Re: WAKE UP All of You!!!

[Guest guest]

You are exactly right. It will take the pressure of public opinion

to promote positive change.

However, media is not easy to get. For two years, several groups

have worked non-stop to get more media outlets involved. Press

releases, press conferences, rallies, letters, calls, media

packets...some even set up a web site (www.factsformedia.com) to

give reporters a one-stop site to get all the info regarding this

issue. The site, which I designed...and did a horrible job I might

add...needs re-vamping in the worst way. We need someone who can do

this. Anyone?

Unfortunately, like I said, it's not easy to get media attention.

And, if you do get it, there is no guarantee your side will be

favored...or if it'll bring the type of mass reach that will truly

make a difference. Oprah, 60 Minutes, etc., have said time and time

again they won't touch this (60 Minutes says they already have).

BUT, that's not to say we shouldn't keep trying, as long as we go

after other things that are a sure bet at the same time. Media will

cover this issue regardless of advertisers. 60 Minutes just did a

segment the week before last on " Prescriptions and Profit " ...the

segment surely made big pharma, who typically advertises on CBS,

very angry. CBS did it anyway.

The best media attention we've ever received was during the Homeland

Security scandal. But that, in their minds, was extremely

newsworthy. Also, it was something the reporters could " get " and

absorb. In all honesty, and even some reporters will admit this,

this issue is a hard subject to grasp and articulate. They need the

facts to back up what they're saying and some may be too lazy to get

the facts, or not understand them enough to do a good story.

I was waiting to do this until next week, but now's as good of time

as any. Being someone who has literally worked on this stuff for two

years...non-stop...I know that advertising is our best bet. We

simply can't keep relying on media as our sole remedy. Advertising

worked last year when we advertised in DC...it got certain senate

staffers interested in speaking with us. But it takes money. One

person on this board came to me with an excellent idea

recently...small ads for small newspapers that are cost-effective

for everyone to place their own ad in their own paper. Great idea!

Now, we would be supplying you with the ad if you want it. We will

also tell you how to call the paper to place the ad. I live in

Raleigh/Durham...to place a 1/8 page ad in some of the smaller

newspapers in outlying areas would cost around $200 to $300 bucks.

Well, I can afford that so I'll do it. But, will all of you? People

can chip in $50...friends, family, other parents. Will you do this?

About writing letters to your reps...YES, that's always good. I will

say that you shouldn't bother bombarding Kennedy...he's already on

our side and has proved it in many ways. Would probably be better to

bombard Kerry. We don't know where he stands on this issue.

Unless the CDC, government, medical industry, etc., feels the

pressure of public opinion, they're NOT going to care as much as we

want them to. Public outcry, which could only come from constant,

frequent, level-headed communication to the public, will help

enormously. So far, we don't have it. It will have to take

advertising to get it.

There are also other things we can do which is a guarantee. Some

news services out there offer Video News Release (VNR's), Radio News

Releases (RNR's) and other means to reach the public. BUT IT TAKES

MONEY. We could get a :60 Radio News Release out to hundreds of

radio networks which would reach millions of people and it only

costs $2800. That's doable...except non-profit orgs can only spend

so much money on political issue-based efforts. This is why we need

all of you! We can get a media tour...12 to 17 interviews...the

interviews would go out to hundreds of radio networks and millions

of people. That costs $5000. I can't afford that...and the non-

profit org can't pay for it if it's political or issue-based. A VNR

is something big pharma has all the time...basically it's a paid-for

news segment satellite fed to hundreds of local broadcast

affiliates. That can cost $20,000. We can't afford it---I wish we

could.

I was about to pay for a full-page ad in Pediatrics Journal...$3500

to ask pediatricians to please use vaccines that contain absolutely

no thimerosal...encouraging them to read the labels and thanking

them for doing so. My ad was rejected...they still haven't given me

a reason. This was something else we were going to ask of all of you-

--to fax this ad (we would link it so you can print it) to all the

pediatricians in your area. If we can stop ONE child from getting

mercury, it'd all be worth it.

I'd love to hear if any of you would be interested in helping with

things like this. Would you? It's good to be angry...a cool

angry...a smooth angry, not a radical angry, but the kind that backs

those people into a corner and wins us public opinion.

Regards,

Lori McIlwain

> > > A common sense plan of action is much more motivating than

foul

> > > language.

> > > Debi

> > >

> > > --- In , " Best Jr " If you

> want

> > > to give me some grief for trying to motivate

> > > > people, you could at least come up with some better insults

>

>

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