[PLUG-TALK] Fadeley vs. Free Speech

[Rich Shepard]

On Wed, 21 Jun 2006, Keith Lofstrom wrote:

> The Oregonian has never run one of my letters as is; they edit stuff out,
> they misspell, and once they took out a "not".
>
> The medium is the message, and the message is "we own this medium, and we
> will change your message to suit us". And that is why the web, on servers
> in other countries if necessary, is a better channel for free speech and
> accurate reporting than the credentialed media.

Keith, et al.:

   They do the same -- and worse -- when "reporting" on environmental issues.
Once I had a short e-mail exchange with their environmental reporter
regarding technical inaccuracies and errors in an article on the Columbia
River. He told me that their readers would not be interested in the technical
details of a truthful report. So endith that exchange. I also have known them
to not run an op-ed piece or letter that disagrees with the position they
want to promote.

   It's highly unfortunate, IMO, that newspapers have degraded from informing
the public to printing news items where they cannot sell the advertising
space. I guess that's the state of our society's interest in being educated,
informed, and having thoughtful discussions on critical issues.

   If you're very quite, you can hear the baa-ing in the background.

Rich

-- 
Richard B. Shepard, Ph.D.               |    The Environmental Permitting
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