Wednesday 18 March 2009

Free speech for all

You've probably seen this Conservatives4Palin claim to victory on Immoral Minority.

ADN Will Cease Linking to Deranged Nutcases

Just an update - a couple of weeks ago, we pointed out that Mark Dent of the Alaska Newsreader, a product of the Anchorage Daily News, was providing links to screwball blogs that espouse loony Trig Truther conspiracy theories and engage in vile personal attacks on the Palin children.

At that time, I put together a complaint to Pat Dougherty, executive editor of the ADN, pointing out the problems at the Newsreader and providing evidence of this behavior for two blogs in particular - "Palingates" and "Immoral Minority". I also pointed out the propensity of the Newsreader to provide links to primarily anti-Palin sites, with little balance in the way of pro-Palin commentary.

I heard back from Mr. Dougherty today - he told me that the complaint had been discussed internally and that he agreed with its substance. So it appears there will be no more ADN link-love for the fringe tinfoil-hat wearers, and hopefully a little more balance at the Newsreader.

Thanks, Mr. Dougherty.

What can I say? I have every right to criticize anybody or anything I want, be it Sarah Palin or the Pope. That goes for all bloggers, journalists and anybody who has an opinion. People can choose to read what I and others write and form their own opinions, agree, disagree, make comments or not.

I grew up in a country under military rule, at a time when dissenters were arrested, tortured or simply disappeared. When I was at university, I made some remarks about the quality of our library and tried to mobilize fellow students to request an upgrade of said library, to expand the catalogue so we could conduct proper research, etc. There was an article in the law of that time designed to silence students who made any unwelcome noises. I received threats and decided to disappear before they could punish me for such a terrible crime. I didn't want my family to spend the rest of their lives searching for me. That's when I moved to England.

Today I blog from France. Other people do it from Alaska, some write from Nebraska. We are fortunate to live in countries that value and defend free speech. There are places where internet access is limited and their governments attempt to control people's thoughts.

I have never rejected or deleted a comment on any of the posts on palingates and never will.

To the people who don't value freedom of speech and want to gag those whose opinions differ from their own, all I can say is, should they succeed, they would place themselves at risk. They may find themselves silenced by the same arguments they used to silence others.
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6 comments:

Dianne said...

Shame on Mr. Dougherty for bowing under that pressure. And good for you, Regina, for having your opinion and and speaking out. To be stifled from saying what you think, muffled from speaking your opinion, is a frightening thing to consider. However, if the Palinbots were to get their way, that is what we would all in this country have to fear. After the last 8 years, enough is enough. I hope Mr. Doughetry mulls this over and reconsiders. He, seemingly unwillingly, is being complicit in hindering freedom of speech. And we, as people of the world, not just one country, must band together and help each other retain the freedoms that we have. Thanks for what you do.

Duncan said...

Thanks for all you do Regina.

duncan

Anonymous said...

Those C4P'rs are like the Taliban! They are like GINO...they want to censor anything THEY don't like!
You keep writing Regina!
One of these days you will be able to write a book about GINO and it will be truthful and not a pack-o-lies!
These idiots are working hard spending all their time on the ADN flagging everyone who dare speak against GINO. Just like her they try to censor anything that's not to their liking.
American Taliban.
Speak and let your voice be heard!!!

Anonymous said...

VO-C4P posted this on mudflats this morning...It amazes me that THEY think they can CONTROL the content of blogs?
VidOmnia (08:19:29) :

Just a heads-up - we updated our original post at C4P to reflect the fact that we didn’t complain to the ADN about Mudflats, or blogs that engage in purely political criticism.
We only ever complained about sites that engage in attacks on children or blatant slander, something that no decent person should promote or tolerate.


So these are GINO's minions, the BLOG police, they can talk about President Obama, how "awful" he is etc. But don't let anyone say a word against GINO....?
Hypocritical, sanctimonious idiots!!!
Oh and Regina, we were also graced with a visit from "Greg" spewing his venom before he was flung out into the mudflats by AKM.

regina said...

Crystalwolf,

I saw VO's comment on Mudflats. He's so proud of himself! He made no comment on THIS post...

Poor Greg (not!), I dared him to go and comment on Mudflats. The silly boy said it was no big deal, but he doesn't last 2 minutes over there.

Anonymous said...

VO-he probably hasn't seen it yet, I'm sure he will be yapping, that they are not trying to censor, just...
Trying to suppress the truth from coming out about GINO! LOL!
And that's really it, when you pursue stories about Trig,Tripp they get all sanctimonious about it. Because if the truth did come out,lol Where would they all be? Have to admit "She lied to US"
They haven't gotten it that everytime she opens her mouth a lie pops out!