correction

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 18:35:44 -0700

Dave here from NixGuy, this might be a shock to you, but you've got the wrong David Stacy. This might be somewhat of a shock, but I've never given to any politician in any way other than blogging effort and maybe a few volunteer hours, (and not recently) and certainly if I had, it wouldn't be Voinovich!!! There just might be more than one David Stacy in the state of Ohio, and whoever that guy is, he's not me. Wildlife Conservation Fund? As if.

PeeDee Slams Credibility Down Shitter; Fires Blogger

Administrator — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 15:44:29 -0700

Sometimes it's rough watching a friend in a trying situation. You know, they just keep hurting themselves. Boozing the days away. Missing work. Falling farther in depression. Slowly ending their sad existence and making life harder and harder on themself. That's kind of what it's been like to watch the Plain Dealer's latest foray into Blogland, WideOpen.

Wide Open, started a few weeks ago as a venture bringing four Ohio bloggers together from across the aisle to blog on anything and everything under the sun; it was pretty apparent from the get go the PeeDee was in over its head. As the weeks went on, Republican bloggers Tom Blumer and David Stacy instituted partisan attacks against Ohio politicos, muslims (BizzyWizzy even got a Cleveland Iman to resign with his fury), and lefty groups, while Dems Jeff Coryell and Jill Miller Zimon used the platform simply as a less aggressive marketplace of ideas. Frankly, the fact that the PlainDealer would condone, publish and pay for such journalism on their website was appalling. But the latest low came today.

Responding to political pressure from calls placed directly from Congressman LaTourette, the paper fired one of its Democratic bloggers because the Congressman did not like Jeff, nor favor his past coverage both while an independent blogger, and while on PeeDee staff. From Jeff's Ohio Daily Blog:

Today Dubail called me and asked if I would agree to never write about LaTourette on "Wide Open," as a condition of my continued participation. He said that the arrangement was sought by Susan Goldberg, Editor of the Plain Dealer. When I declined to agree that I would never write about LaTourette on "Wide Open," I was terminated by DuBail.
As a political blogger, I am a partisan. My political orientation as a progressive Democrat is an integral part of what I do and is completely transparent to my readers. This is a crucial component of being a political blogger/activist, and sets us apart from journalists in the classic sense. It was understood among the four participants in "Wide Open" that we are political partisans and that we would engage in political debate from our respective political points of view.

It's this sort of stuff that really makes you question where the hell the papers are coming from. Did the PeeDee put similar restraints on other bloggers. Have the other members of WideOpen been censored. Can I have Tom Blumer refrain from talking about muslims in the future, or Democrats, or Ted Strickland, Mary Jo Kilroy, etc. Because some of his stuff really pisses me off too.

I am extremely disappointed that the Cleveland Plain Dealer bowed to pressure from an elected official, to the extent of attempting to limit what a freelance political blogger could write on a hosted group blog and of terminating the services of the blogger to please the offical. To me, this sad episode strikes a heavy blow at freedom of expression and the purported journalistic independence of a once proud newspaper.

When the PeeDee caved to political pressure of an elected official simply because he or she does not like the editorials published about him or herself, Ohio's "largest daily" became a caricature of an independent press. Looks like the incumbent protection racket is back with a fury, just in time for 2008.

Also, one question I'll be asking in the coming days is how the Plain Dealer plans to censor its other current bloggers. One justification for censoring Jeff was that he'd donated to Congressman LaTourette's 2006 opponent, Lew Katz. Taking that in mind, the Plain Dealer asked Jeff to never write about LaTourette again. In the same light, David Stacy (aka Nix Guy) has donated to Jim Petro - a Republican candidate for Governor - and George Voinovich in the past. I'm curious if, like Jeff, David will be precluded from writing about Voinovich's opponents, or Governor Ted Strickland, in the future or face termination.

I sure hope so. Anything less would be hypocritical of the paper.

I have a call into Jean Dubail, the online editor of Wide Open. Hopefully we'll hear back soon.

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correction

PeeDee Slams Credibility Down Shitter; Fires Blogger