2008 Woodie Awards
Newspapers should report, not exploit
Weighing in on Godzilla
The Voyager
Issue date: 10/11/07 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 1
It is the job of newspaper reporters and editors to report the news.
Last Thursday, a newspaper created the news.
The Pensacola News Journal exposed "Godzilla," a frequent poster on the News Journal's Web site forum, as Escambia County School Board member Jeff Bergosh.
Under his pseudonym, Bergosh dissented many school board decisions and even praised himself as an upstanding member of that board, fighting the good fight, as they say.
But then the News Journal divulged Godzilla's true identity.
Why?
The News Journal's argument is that Bergosh, as a public official, should have used his real name because he was posting on a public forum.
Perhaps that would have been the wiser choice for Bergosh to make. But the point wasn't made clear in the article. It wasn't until the executive editor, Richard Schneider, posted a comment on the forum himself that this point was brought to light.
Journalists strive to be watch dogs for the public.
However, Bergosh's actions were neither illegal nor concerning. Therefore, the need for a watch dog has diminished.
The Voyager understands the New Journal's concerns: Would Bergosh voice his opinions if he knew those listening, or reading in this case, knew him as a school board member? Or would he sing a completely different tune from Godzilla's while campaigning for office? In short, does he post under a pseudonym to protect his position?
It's definitely possible and probably true. But the News Journal failed to ask him that question, or if the reporter did, the answer didn't make Thursday's article.
The public was not the paper's concern. Consequently, integrity was lost.
What the News Journal did do was run the Bergosh story on the front, and in that story, some of Bergosh's most embarrassing quotes were published, along with his e-mail address.
The article makes Bergosh look like a fool, but does not attempt to alert the public to how this situation could be concerning. A bias was inherent in that story - the bias to sell more newspapers.
After the story was published, readers immediately voiced their concerns, and rightfully so, because if Godzilla can make page one, what's next?
Articles are never really about public officials; they're about the citizens under those public officials.
The News Journal had a right to run that story, but they did so in an underhanded way - by exploiting Bergosh and goading the public.
The executive editor, Richard A. Schneider, later defended the story on the New Journal forum, but it was too late because if it was the News Journal's intent to serve the public, comments from the public should have been in the article.
But citizens were ignored and only other school board members, along with the board's lawyer, were asked for comment.
Everyone who has taken a media law class knows that public officials are always fair game for the media. What was wrong with the Godzilla article is simply that, this time, a paper was in it for itself, and not its readers.
-- The Voyager
Last Thursday, a newspaper created the news.
The Pensacola News Journal exposed "Godzilla," a frequent poster on the News Journal's Web site forum, as Escambia County School Board member Jeff Bergosh.
Under his pseudonym, Bergosh dissented many school board decisions and even praised himself as an upstanding member of that board, fighting the good fight, as they say.
But then the News Journal divulged Godzilla's true identity.
Why?
The News Journal's argument is that Bergosh, as a public official, should have used his real name because he was posting on a public forum.
Perhaps that would have been the wiser choice for Bergosh to make. But the point wasn't made clear in the article. It wasn't until the executive editor, Richard Schneider, posted a comment on the forum himself that this point was brought to light.
Journalists strive to be watch dogs for the public.
However, Bergosh's actions were neither illegal nor concerning. Therefore, the need for a watch dog has diminished.
The Voyager understands the New Journal's concerns: Would Bergosh voice his opinions if he knew those listening, or reading in this case, knew him as a school board member? Or would he sing a completely different tune from Godzilla's while campaigning for office? In short, does he post under a pseudonym to protect his position?
It's definitely possible and probably true. But the News Journal failed to ask him that question, or if the reporter did, the answer didn't make Thursday's article.
The public was not the paper's concern. Consequently, integrity was lost.
What the News Journal did do was run the Bergosh story on the front, and in that story, some of Bergosh's most embarrassing quotes were published, along with his e-mail address.
The article makes Bergosh look like a fool, but does not attempt to alert the public to how this situation could be concerning. A bias was inherent in that story - the bias to sell more newspapers.
After the story was published, readers immediately voiced their concerns, and rightfully so, because if Godzilla can make page one, what's next?
Articles are never really about public officials; they're about the citizens under those public officials.
The News Journal had a right to run that story, but they did so in an underhanded way - by exploiting Bergosh and goading the public.
The executive editor, Richard A. Schneider, later defended the story on the New Journal forum, but it was too late because if it was the News Journal's intent to serve the public, comments from the public should have been in the article.
But citizens were ignored and only other school board members, along with the board's lawyer, were asked for comment.
Everyone who has taken a media law class knows that public officials are always fair game for the media. What was wrong with the Godzilla article is simply that, this time, a paper was in it for itself, and not its readers.
-- The Voyager
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