Blackballed from the letters to the editor column

[Monkeyleg]

The other day I wrote a short (200 word) letter to the editor for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. It was about deer hunting and concealed carry. Once again, they didn't publish my letter, but did publish another letter that was in the same vein, but IMO not as well-written.

For years the JS would publish just about every letter I wrote. Back in 2003, the editor of the Sunday op-ed section invited me to write a 1200 word article about concealed carry.

Since then, they haven't published a single letter I've written.

I guess I'll have to rely on surrogates to submit my letters for me.

Has anyone else experienced something like this?

[BakerMikeRomeo]

What if you published the note here, and some of us could each print off a copy and send it in? Bombard them with the truth!

~GnSx

[280plus]

I've had a couple scathing letters to the editor printed myself. Mostly attacking this particular local paper's habit of being a scandal rag. Of course they did their best to twist the wording in their title just enough to try and make me look like an a**. Didn't work though. I stopped reading it after the second incident, mostly cause I moved, so I haven't written them in a while. Lot's of people I knew were a pattin' me on the back though. One even told me she got chills reading my first letter. It concerned their "reporting" of an incident involving one of my brothers in which his best pal was killed and they were both pretty much smeared by the article they printed. I was a bit surprised that so many had seen the letters.

Maybe there's been a command change at your paper and the new management is not so much on board with the CCW stuff?

[K Frame]

Did they pay you for the op ed?

[grampster]

Dick,

I write articles for the Public Pulse in the Grand Rapids Press.  Once they published a guest editorial about the Palm Sunday tornadoes that passed through the area in the '60's when I was in LE.  Interesting story if I say so myself.

I've written articles about a variety of subjects, mostly in a political vein from a conservative viewpoint.  The GR Press is borderline anti firearm and lobbied against the shall issue law.  I can't remember if they were opposed to the recent castle doctrine law that was passed, but probably they were opposed.

I once wrote a piece regarding gun laws, statistics, etc etc.  Now I've had dozens of articles of mine published unchallenged and I have seen many many articles containing specious "facts" and downright lies.  But this time the editor first e mailed me and then called me to challenge my facts.  I told him I found it odd that he wouldn't publish my article unless I could back up what I said, yet published, almost on a monthly basis, opinion pieces or op eds with blatant incorrect propaganda.  His response was that he'd get hysterical calls and letters from the anti's regarding my piece and he needed to know where I got my facts.  I guess I found that reasonable but still odd that he would publish the other viewpoints unchallenged.

[Monkeyleg]

Mike, I'd been begging the editors of the JS for two years prior for some column space to present pro-CCW information. Each time, I was told that they didn't publish articles from "advocacy groups." (Nevermind that most of their anti-gun editorials use VPC studies).

I got the call on a Saturday night. I was sitting in a pretty ratty motel room in Onalaska, WI as part of a three-day stint working the gun show to drum up support for CCW.

Pay me? I would have gladly paid them.

[Monkeyleg]

Grampster, I guess we were posting at the same time.

I had a somewhat similar problem with my pro-CCW article. I knew going in that they would edit out anything that I couldn't reference from reliable sources, so I footnoted every possible mention of facts or numbers with sources from the WI Dept. of Justice, the FBI, and the US Department of Justice.

They had to give "equal time," so they published an article by Michael Barnes of the Brady Campaign to Stop Gun Violence combined with the Million Mom March combined with the Million Mom Marchers Who Murder Innocents Because They Think Their Punk Kids Were Killed By the Innocents, and Who Use Illegal Weapons.

Otherwise know as: BCSGVMMMMMMWHOMIBTTTPPKWKBIWUIW. As acronyms go, that one is a real mouthful.

[grampster]

Their HQ is in Iceland.   

[Monkeyleg]

I think you owe an apology to all Icelanders.

[Matthew Carberry]

If the Icelanders didn't want to be teased they should have been more careful and not lost all their vowels.