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Marietta Daily Journal
Sunday, February 24, 2019

OPINION PAGE

Why publicize protest?

Re: Rally outside ICE’s Atlanta office to protest President Trump”

DEAR EDITOR:

On the topic of “journalism” — we were sadly shocked to see the MDJ help the far-left, anti-borders organizers of a recent Atlanta protest rally spread their message. Getting the word out about a rally is one of the most important and difficult parts of organizing — a task made much easier with the help of this newspaper.

In announcing a noon event, an early morning, online “alert” posted on the Northside Neighbor’s/MDJ website on Feb. 18 was very helpful for the (as listed by the newspaper) “Georgia Alliance for Social Justice and partnering organizations: CAIR Georgia, Project South, GLAHR, Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, J Street, Indivisible Georgia Coalition, ACLU of Georgia, Refuse Fascism Atl, Necessary Trouble Indivisible, The Immigration Education Project, Community Estrella, Racial Justice Action Center, Women Watch Afrika, Black Alliance for Just Immigration and Metro Atlanta Democratic Socialists.”

I am sure the rally organizers were grateful for the assistance. Most rallies are covered as news after they occur and not usually announced in the press beforehand.

Whether or not the editors and reporters at the MDJ are for or against border security and a wall is no longer a question here. Seeing the newspaper post the alert for the protest rally with time, location, address and a link to the national organizer’s website complete with their hateful “Trump is a national emergency” message removes any mystery. It also speaks volumes about the state of neutral “journalism” at the MDJ.

Bill Buckler

Acworth