover your bases, I’d encourage doing both. I usually do except when I’m doing mass communications that make snail mail unrealistic.
LETTER RE: JON FAVREAU
————————————————————————————
Dear President-elect Obama:
As I am sure you are well aware, it has come to the public’s attention that your top speech writer, Jon Favreau, has posed with a life-sized cut out of Hillary Clinton, groping her breast as one of his friends simulates getting her drunk. I wonder if the first response that you and your incoming administration had was one of embarrassment and a desire to get this out of the news as quickly as possible. However, I have no way of knowing since you have not uttered a word about it, so I can only guess.
Either way, it is not the fact of whether it remains in the news or not that is the issue. What is deeply concerning is that you would employ an individual who would so brazenly express such disrespect toward women. Surely you realize that countless women across America are date-raped. Frequently this occurs when a man gets a woman drunk or otherwise semi-conscious and then proceeds to rape them.
In looking at this objectively, there is simply no way around my deducing that you find it acceptable to have as part of your administration’s culture, the continuation of an old boys club mentality, where men chuckle and laugh, joke about and disrespect, women, including the woman who will be your Secretary of State.
I am well aware that sub-cultures exist behind closed doors and the is not privy to a great deal of what goes on. However, in light of the fact that Mr. Favreau’s actions have come to light, I would urge you to fire Jon Favreau immediately and to make a public statement as to why. In this way, you will be taking an unequivocal stance regarding your lack of tolerance of sexist behavior in your administration. Anything less is unacceptable.
Should you find my request or position extreme or unreasonable, I would ask that you imagine the scenario between Jon Favreau and the Hillary Clinton cut out and replace the gender and sexism issues with race and racism issues. I believe you will then appreciate the seriousness of the matter. I trust, however, that this will not be necessary since you have promised hope and change. As a woman, I would assume this includes the obvious: sexism is not tolerated in an Obama administration and you are an advocate of women’s rights.
Sincerely,
BTW, when sending action letters, I always think it’s best to use a letter as a starting point, edit, make changes, personalize it. Otherwise, if a person starts to receive a “form letter”, it’s more likely they’ll begin to ignore it. The message may be the same, but I think it’s always best to find a way for it to be your own voice with your own words. I like to write and am happy to provide drafts of letters for others to use, and I don’t persoanlly care if people use them, as is. But, I just think that in order to maximize one’s chance of being heard, it’s best to adapt a template in some way.
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