Astroturf in the Glendale News-Press

Seriously, you'd think that opinion page editors would be wise by now to "astroturf" -- letters to the editor or commentary pieces that aren't really written by the local resident who submits them, but are really just form letters written up by some special interest group's PR camp.

Because they're stamped with the name of a local resident (who does little more than cut and paste the letter/commentary and add his or her name), "astroturf" letters still regularly make it into newspapers across the country.

Seriously, editors: It's called Google. If you receive a letter that's a little too sleekly written, or if it's about a national issue and seems just a little too professional... just Google a few choice lines and see where else it has popped up.

In today's Glendale News-Press, the LATimes-owned neighborhood paper runs a "Community Commentary" from La Crescenta resident Michele Mac Neal, "director of the LA/Foothills chapter of the Parents Television Council." Here's the first few graphs:

Expanded basic cable has become a Pandora's Box for families. Many parents welcome expanded basic cable into their homes because it opens up a whole universe of family-friendly programming, including channels like the Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and others.

But to access the educational and family-friendly networks, families are also forced to pay for channels they don't want and that actually make their jobs as parents much more difficult. In addition to trying to protect their children from the unsuitable programming on many of the broadcast networks, parents also have to try to protect their children from the much more explicit fare on MTV, F/X, Comedy Central and the like.

Many in our community find something wrong with requiring consumers to pay for a product they don't want, and may even find offensive, in order to get something they do want.

Just Google a few lines, and you'll find this piece in the Gainsville (Ga.) Times by Leslie Ann Dauphin, a "member of the Atlanta chapter of the Parents Television Council":

Expanded basic cable has become a Pandora's Box for families. Many parents welcome expanded basic cable into their homes because it opens up a whole universe of family-friendly programming. There's the Disney channel, Nickelodeon, ABC Family Channel, the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and more.

But to access these educational and family-friendly networks, families are also forced to pay for channels they don't want and that actually make their job as a parent much more difficult. In addition to trying to protect their children from the unsuitable programming on many of the broadcast networks, parents also have to try to protect their children from the much more explicit fare on MTV, F/X, Comedy Central and the like.

There is something terribly and fundamentally wrong with requiring consumers to pay for a product they don't want, and may even find offensive, in order to get something they do want.

Yes, they're the same, and I'm sure can be found on the PTC website or newsletter.

I suppose you can't fault these special interest groups for trying -- after all, it works. They get their message in papers across the country. But c'mon, papers, let's be a little vigilant. There's something wrong in labeling it a "community commentary" when it's really a form letter from a special interest group. It's not hard to police.