You should write letters to the editor

We salute Rachel Maddow’s coverage of the “Hands Off” protests nationwide. Many of the images shown on her program were sourced from local Indivisible chapters.

Maddow has been elevating Indivisible regularly, all the way back to her first mention of the Indivisible Guide on January 4, 2017. The Indivisible Guide emphasizes that you—no matter who you are, no matter what your skills—can do something.

She highlighted one part of the country where media coverage of the protests had been dismal, so some of the protesters wrote letters-to-the-editor to their local newspapers and TV stations, calling them out for their failure to inform the public of the protest results.

Although our media environment is friendlier, it’s not perfect and sometimes the press needs to be called to account.

Our Media Accountability, Balance, and Protection (MAB+) group supports this tactic wholeheartedly. You can and should write to our local news outlets, too.

You should write a letter to the editor whenever:

• The media fails its public duty by putting Trumpian lies before American truth

• The media reports what Trump or his Administration or lackeys said or did without putting it in context

• The media perpetuates false “both-sides” balance rather than favoring truth over propaganda

• The media neglects a viewpoint or idea that you think deserves public consideration

You can write to local news sources as well as major national outlets. You can even write to right-leaning news sources to remind them that their propaganda is not the only worldview in this country.

Taking to the streets is one way to be heard and certainly an important one. But there are other avenues as well, no less important during these perilous and critical times.