Please call the Times today to demand more balanced coverage.

The Times story minimizes the public opposition by including only a single sentence on the protest, by underestimating its size, and by excluding comments from protesters or from the organizers at the New York Civil Liberties Union.

In contrast, the Boston Globe acknowledges the Boston protests in the second paragraph, reporting that "Ashcroft never acknowledged the constant noise that crept in from outside: the muffled din of protesters chanting and banging drums." The article goes on to contextualize the protest as similar to those Ashcroft has encountered at every stop on his tour.

The Times' single sentence comes at the end of the article: "Mr. Ashcroft took no questions, and outside on the street several hundred protesters were kept out of earshot on the far side of the building, where some chanted, 'Stop Ashcroft! Defend the Constitution!' and waved placards that read: 'Ashcroft Go Home. Leave Our Civil Liberties Alone.'"

This is followed by the closing paragraph, a U.S. attorney's rebuff: "The critics need to stop talking and start listening."

As debate over the Patriot Act intensifies, the Times must cover the real story: that Americans are outraged by threats to the Bill of Rights and insist upon both security and freedom. The Times must also acknowledge the bipartisan Congressional opposition to many portions of the Patriot Act.

The Times says protesters were "kept out of earshot" by Ashcroft. They were also kept out of earshot by the Times' reporting.

ACTION: Call the Times today and ask why the size and substance of public and Congressional opposition to the Patriot Act wasn't included in Mike McIntire's story "Terror Lesson Fading for Some, Ashcroft Says in Manhattan" on Sept. 10. Mention the balanced coverage found in the Boston Globe.

Your comments will be taken more seriously if you are friendly, professional, and firm. Ask that your concerns be passed on to the story's editor.

The New York Times

Metro Desk

(212) 556-1533

REPORT YOUR CALL:

After you write or call, please let us know what you said at:

http://moveon.org/mediacorps/nytashcroft_dash.html?id=1651-1378564-6b8.kRCD8yvFvOfXoLzShQ

Your action will be registered on your Media Corps dashboard page:

http://moveon.org/mediacorps/dshbd.html?id=1651-1378564-6b8.kRCD8yvFvOfXoLzShQ

MORE INFO:

Read the entire Times article at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/10/nyregion/10ASHC.html

Read the Boston Globe's coverage at:

http://www.globe.com/dailyglobe2/253/metro/Ashcroft_visit_sparks_protest+.shtml

As one more example, the conservative New York Post begins its report: "Speaking blocks from the World Trade Center site and over the distant roar of protesters, Attorney General John Ashcroft yesterday defended the Patriot Act as a vital safeguard of American lives." Fully one half of the brief Post report is devoted to the protests.

http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/5424.htm

Sincerely,

--Noah T. Winer

MoveOn.org

September 10, 2003

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------