Media wakeup, day 6

There’s a lot to report today besides just email addresses, and much of it good. But we’ll start with the names:

• National Public Radio, Ombudsman Jeff Dvorkin. email: ombudsman@npr.org phone: 202-513-2000 fax: 202-513-3329
• Philadelphia Inquirer, Deputy Managing Editor/News Carl Lavin. email: clavin@phillynews.com phone: 215-854-4562 OR National News Editor Ned Warwick. email: nwarwick@phillynews.com
• ABC World News Tonight [repeat]. email: PeterJennings@abcnews.com phone: 212-456-4040 fax: 212-456-2795

The backstory is here. Newcomers should definitely check the link as should anyone looking to fine-tune their letters for each individual case. But in the interest of expedience and volume, it is perfectly okay to send the same letter to every contact every day.
Now for the news. The campaign is definitely picking up steam. Yesterday we reported that Sen. Kennedy made a scathing report on the DSM (Downing Street Minutes) in the senate, while Editor & Publisher was seeing widespread signs of editorial unrest on Iraq. Later in the day came news of abysmal poll results for Bush with, for the first time, more than half of respondents disapproving of the president's handling of Iraq. (Click here for full version.)

Meanwhile, the Washington Post did their second major story on the DSM yesterday, and it's a good one. We've also seen press from the Philadelphia Daily News, the Palm Beach Post, the Boston Globe, the Dallas Morning News, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Washington Times, the Houston Chronicle, the Detroit Free Press, and Knight-Ridder, along with dozens of other papers (go here for links).

Best of all, the DSM finally got serious treatment on TV and radio in the wake of the Bush-Blair press conference. NPR did a brief but good dissection last night and a little more this morning. NBC Nightly News, PBS, and CNN gave it brief mention. But CBS News really went to town, plastering quotes from the DSM on screen while Bush gave angry, rambling answers to questions on the memo, scrambling his own talking points and possibly painting himself into a new corner with his lies about "work[ing] hard to see if we could figure out how to do this peacefully."

All in all, a great day. Hallelujah. But let's savor the moment and immediately get back to work, because there's lots to do. ABC said nothing at all last night. PBS did a fair job of botching the story. And you can be sure the rest of the pack will let the matter drop without further pressure. In our favor, we have a new angle with Bush's lies last night and a growing receptive audience among questioning news editors and a disgusted electorate. So please let's keep at it.

By the way, the hands-down winner for best DSM editorial of all, according the blogosphere, is a recent op-ed in the Bangor Daily News. "Concise, eloquent, angry," says one writer. It's getting major play on the net. Go read and be proud of a fellow Mainer.