The email response was phenomenal. The telephone calls were even more numerous. Weeks went by, and the calls continued to roll in. I tried to answer as many as I could, and I tried to transcribe some of them. There were some worthwhile tips.
Emails are frankly easier to deal with than telephone calls.
With telephone calls, I wish that we would each have two different telephone numbers, one for the tagline and another for our regular work. I haven't experienced organized efforts to respond to stories, but I believe others on the staff have. Probably the most valuable aspect of the tagline calls and emails is the opportunity to gauge public reaction. We cannot judge the reaction to our stories by the reaction of one small sector of the society. In the Linda David case, however, it told me that we had struck a nerve.