Another View of 'Citizen Feedback' to the Mass Media

Joseph Turow, University of Pennsylvania

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Reprinted in Public Opinion Quarterly, Volume 41, Issue 4, Winter 1977-78, pages 534-543.

Abstract

Letter-writing has traditionally been an encouraged form of expressing opinion in the United States. The oft-heard advice to "write your congressman," the space which magazines devote to correspondence they receive, and the importance that newspapers lend to their "letters to the editor" by placing them next to the editorial page seem to legitimize this form of public communication as an integral part of the democratic process. It is understandable, then, that many individuals direct letters of complaint and demand for change at organizations which they perceive as responsible to the public and important to their lives.