Activity Requests: Monday, Media Outreach

[Note: As always any sample messages, letters, etc. that we provide are just that, “samples.” The samples are just what we’re sending out from this end and you are strongly encouraged to use your own judgment, voice and perspectives. Our prose, tone and approach can always be improved upon and quite frankly a good mix of perspectives is better than following our samples verbatim. We don’t do messaging for the group (nor do we aspire to) or ever speak for the group, but instead merely facilitate our members’ ability to speak at once for more power and volume. If you’re a “professional communicator” or would like to help with recruiting, research, administration, etc. shoot us a note and we’ll be happy to get you involved. There is no lack of work to be done.]

A Week of Media Outreach
Just like anything else in life, effort breeds success and just like selling - getting media coverage is all about numbers. The more YOU pitch, the more coverage the issue gets and the more people are exposed to HR3149. In turn more voter and media heat is placed upon Congress. To succeed, we need a lot of heat and a high rate of member participation. While we've had our successes, media coverage has fallen off drastically in the past month or so and we've got to turn that back around and keep the issue in the media. It's like feeding a fire . . . it has to be constantly refueled. This week' sample letter below is but one perspective, but we need to get a good mix so please share your unique percpectives, stories and approaches.

This isn't going to happen with a couple of e-mails here and there. The contact points that we supply are just a sampling of potential media outlets. Whether you agree with the orientation of the outlets simply doesn't matter. Many we don't agree with either. E-mail the ones we've supplied then do some googling to find outlets you think are appropriate. Again, this is about numbers, numbers, numbers . . . so let's get started!

[Sample Letter]

When was the last time that 90 percent of Americans agreed on anything? Poll after poll indicates that virtually all Americans believe a ban on employment credit checks should be law . . . especially during the Great Recession. A democracy for the people by the people means it’s a law since 90 percent of voters approve of a ban . . . right? Not so, except in three states, and that is the story the American people deserve to have investigated and reported . . . the sell out of our democracy to the corporations.

Setting aside the merits of a ban on employment credit checks that HR3149: The Equal Employment for All Act would bring about. The story that demands to be told is why the legislation has been stalled in the House Committee on Financial Services for a year. The fact that 90 percent of voters support the ban and it is NOT law says one thing and one thing only – America is no longer a democracy by the people for the people. Corporate arm twisting and PAC money have turned our nation into nothing more than a corporate monopoly where the people’s demands and needs are forgotten in Washington. Voting, then contacting members of Congress is an exercise in futility. All the while, corporate greed by TransUnion, Equifax and Experian enable them to continue making millions off selling people's personal credit reports to employers to keep Americans from putting food on the table. People don't need to work, let them eat cake! Even more outrageous is President Obama’s appointment of Penny Pritzker, billionaire and Chair of TransUnion, to his Economic Recovery Board in exchange for raising millions for his campaign. Money and corporate geed are starving the people and the political class is deaf from PAC money stuffed in their ears.

The big three credit bureaus along with 20 mega business lobbying groups that include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (the strongest lobby in Washington) are funneling millions in PAC money and twisting arms in Washington to dare “the people’s” representatives in Congress to pass HR3149. Guess what, it’s working because the media won’t expose the payoffs and bribery (a.k.a. lobbying). Long before the Great Recession 27 percent of Caucasians, 34 percent of Hispanics and half of African-Americans had bad credit, but now the percentage of Americans who can’t pass an employment credit check is approaching half the entire U.S. workforce! Nonetheless the percentage of employers deploying the practice just continues to rise – 60+ percent of all employers and 80+ percent of white collar employers currently cull the herd of applicants based on their personal credit reports simply because it makes their hiring job easier.

Unless the 8+ million lost jobs suddenly reappear, corporate America can hire from half of the 15+ million unemployed and 25+ million under and unemployed who may still have good credit and never run out of applicants. Those with bad credit will eventually die off after living in the streets. Until corpses from employment credit checks line main street U.S.A. no one seems to care. Everyone at the credit bureaus and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have a job and their children are fat and happy – what do they care if America is starving? As long as our members of Congress have millions in corporate PAC money coming out of their ears, they don’t care. The real tragedy is that the American press and media don’t care. “The people” have no lobbyists and no PAC money to buy votes – we only have the “free press.” The real question is whether or not our corporate owned press is still a “free press” allowed to report the story of bribery, payoffs, corruption, arm-twisting, vote buying and the purchase of Washington by corporations. The entire city is owned and run by corporate money. Without a free press there is and can be no democracy. Please stand up for 90 percent of “the people” by reporting the story that Congress has been bought off by the corporations to kill HR3149. When Americans are no longer free to work because corporations own Washington, there is no freedom and there is no America!

[End Sample Letter]

Contact Points

AOL News

newsroom@aolnews.com

Subject Line: Message for Mike Nizza

. . .

newsroom@aolnews.com

Subject Line: Message for Claire Robinson

. . .

amy.ayres@corp.aol.com

. . .

newsroom@aolnews.com

Subject Line: Message for Theresa D'Angelo


Ed Shultz Show
http://www.bigeddieradio.com/emailEd/


Huffington Post
huffpostbiz@gmail.com


Washington Examiner
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/info/contact/

ABC News General e-mail: netaudr@abc.com
Nightline: nightline@abcnews.com

CBS NewsCBS Evening News: evening@cbsnews.com
The Early Show: earlyshow@cbs.com
Face The Nation: ftn@cbsnews.com

CNBC
mailto:%20info@cnbc.com

Fox News Channel comments@foxnews.com
FOX Report with Shepard Smith: Foxreport@foxnews.com

MSNBC/NBCHardball with Chris Matthews: hardball@msnbc.com
MSNBC Reports with Joe Scarborough: joe@msnbc.com

NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams: nightly@nbc.com
NBC News Today: today@nbc.com

PBS The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer: mailto:onlineda@newshour.org
National Public Radio Ombudsman ombudsman@npr.org

Select “Submit a Story Idea” http://help.npr.org/npr/includes/customer/npr/custforms/contactus.aspx
The Los Angeles TimesReaders' Representative: readers.rep@latimes.com

Labor Beat
mail@laborbeat.org

BeyondChron
rshaw@beyondchron.org

paul@beyondchron.org

American Spectator
editor@spectator.org

Workers Independent News
femspak@igc.org

LaborRadio@gmail.com

Minnesota Independent
tips@minnesotaindependent.com

paul@tainews.org

Smerconish
showmail1@mastalk.com