Thousands decry global warming

To whom this may concern,

First off, I would like to thank you (the editor), and Verena Dobnik, for printing the piece entitled, "Thousands decry global warming," written on April 15th, 2007. It is very important to me that mainstream media sources, like the San Jose Mercury News and writers of the Associated Press, cover relevant news on US policy and activism within America.

I do, however, have some concerns about the article. My concerns are mainly focused on the contextual and semantic breadth of Dobnik's article. We all know that journalists, by occupation, carry the heavy weight of responsibility when it comes to their words; the words journalists choose help shape the perspectives we, the readers, hold for the news being represented.

In "Thousands decry," Dobnik passively paints a theatrical picture of concerned, passionate individuals, exercising their rights (not only as Americans, but also as humans) to demand our government to take action against global warming issues. For example, she describes the outfits of demonstrators (scuba gear, "dressed in blue") and the beach balls they carried, rather than the urgent need for global warming control and the ways in which we can do it. In fact, she dedicates only one factual paragraph to explaining ONE of the ways in which global warming affects our planet--rising sea levels. She does not, however, describe the types of social, economic, environmental, and geographical ramifications that "rising sea levels" involves.

Another problem I had with the article is length and location: less than a quarter of a page long and printed on page 7A! This was a NATIONALLY, organized demand, and once again (the unfortunate and common occurrence with mainstream media), the "story" was hardly covered at all.

I am not a journalist and I am not pretending to know everything about conducting a newspaper, but its obvious to me that by concentrating solely on "protesters," rather than the injustice they are concerned about, journalists and newspaper editors are keeping the news hidden in the gossip column.

Thank you,
Harmony