• If you are not yet an MPR member, tell them you would happily become one IF they agree to this trial and that you will send your pledge as soon as it is on the air.
  
• If you are a member, tell them that you will withhold your dues and forego new pledges UNTIL they agree to give the show a fair trial, and that you will not resume support until it is finally aired.

1. other NPR affiliates have reported that Democracy Now! generates larger audiences, more devoted followings, and more successful fund drives than either Morning Edition or All Things Considered;
2. Democracy Now! has offered to provide financially troubled MPR with their program feed WITHOUT CHARGE for a year and a half;
3. a number of public spirited citizens have already offered over $5,000 in fiscal sponsorship, underwriting support, and supplementary aid if MPR takes the program.

HOWEVER,
• despite your thousands of postcards, calls and emails;
• despite strong support from over 60 eminent organizations (as varied as the College of the Atlantic, the Maine Teamsters & AFL-CIO, the Maine Council of Churches, MOFGA, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Maine People's Alliance, the Maine Green Independent Party, the Maine Democratic Party, Portland Tenants Union, and all the Peace & Justice Centers in the State);
• despite the fact that Democracy Now! is the virtually the only show "out there" that questions our rulers' current policies or reports on their Wars on Terror-Iraq-Columbia-Dissent-Drugs-the Poor-&-Environment from their victims' point of view;
• despite the fact that NPR's other news programs continue to quote, interview and feature four to five times more military/administration/war-friendly figures than voices on the other side;
• despite statements from other NPR affiliates recounting how Democracy Now! generated larger audiences, more successful fund drives and more devoted followings than either Morning Edition or All Things Considered;
• despite Democracy Now!'s offer to provide financially troubled MPR with their program feed without charge for eighteen months;
• despite offers of thousands of dollars in underwriting and supplementary aid from a number of citizens;
• and, perhaps most importantly, despite the Supreme Court's "Fairness Doctrine" ruling that declared the First Amendment "rests on the assumption that the widest possible dissemination of information from diverse and antagonistic sources is essential to the welfare of the public.."

• the spreading civil opposition to an Iraq attack, Columbian intervention, and perpetual war in general;
• the scores of towns and cities organizing to repudiate the Patriot Act;
• corporate media concentration, the news "business", and the profits of fear, continuous crisis, and war propaganda;
• media reluctance to probe the still "unanswered questions" of 9/11;
• the accelerating corporate control of all branches of "our" government;
• the oil industry's dominant influence on energy planning, environmental regulation, and now, foreign policy;
• the racial bias apparent in the "War on Drugs", the "War on Terror", urban policing, and application of the death penalty.

• Write pro-DN! editor letters or op-ed pieces to local publications encouraging others to get involved.
• Beg, borrow or buy copies of DN! videos to turn on colleagues and friends.
• Grab a phone and become an ad hoc telemarketer for Truth, Justice & the emperiled American way.
• Burn CDs of compelling shows from the Democracy Now! program archives and pass them around to truth-starved, tech-challenged friends.
• Write passionate (and polite) notes of your own to MPBC and/or Mr. Beck. (It may help to quote liberally from program affiliate letters, especially those that say DN! consistently outdraws "All Things Considered" and is a great fund-raising aid.)
• Cruise the Democracy Now! site, review our proposed plan, and imagine how this campaign might work better. Then contact us with your artful suggestions and/or go out and field test them on your own.
• Drop a check or loose change on our chief spear carrier, Bob Walters (15 Leeside Rd, Harpswell, ME 04079), who has selflessly led this effort (out of pocket) from day one.
• New! Free speech-loving donors can now make fully tax-deductible contributions by addressing their checks to Big Medicine, which is this campaign's fiscal sponsor and a 501(c)(3). Please send your donation to Big Medicine, PO Box 13, Kennebunkport, ME 04046; and specify "for Maine Progressive Media Fund" somewhere on the check.

