It’s Not The Lack Of Civility From Online Commenters That Has The Media Upset, It’s The Dissent
Yesterday I wrote about Bismarck Tribune editor John Irby using one of his last columns for the newspaper to whine about bloggers and anonymous online commenters. Today the Fargo Forum has an article on the story which quotes me (I’m all for anonymous commenting as anyone familiar with SAB knows).
But more interesting than my comments are these, first from Forum publisher Bill Marcil and Irby himself:
“To be the voice of the community is something that the newspaper has been for years and years, but what responsibility do we have for these anonymous commenters?” Forum publisher Bill Marcil said.
“As a newspaper, we’re looking at that, and we will continue to look at that seriously,” Marcil added, “because I am having a problem giving voice to the anonymous commenters. It’s starting not to make sense to me.”
Irby said he’s not opposed to online comments, but he wants controls to encourage civil discourse.
“There’s less tolerance for alternative points of view, and that’s what journalism has always been about – about presenting as many different voices as possible,” he said. “It’s increasingly hard to do that in journalism without getting attacked.”
It’s ironic to me that Irby accuses commenters and bloggers of having “less tolerance for alternative points of view.” Because bloggers/commenters are the alternative points of view. People like Irby have had their say in the media for decades. In this new media era, everyone gets their say and people like Irby don’t like it and under the guise of grousing about a lack of civility, and a lack of tolerance, they attack these alternative points of view.
Because they’re the ones who are intolerant.
By the way, I’d like to welcome anonymous commenters here to SAB with open arms. We care about what you have to say, even if you’re a jerk when you say it, because we here at SAB value different points of view.
Tags: bill marcil, blogging, john irby, North Dakota News
