April 23, 2009
Mike Beck
Publisher
Wausau Daily Herald
Wausau, Wis.
Via e-mail
Mike:
Did the Wausau Daily Herald help Village of Weston Supervisor Dean Zuleger identify a critic who posted anonymous comments on your paper's website? If not, did someone hack into your site?
I look forward to your reply.
Jim Hopkins
A letter -- and a mystery
Zuleger sent a letter to the critic, visible, below, in this detail from a screenshot I took today. I have the entire letter, and have discussed its contents with Zuleger.
In a telephone interview early this afternoon, he said he did not get his critic's real name and mailing address from the Wausau Daily Herald. But when I pressed him, Zuleger refused to say how he could have gotten possession of intellectual property of the Gannett Co. Inc. He said he would ask Village President Fred Schuster to call me. I have not heard back. (Click image for much bigger view.)
Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write gannettblog[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green rail, upper right.
Yeah, this is really leaving me with a queasy feeling, but I gotta say. years ago, when forums started getting popular, I started to use the philosophy:don't write any thing in an anonymous forum that you wouldn't be willing to sign.
ReplyDeleteThat's my gut check on libel, slander and even in simply being civil. Sure, when a city official is wrong, and I KNOW they are wrong, I'm comfortable calling them out, even if I don't sign my name.
Nonetheless, this man's identity should never have been made public. The paper has made a big mistake in supporting this effort. They have essentially thrown all their forumteers under the bus.
yawn.
ReplyDeleteI can guarantee the Wausau Daily Herald gave up the name, and I'm certain it was a combination of Peter J. Wasson (seriously, a middle initial?) and Mark Treinen arguing for it.
ReplyDeleteThis is a small-town community paper that has gone through the normal ebbs and flows of any smaller paper, but if you look at the flood of talent leaving the paper since they've been in charge you'd be amazed (good people you can Google and see they've gone on to respectable publications).
They care far, far, far more about their sources than their reporting, and they've turned the paper into a shambles.
And now they've hit a new low in selling out online posters.
Despicable.
Beck likely set a bad precedent as he should not have released the name unless he was legally compelled to do so. And, if "Juan" did cross the line for that, wouldn't that be worthy of a story?
ReplyDeleteJuan should take any all means available to him to expose what the newspaper apparently did, including Zuleger's tactics.
Sadly, under Gannett, our newspaper ceased being a newspaper too. It's a big advertorial masquerading as a newspaper.
ReplyDeleteI've had compelling, well verified news stories killed just because an advertiser's newsworthy action put itself in an unfavorably light. A wolf in sheep's clothing is dangerous, I say.
Jim
ReplyDeleteYou're wasting time on this one. It's not difficult to find identities of posters, particularly regular ones, on small community sites.
1. They talk among each other like a club.
2. They reveal too much about themselves and their beliefs. And they at times make the same comments in public.
3. They post "clues" about themselves, families, friends or contacts.
4. They turn on each other when someone breaks the law or their "internal rules".
All someone would have to do watch the conversation, listen to people talk about the posters and eventually figure out who the person is based upon their comments.
Using the nature of social networking, it's not difficult to do. In some small communities, it's a game figuring out people.
"Those reviewing the site" could be the official, his spouse and a neighbor.
ReplyDeleteObviously from the letter, the official has been "tracking" the poster because the official has followed the person's comments on other sites. The official notices the similarities between the two.
The official narrowed down the poster's identity.
1. The reader told me that only three other people knew his real identity.
ReplyDelete2. If the Wausau Daily Herald did not disclose this reader's personally identifying information to the politician he criticized, then why did Publisher Michael Beck simply say so? Instead, here's the exchange:
Hopkins: Did the Wausau Daily Herald help Village of Weston Supervisor Dean Zuleger identify a critic who posted anonymous comments on your paper's website? If not, did someone hack into your site?
Beck: As for your question, we abide by our online terms of use. They do not guarantee anonymity. I won't address the Zuleger story. However, I can envision a scenario where we would release contact information for someone making comments on our site. For instance, if someone were making threatening comments.
How is it actual malice, or any actionable offense at all, if he really is fat?
ReplyDelete