Corey Taule, who took over for Marty Trillhaase last year, announced in the first Post Register edition of 2010 that the PR was making changes to the Opinions page…specifically in the Letters to the Editor part, which he acknowledged was the majority of the content of the Opinions page.
I’m interested in this, because it seems counterintuitive to the concept of a freedom of speech page in a newspaper, which is how I’ve always seen the Opinions page. Some of the changes announced were downright defiant…they refuse to print any more letters that make the claim that President Obama was not born in the United States. Corey said he was tired of those letters, as is Roger Plothow, who is the Publisher. “Enough said”. Wow. What a stand to make, it just seems so contrary to the previous years of allowing all the wingnuts for Conspiracy Theorists R Us their usual ad nauseam weekly forum.
See, I’ve always felt the PR was a toady to the local conservative crowd, that they bent over backwards to the point of self-neutering to try to prove they weren’t liberals. Despite their incessant efforts to publish all the conservative garbage they could get their hands on, it never made a difference. It didn’t matter how much they catered to that group, the teabaggers and John Birchers never warmed to them and still to this day accuses the PR of being a liberal rag, a mere lackey to the liberal cabal that surely holds the REAL power in South East Idaho. Bleah!
Daily News
They’re also asking for less vitriol. Again, wow! Attacking your favorite whipping boy (GWB, BHO, RR, etc) by using sarcastic terms and outright name-calling is now supposed to be taboo. Yeah, right. I’ll believe that when I stop reading it, which would be a total blessing, imho. I’m crossing my fingers on this one, that they really do what they are threatening to do.
And I wonder what the effect of this ban will be…will the sarcasm become more subtle, to see what creative options the letter writer can get away with? And also, will the PR edit or delete the online Post Talks forum nastiness, which tends to be pretty virulent at times?
And they’re calling for an end to letters and columns that pretty much deal with -isms they define as capitalism, socialism, (communism? conservatism/liberalism? ) etc. What? No 450 words on how our Constitution is in trouble because we’ve suddenly become a Marxist state? No 250 words on how Obama is a socialist and bringing the New World Order to fruition and we all must answer a call to revolution to take back our country from the tyranny it is facing?
The only reason this feels bad to me is that I’ve always felt the community newspaper was supposed to be an open forum for all, even the crazy people. Of course, some things such as profanity would always be edited out (it had fucking better be, little kids read the paper when their parents forget to throw it out in a hurry!) and threats of violence against someone else would not be printed due to legal liabilities, etc. But almost every other damned crazy thing was always printed, to my dismay and delight at the same time. Our paper. Our page, content by our community.
Until now. And that is the end of an era to me. In fact, it smacks of private control. It smacks of intelligent planning (I wanted to say “design” there but that term was co-opted by the freaks). It smacks of a business saying, this is who we are and you are welcome to play on our turf but you must play by certain rules of civility that we have determined will meet our sensibilities. Interesting concept, and something I’ve always wanted, but a change to my view of a community newspaper as an open community forum.
But there’s hope. According to Corey:
On the other hand, well-researched columns that deal with specific issues, especially local ones, or even tell a good story will be accepted enthusiastically and published quickly, no matter whether they come from the left, right or center.
Can I get an amen, brothers and sisters? Cheers and kudos to the Post Register, if they will hold firm and stick to their stated principles.
Tags: Corey Taule, Opinions Page, Post Register, Roger Plothow
