[Media-watch] letters to politicians + newspapers

[Mark Priestley]

Hi Sigi
I write to he media and to politicians when I get the time (which is
increasingly rare of late). In answer to some of your questions:

1. My Mp (Anne McGuire) always responds but:

*	sometimes this can take several weeks
*	often the reply takes the form of a standard press statement from
the foreign office - I have complained to her about this, and have most
recently prompted some useful and personal replies.
*	One of her letters was quite angry (to the point of rudeness) after
I sent her some photos of victims of British bombing in Iraq and asked her
to examine her conscience when voting for war. Subsequently she has been
cordial and replies have been detailed and courteous - she even took the
opportunity to send me information in the form of a parliamentary report on
one occasion.

2. Replies from Tony Blair's office normally take the form of a three line
note stating that the Prime Minister has taken note of my concerns.
3. Many letters to the media have elicited some sort of response:

*	Richard Sambrook from the BBC always responds, and normally
promptly, and in detail.
*	Jonathan Munroe at ITN never responds
*	Specific journalists at the BBC and ITN usually respond, but often
with one liners. One email from the BBC's Guto Harri contained no
punctuation or capital letters, which speaks volumes about the thought that
went into his reply.
*	I have had varying responses from newspapers - from zilch up to a
correspondance of several weeks with someone from the Economist

I have no idea about the answers to your other questions.
 
Cheers, Mark

-----Original Message-----
From: Sigi D [ mailto:sigi_here at yahoo.co.uk <mailto:sigi_here at yahoo.co.uk> ]
Sent: 22 October 2003 13:57
To: media-watch at lists.stir.ac.uk
Subject: [Media-watch] letters to politicians + newspapers


Hi - dear Media Watch friends,
A few questions:  POLITICIANS + NEWSPAPERS
(1) from your experience - do politicians reply to
your
emails / and letters?
(2) Does anybody know how many emails and letters an
average politician, I mean a 'normal' (not high
profile) MP gets on a day?
(3) Do we have a right to get a reply from
politicians?
(4) is anybody actually reading the emails / letters
we send to the House of Commons? And if yes, who??
(5) Has anybody else experienced rejected emails from
the House of Commons because of the email filters in
use there? I had emails sent back / blocked - that
didn't
contain bad words or indecent stuff, honestly.
And
DAILY NEWSPAPERS:  how many letters / emails are sent
to an
editor per day? for instance say the Independent? -
I rarely get replies - but I have a very
foreign sounding surname, whereas my friend with a
very English sounding surname gets replies - same
subject, similar letter...
Talk shop, journalists!
Regards and best wishes
Sigi

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