MADELINE ISLAND NEWS AND INFORMATION
EDITORIAL
ANONYMOUS OR NOT? by Edward Itor
Posted: February 2, 2008
Madeline Island News Organization has now been on the internet for a little over thirty days. Much can happen in thirty days.
During this time we have heard comments about our website from members of Madeline Island and the town of La Pointe community. Some are from people who are only around in the summertime while others are from people who are here all year. Some comments are positive, while others are not. During this time we have received emails from people who have submitted stories, articles, and want to help. This sends us a positive message and makes us want to continue our efforts, something that we are not obligated nor bound to do. We can shut down this website at any time. However, based on the number of hits this website has received, we think that there is enough interest to keep this site up and running. Perhaps indefinitely.
Also, we have not received any agendas or meeting minutes from any government officials. However, someone on the C.A.P.P. Committee provided us with a digital copy of the Smart Growth Plan. It is interesting to note have also not received any emails from anyone pointing out any factual errors we have made or offered any corrections, despite our invitation to do so.
In fact, our very first email was from someone who wished to donate money to our cause.
We have also watched a proposed property nuisance ordinance created by group of people who are to be working on reviewing La Pointe's current ordinances incite people in the community into action (La Pointe Town Plan Commission).
We think it is fair to say that the proposed property nuisance ordinance has probably been the biggest issue to come before the community for a long time as it's ramifications, if passed, would essentially give the Town of La Pointe the power to dictate what a property owner can or cannot have on their property, where it can be, and how long it can be there, with serious consequences to property owners who fail to comply.
After Tuesday night's Public Workshop on the ordinance, we may be able to rest a little easier, knowing at least one Town Plan Commissioner's mind about such an ordinance may have been changed. Or at least, this is our opinion.
But whose opinion?
That seem to be a theme with at least two of the candidates for Town Board Supervisor and a former Town Board Supervisor who comments from his couch, according to their "articles" in The Island Gazette. Each of these people seem to be saying that an "anonymous opinion" is not as valid as an opinion with a name attached to it. Maybe they are right. It's a fair enough question.
Let's consider their "opinions" with their names attached. The candidates whom we talking about are Beth Fischlowitz and Ric Gillman. The one "from the couch" is La Pointe resident and former Town Chair Burke Henry. We now have three names of fairly well know members of the community. Let's now say we have a controversial topic that we would like to discuss, and all three people submitted opinions for the public to read. Whose opinion would you read first?
Some might say, "I don't care what Ric Gillman 's opinion is, as I don't like Ric Gillman!" "I like Burke Henry and Beth Fischlowitz and I'll read their articles."
Maybe, because of some preconceived bias towards Ric, his opinion will never reach the reader, does not like Ric. This is unfortunate because maybe these people actually agree with Ric but don't even know it, and won't know it because they cannot put their personal feelings for Ric aside long enough to read his opinion.
Now let's switch this around. This time we'll use the same controversial topic and offer three anonymous opinions, except you don't know who the people are who wrote them as they wish to remain anonymous. Which one will you read first?
Will you read them all, or will you not read any of them because you don't know who they are?
We are guessing that if someone is interested enough in a controversial topic, interested enough in it to actually take the time and research it to learn as much as they can, they will most likely read all three opinions, especially if they are presented in such a way that makes it impossible to determine the author's identities. Perhaps they may read them repeatedly just to try and determine who might these people be.
Perhaps they may only agree with one of the opinions, but the authors of the other two opinions have now had a chance to have their opinions be read without any preconceived bias towards them as the authors. Then, if the identity of the authors are revealed after the reader has had a chance to read the opinions of all three writers, the reader may be surprised by who wrote them, and possibly gain new respect for the authors. Or maybe not.
Now let's say the reader reads an opinion by someone who signed their name to it. Let's say that the reader decided they strongly disagreed with one of the authors. Let's say that the author was employed by the reader. In an ideal world, this would not be a problem as ideally two people who strongly disagreed with each other could have an excellent employee-employer relationship. But what would happen if they didn't?
Maybe the employer decided to pass over the employee for a promotion or a raise?
Maybe the employer decided to make things hard for the employee by giving them jobs that the employee would rather not do?
Maybe the employer decided to fire the employee?
All these things are possible. Especially in a small community like La Pointe where everyone knows everyone else.
We think that anonymity can be a good thing. Many newspapers print editorials without names attached. For instances, on The Ashland Daily Press website, there are editorials with the only bylines being "The Ashland Daily Press".
Here are two examples...
http://www.ashlandwi.com/dailypress/?section_id=766&story_id=216164
http://www.ashlandwi.com/dailypress/?section_id=766&story_id=216174
Who wrote these articles?
Obviously the "newspaper" didn't write them; a human being wrote them. But whom? Was it one person? Was it two people? Was it the editorial staff? Was it the editor of the paper? Was it the owner of the paper?
Who knows. It is impossible to tell. If you made an inquiry to the Ashland Daily Press, you may find out.
In the January 21st 2008 issue of The Island Gazette, Burke Henry says "Unidentified criticism in the public market is worthless."
Well, here is some 'unidentified' criticism and we don't think that it is worthless.
Not only is it routine to publish such opinions in The Ashland Daily Press, but many, many other newspapers print editorial opinions without the individuals penning the pieces identified.
Also, in elections for local, state, and national government, a newspaper will endorse candidates. For example, The New York Times, as a newspaper, recently endorsed Hilary Clinton's for President of the United States (click here to read their endorsement). This is also a common practice. Just go to a search engine like Yahoo or Google and type "newspaper presidential endorsements" and see what comes up.
Even The Island Gazette prints "stories" with opinions. For instance, in the January 21st issue of The Island Gazette, there appears a story with the headline "PUBLIC NUISANCE AND PROPERTY MAINTENANCE A BIG ISSUE". There is no byline and no one is taking credit for the "story".
The story is as follows:
The Town of La Pointe Town Plan Commission (TPC) have worked for several month to consolidate the various resolutions and ordinances into one comprehensive document. They have also suggested numerous changes to our zoning. (See page 8). However, the issue that has exploded the populace has been the Public Nuisance/Property Maintenance Ordinance. (See pages 9 through 12)
This simple paragraph contains one line that is purely opinion, "...the issue that has exploded the populace". This has the overtones of a bomb being dropped.
Is it true? Maybe. We think from our personal observations around town that this ordinance is one of the biggest issues to come before the Town of La Pointe's officials. However we have also heard some of these officials, as well as residents, saying that they do not understand what the big deal about this is. Maybe "exploded the populace" is a bit of an exaggeration?
It is not clear who wrote this story. Was it Waggie, the "Editor and Typist"? Was it Evan Erickson, the publisher? Was it one of the readers who submitted the story?
We simply do not have enough evidence to make an accurate determination. However, we can assume with some certainty that it may be either Evan or Waggie, but because it is anonymous, does it diminish its validity?
We will leave this to you to decide. In the mean time, we think we'll continue to remain anonymous.
Edward Itor
Madeline Island News Organization
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