We would first like to express our sincere gratitude to MPR for the quality of programming you have offered the people of Maine since your inception. Many of us now greatly rely upon you for keeping us informed and educated on issues of deep public concern. Considering that reliance and the increasingly threatening world we all face today, we are also writing to ask you to expand the scope of your endeavors. Specifically, we would like to request more diversity in the range of voices and information you offer, a diversity we now desperately require to understand our current plight and options.

Our apparently imminent war with Iraq, our increasing involvement in Columbia, the terrorist menace, our precarious economy, threats to our civil liberties, and other issues are all causes for legitimate concern and demand open intelligent debate. Against this background, we feel the need for more varied perspectives and in-depth reporting on the fateful events now occurring domestically and throughout the world.

We believe the quickest, least costly and most effective way to accomplish this would be to include the Pacifica network's Democracy Now! show in your broadcast lineup. Those who live in the Bangor and Blue Hill areas are able to enjoy DN! on WERU, but we believe the rest of Maine now also deserves and needs to hear this extraordinary program as well.

Although many journalism schools still teach that one of the profession's highest callings is "to monitor the centers of power," we find that Democracy Now! is one of the rare programs today that puts this ideal into practice. The DN! staff has won wide professional recognition for their courageous coverage and investigations, including the George Polk Award for Journalism, the Robert F. Kennedy Prize for International Reporting, the Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia Silver Baton, the Armstrong Award, and the Radio/Television News Directors Award, as well as awards from AP, UPI, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Democracy Now! not only enjoys critical acclaim, 120 stations now carry the show across the country and all agree that it has developed a broad and devoted audience. We would be proud to have MPR join that list, and sincerely believe the program will boost the network's audience, membership, and reputation in Maine civil society.

This request is submitted on behalf of a variety of religious, political, environmental, labor, educational, and peace groups from across the State, and the list of supporting individuals and organizations swiftly continues to grow.

We look forward to your positive response to this appeal and to your continued leadership in providing Maine's people with the range of news and views we so urgently need to inform ourselves, comprehend our times, and preserve our own democracy here and now.

Sincerely,

Your Group's Signature here...

Current signatories listed below…

"I am a regular listener of Democracy Now! it is stimulating, refreshing and informative!"
   -- Don Terry, National Correspondent for The New York Times

"Democracy Now! is an excellent, illuminating radio program. I listen to itas often as I can, either early in the morning when i'm working out or later in the morning, driving to the office. Whether the subject is military repression in Indonesia, sweatshop labor around the globe, genetically altered food, the death penalty or a local environmental struggle-- to name just a few subjects that have caught my attention in recent months -- I invariably feel that I am better informed after listening to Democracy Now!
   -- Henry Weinstein, Legal Affairs Reporter for The Los Angeles Times

"Democracy Now! has really helped build our audience during the afternoon news block and it has been very important in our fundraising. The show has been hugely successful. It has brought a whole new audience to KUNM and it has allowed us to diversify our listenership."
   - Marcos Martinez, News Director, KUNM (NM)

"The response to Democracy Now over the last six years has been overwhelming. The show raises more money for us than either Morning Edition or All Things Considered. The message from our community is clear - Democracy Now is an essential part of our programming schedule."
   - Christine Ahern, Station Manager, WJFF (NY)

"Amy Goodman is an extraordinary journalist, in the grand American tradition of Lincoln Steffens, Heywood Broun, I.F. Stone, carrying their brilliant investigative reporting into the new realm of broadcasting. She has become a legendary figure in the field, has reported from some of the most beleaguered and dangerous places in the globe, with impeccable honesty and courage. Her contribution to our culture is unique bringing information and ideas to her listeners which they cannot see in the major media."
   - Howard Zinn, author, 'A People's History of the United States'

"When the rest of the world wants to know what the U.S. government is up to, we turn to Noam Chomsky, Edward Said, Howard Zinn, Ed Herman, Amy Goodman... to tell us what's really going on."
   - Arundhati Roy, author, "The God of Small Things'

• Students Confront New School University President Bob Kerrey Over His Role In The Committee For The Liberation Of Iraq And Demand Resignation
• Democracy Now! To Former Senator Bob Kerrey: Would You Support A War Crimes Tribunal For Your Own Role In Massacring Vietnamese Civilians? Would You Support Barring CIA Recruiters From College Campuses Or Professors Working For The CIA?

