As reported, at the City Council Meeting on Monday a local blogger interrupted the mayor regarding a subject currently being debated by the League of Oregon Cities about allowing bloggers into executive sessions. The blogger quoted the 1st Amendment citing freedom of the press and further declared that the ONPA would strenuously object to any exclusion of bloggers from executive sessions.
So I spoke with Jean Ivey about this who had spoken with ONPA about this very matter. Here is her response
I spoke with Laurie Hieb, the executive director of the Oregon Newspaper Publisher’s Association. She told me that blogs are outside the defination of ONPA. “Print media has started suplimenting their publications with the edition of web sites, but they hold themselves to the same journilistic ethics they practice in their print versions. To answer your question… No. Their is no other ONPA member or associate in Coquille other than The Sentinal.”
A review of The Society of Professional Journalists, Code of Ethics, the code which the ONPA adheres to suggests that ethical journalists should ‘minimize harm’.
Journalists should:
…
— Recognize that gathering and reporting information may cause harm or discomfort. Pursuit of the news is not a license for arrogance.
— Recognize that private people have a greater right to control information about themselves than do public officials and others who seek power, influence or attention. Only an overriding public need can justify intrusion into anyone’s privacy.
— Show good taste. Avoid pandering to lurid curiosity.
— Be cautious about identifying juvenile suspects or victims of sex crimes.
— Be judicious about naming criminal suspects before the formal filing of charges.
— Balance a criminal suspect’s fair trial rights with the public’s right to be informed.
There are numerous examples where the blogger in question has failed to meet these ethical standards and I assert publishing audio from an answering machine without prior knowledge is also highly unethical. This blogger’s primary goal has been to maximize harm. Further, he has misrepresented ONPA and inferred through his citations that he is a member in good standing when in fact he has no professional credentials.
Ivey added that neither the blogger or his blog
… are members nor, as far as I can see, do they meet the
qualifications for membership
Power shifts are always hard on those from whom the power has shifted. There is more at play here… the blogger (we will have to think of a good name) is bitter because the paper had a different view of his worth and reflected that view when negotiating his position. His bitterness has scrubbed whatever journalistic ethics he may have possessed and colored both his reporting and commentary.
The harpy is just living up to the name she gave herself. Harpies snatched food and happiness from their victims and were prominent in Dante’s Inferno in the second ring, the suicides.
Perhaps, if she renamed herself something pleasant it might have a positive effect upon her character and social skills.
I think we’re seeing, much more clearly than before, how certain “elements” in Coquille have done just that, “stirred the shit” for years now. The damage to citizens, families, and institutions are just now becoming clear to most of the citizens of Coquille. We are human, and we don’t get fired up about an issue, usually, unless it affects us personally. Well, I think the people of Coquille are feeling positive about their city, their police dept (finally) and they will not be coerced into the old BS. These two , the Harpy and the , the, the, oh heck, who KNOWS what that one is, think they can continue with the division that has gone on for years here. The people know they deserve better. The “Reign Of Error” is over, accept it, and stop the bullying and amateur attempts at intimidation. We all want what is best for this county we all live in.
STOP with the BS, get a hobby, get religion, get laid, whatever it takes, but leave the folks trying to support the city alone, okay?