Sample JAT Action Alert:
More Ways to Protest Against NPR


DATE:	13 May, 2003
TYPE:	Action Item
SCOPE:	United States

SUBJ:	More Ways to Protest Against NPR

We hope that everyone who is able to participate in one of
the NPR demonstrations this Wednesday will do so (and bring
friends). Here, again, is the web page at which you can find
the times and locations of the demonstrations:

	http://protest.jat-action.org/

If you cannot be at a demonstration on Wednesday, you can
still take a minute to let NPR know how you feel about their
biased coverage of Israel. You can find the address and
phone number of your local NPR affiliate quickly and easily
at:

	http://www.npr.org/stations/index.php?

Call them, or send them one of the letters below (or both).

You can also send copies to NPR's national CEO, a man who
has said that he hears very few complaints about NPR's
coverage of the Middle East.

	Kevin Klose
	Nation Public Radio
	635 Massachusetts Ave NW
	Washington, DC 20001

and by email to: ombudsman@npr.org

At http://NPR.JAT-Action.org/ you will find "No Pledge"
slips that you can download, print, and distribute in your community
(and, of course, send in yourself). Distributing these slips will
encourage supporters of Israel to withhold their pledges from NPR
until NPR's reporting on Israel improves.


SAMPLE LETTER 1
---------------

Dear NPR affiliate,

I am writing to inform you that I will not be making any
donations to your station until the NPR network begins to
cover Israel fairly and accurately.

Your network has repeatedly run stories accusing the Israeli army of
atrocities. When these stories prove untrue, you have not retracted
them on air. Your interviews, by actual count, give air time to far
more Arab than Israeli sources. Your reporters slant their stories in
subtle ways, employing flattering adjectives like
"charismatic" and "popular" to leaders of rings of
Arab terrorists, while calling the elected officials of the only
democracy in the Middle East "hard liners."

And, of course, NPR calls villains who murder civilians
"terrorists" if they commit the murders in New York or
Manila, but those same Islamist terrorists are called
"activists" when the people they murder are Israelis. Your
reporters excuse their actions as justified by poverty and the
humiliation of living under military rule. In fact, Arab Palestinians
are poor and live under military rule precisely because they have
chosen to be terrorists and to rear their children to be terrorists.

Sincerely yours,


SAMPLE LETTER 2
---------------

Remarkably, several listeners who have become fed up with
NPR's Israel coverage have written to NPR and gotten their
money back. If you have donated to your local affiliate
within the last couple of years, send them a letter like
this and see what they do.

Dear NPR Affiliate,

I have been a regular listener to your station for a long time.
Because I had always enjoyed your news programming, I pledged money
during your fundraising drives. Recently, however, I have become
increasingly upset by your coverage of Israel. Your reporters call
terror bombers "activists" when they strike in Israel, but
terrorists when they strike in other countries. They seem to perceive
many wrongs done to Palestinians, but not to perceive the fact that
when the Palestinians were given the opportunity and even the funds to
build a state of their own under Oslo, they chose instead to buy guns
and to teach their children to become suicide bombers. Your reporting
implicitly excuses terrorism when it is perpetrated by Palestinians,
on the grounds that these people have political grievances and that
they are poor, even though it is plain that many people are poor and
have grievances without resorting to terror.

I am writing to you today to request that you refund the
money that I donated to your station. (at this point you
should include the date or approximate date and amount of
your contribution)

Sincerely yours,

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Visit the JAT-Action home page at

   http://JAT-Action.org

Contact JAT at

   Team@JAT-Action.org  or  Jatman@JAT-Action.org

(no need to write to both addresses -- they reach the
same people)

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GENERAL POINTS WHEN WRITING A LETTER:

* make your viewpoint clear in the first sentence;
* do not use inflammatory or abusive language;
* be specific, positive, and professional;
* let your points do the talking;
* letters sent by fax or mail are more effective;
* phone calls may be the most effective;
* messages sent by email are less effective

FOLLOW-UP: Whenever you receive a substantive response to
your correspondence, please send a copy of that response
along with your original correspondence, to:

   email:       FollowUp@JAT-Action.org
   FAX:         208-247-0658

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