• Hundreds Of Church Leaders To March On The United Nations To Call For Peace: We Talk To Civil Rights Leader And Martin Luther King's Mentor Reverend James Lawson (12.10.02)
• Talk-Back To War: People Call In To Democracy Now's Answering Machine (12.10.02)
• Over 600 Gather For The Funeral Of Legendary Anti-War Activist Philip Berrigan In Baltimore: We Hear from Historian Howard Zinn and Brendan Walsh, Who Was Arrested with Berrigan in Catonsville, Md. in 1968 for Torching Military Draft Cards (12.10.02)
• Philip Berrigan, 1923-2002: The Legendary Anti-War And Anti-Nuclear Activist Dies In Baltimore On Friday At Jonah House Surrounded By Family And Friends. We Broadcast A Special Report From Saint Peter Claver Catholic Church, One Of His First Parishes (12.09.02)
• Religious Rebel, A Look At The Life Of Philip Berrigan And Non-Violent Anti-War Activism: A Roundtable Discussion With Plowshares Activists Who Were Jailed For Committing Civil Disobedience Actions With Berrigan By Entering Military Bases And Hammering On Nuclear Warheads To Symbolically Disarm Them

• As Colin Powell Is Heckled at the Earth Summit, We'll Hear Voices from Around the World Speaking Back: A Canadian Farmer Tells How He Was Sued by Biotech Giant Monsanto
• "Africa Is Not for Sale!"; Speaking out against the So-Called 'New Partnership for Africa's Development'
• 'Blue Gold: The Battle to Stop Corporate Theft of the World's Water'

• "We Wanted Our Children To Be Professionals. We Wanted Our Children To Be Lawyers And Doctors And School Teachers. We Wanted For All Children What All People Want For Their Children": The Mothers And Sisters Of The Central Park 5 Speak Out As The Manhattan DA Asks The Judge To Throw Out Their Convictions
• Attorney Barry Scheck And NYC Councilman Bill Perkins Call For Mandatory Videotaping Of Police Interrogations
• "The Court's Role Is To Maintain The Social Order." "Jesus Couldn't Have Won It." We Go Back In Time With The Words Of Famed Attorney William Kunstler, Sharonne Salaam, Mother Of Yusef Salaam, And Historian Robin Kelley On The Scottsboro Nine

• Iraq Journal: on-the-ground reports from our award-winning producer Jeremy Scahill in Iraq. The reports include snapshots of the lives of ordinary Iraqis and explorations of how a massive US attack will affect civilians. They also include interviews with key players inside Iraq, tours of hospitals and weapons factories, and in-depth analysis, such as how Iraq's oil reserves figure in US government motives.
• Interviews with the people who are most directly affected by the "War on Terror" in this country, including ex-detainees and family members of detainees.
• Interviews with experts, politicians and leading activists who disagree with the Bush administration and are ignored by the mainstream media
• On-the-ground coverage of anti-war protests
• Debates between administration spokespeople and activists
• Performances by musicians/singers/artists whose work is marginalized in wartime
• ln-depth analysis and discussion of other breaking stories, with topics ranging from corporate corruption to labor rights, police brutality to sexual abuse to gun violence, globalization to the environment.
• Some recent guests: former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter, former UN humanitarian coordinator to Iraq Hans von Sponeck, an African-American whose Pakistani husband was nearly deported and is still imprisoned, Arundhati Roy, Ani DiFranco, filmmaker Michael Moore, former CIA director James Woolsey debating former Attorney General Ramsey Clark, British MP George Galloway, Ralph Nader and Noam Chomsky.