There are many ways in which you can play an active role in the NWC. Some excellent ways to get involved are:

• Writing articles/ blogging

• Outreach – increasing membership and participation for the NWC

• Hosting events for the NWC

• Fund-raising

• Media coverage - helping us gain exposure in local and national; print, tv and radio

Your skills are needed in helping us make our organization a success. Please send us an email and let us know how you’d like to participate. We look forward to hearing from you!

WHAT YOU CAN DO

1. Stay Informed

For in-depth coverage of what's happening in the US, Israel and Middle East, spend at least 10 minutes a day at one or more of the following websites that are included in our list:

http://www.rjcwomen.org/essentialinks.php

2. Spread the Word

Keep abreast of regional NWC and RJC events and meetings and attend! Bring your mother, daughter, sister, niece, granddaughters or friends! When wishing to engage and educate the younger generation within your family, participate in L’dor V’dor and purchase an NWC membership for your daughter, granddaughter, or niece.

3. Forward Alerts and Start an E-mail Campaign

Create an email list of friends, family and colleagues and whenever you come across a current event, issue or news report that is important, forward alerts to them. Educate and organize members of your community (youth groups, synagogue social action committees, sisterhood/brotherhood groups) to call or write your elected officials about issues that are important to you. Likewise, call or write the media to protest inaccurate and unfair reporting.

4. Support the NWC by Joining as a Member

Support our ongoing efforts to help grow our organization and keep Republican Jewish women informed and involved. Become a member and tell your family and friends about us! All NWC members will receive a host of benefits, including invitations to special women’s events and caucuses throughout the country. With the elections around the corner, the Jewish woman’s voice is more important than ever. We can truly chart the course of the future and make a positive difference for our generation and the next!

5. Report Media Bias

Whenever you encounter media bias, take action! Please read the following set of guidelines on how to detect unfair reporting ways in which you can combat media bias.    

How to Recognize Unfair Reporting

The Society of Professional Journalists' Code of Ethics require that journalists seek out and report the truth and that they be accountable to their readers, listeners, viewers and each other. Sometimes journalists reporting under pressure from the Middle East—with its complex history, issues and emotions—may be unfair in their depiction of unfolding events. The job of a media activist is not to impute motive but to provide checks and balances to ensure that a media outlet remains accountable for its reporting.  How does one do this?

1) Detect factual error. This is the first step in recognizing unfair reporting. Follow breaking events closely as well as be knowledgeable about current events. If you notice an outright error or a noticeable discrepancy between media outlets in their coverage of a certain event, you should investigate further and write to the offending news outlet, providing factual information to counter the error.

2a) Does the article or broadcast fail to provide the perspective of all parties, focusing on only one side's outlook? When a preponderance of space and/or time in a report is given to presenting a single viewpoint, this should be challenged.

2b) Are the proponents of opposing points of view given equal weight—i.e. are both quoted directly and/or given equal opportunity to speak and respond, or does the reporter summarize and paraphrase one position while allowing the other to be expressed directly? Those affected by the events or issues reported should have a voice in the coverage.

3a) Does the reporter editorialize in a news story? Opinion-laden, partial language in news reports can and should be challenged.

3b) Does the reporter use partisan language or emotional “buzzwords?” For example, does the reporter refer to “occupied Arab lands,” “illegal Jewish settlements,” “Arab East Jerusalem?” Indicate the lack of objectivity of such language, providing factual historical or legal information to prove the point. 

4) Does the article or broadcast omit essential context and information? This tends to be a frequent problem when reporting about the Middle East. Write a letter to the editor or directly to the journalist and/or media outlet to provide the missing context.

5) Are there double standards? Is one group of people singled out for more criticism or held to a different standard than others? Are differential terms used to describe the same phenomenon, depending on who the protagonists are? Indicate double standards by providing examples of similar events or issues that received differential coverage.

6) Do headlines and photograph captions accurately reflect the story? Is there a preponderance of photographs presenting only “one side of the coin?”

 
Tips for Writing Letters

1) Respond while the issue is still fresh in the minds of the journalists and their audience. Try to send your letter within a week of the broadcast or article.

2) State the point of your letter within the first two sentences. A reader scanning the letter should be able to quickly identify your view of the issue in question.

3) If writing a critical letter, be specific about why the article or broadcast was unfair. Was it inaccurate, out-of-context, one-sided? If it was partisan, whom did it favor?

4) Be concise. Most publications will not print more than 250-300 words for a letter to the editor. Check to see what your paper's limit is and stick to it. Editors tend to publish letters they don't have to spend time shortening. When publication is not your goal (e.g. writing to a TV news station), you can expand your commentary, but do not exceed two pages.

5) Limit your topic. While an article or broadcast may contain numerous instances of bias, focus on just one or two. Your opening line can refer to the overall skew of the broadcast/article, but then zero-in: e.g. "Your broadcast unfairly disparaged Israel with its numerous factual and contextual errors. One such error was..." It's better to fully explain one point than to inadequately cover five.

6) If you are writing with publication in mind, do not restate the inaccuracies of the article. Doing so only gives them more exposure. Refer to them briefly and only as a launch for your own points, e.g. "Smith's partisan article on Jerusalem did the public a disservice. Key elements missing were [points A,B,C]."

7) Stick to the facts. Hostile or overly emotional language is counterproductive. Use factual information. Here are some links to information available on the web.

8) Write as a concerned individual. Mentioning that you are responding to an alert may lessen the impact of your letter.

9) Maximize the impact. Send a copy of your letter not just to the editor, but also to the reporter, foreign editor, publisher...to advertisers/sponsors of the broadcast...to congressional reps if the report was on public radio or television...When writing to a syndicated columnist, be sure to send a copy to the paper the columnist works for, as well as to your local paper if the column appears there.

10) Follow up with a call to the editor of the Letters-to-the-Editor page to ask if your letter will be published. If the answer is no, ask why and what you could do to make your letter more acceptable for publication. If the editor doesn't remember your letter, offer to read it over the phone and/or re-email it. If your letter is published, make yourself memorable by writing a note to the editor thanking him/her for allowing your concerns to be shared with the public.

11) Before publishing a letter, most papers will call to verify that you wrote it. Remember, particularly if you're using e-mail, to include your full name, title (if applicable), address and daytime phone number.

For a list of contact information of local and national print and televised media networks, please write to: tgabbay@rjchq.org

How to Contact Your Elected Officials – Senators and Congressmen

www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/congdir.tt