[Updated at 5:52 p.m. ET with more reaction.]
Angry at The Journal News for revealing names and addresses of handgun permit owners in the paper's coverage area, readers have now retaliated by making public what they claim is Gannett CEO Gracia Martore's home address in Virginia as well as her photograph.
"House is loaded with highly valuable easily transprtable items,'' a poster identified only as "vintovka" wrote in a typo-riddled comment on a website for assault rife enthusiasts. "As a promonent liberal from suburban D.C. she probably goes to a lot of well publisised funerals, during which her house would be empty.
"While she does have and alarm system a simple smash and grab robbery would be highley profitable."
Separately, a blogger has posted what he says is the home address and telephone number for Journal News Publisher Janet Hasson, plus an address and home number for the reporter involved in the paper's account. That post has now been picked up by the widely read conservative blog Instapundit.
Elsewhere, readers have now posted more than 24,000nearly 21,000 mostly blistering comments on an ABC News story about the paper's identifying the permit holders in Westchester and Rockland counties in suburban New York City. The owners' IDs, in the form of a searchable map, were published on Saturday Sunday. The paper's disclosure is also spreading rapidly across Twitter.
The information doesn't include owners of long guns such as rifles or shotguns, which can be purchased without a permit, the paper said. And it noted that inclusion in the map does not mean the individual at a specific location owns a weapon, only that they're licensed to do so.
'Targets for thieves and thugs'
In a statement to ABC News, the paper defended its decision, saying readers "are understandably interested to know about guns in their neighborhoods" after a gunman killed 20 young school children and six adults in Newtown, Conn., a week before.
But critics would have none of that. "When newspapers turn on the population they serve . . . making a sector of the public unwilling targets for thieves and thugs, they should be closed by that public," a reader wrote moments ago on ABC's story.
The Journal News obtained the names and addresses through public documents under open-records laws. It says it has requested similar information for Putnam County, and plans to add that to the map once it becomes available.
In an online follow-up yesterday, the paper published seven mostly-critical letters to the editor responding to Sunday's disclosure. "The Journal News does it again," said Kevin Murphy. "A poorly written article trying to sensationalize the anti-gun frenzy."
Reaction on Gannett Blog was mostly thumbs-down as well. But there were exceptions, including this comment by Anonymous@1:55 this afternoon: "A gutsy move by TJN and one that should be applauded. The light of day is always the preferred option."
Unintended 'crowdsourcing'
Martore's reported home address is now spreading to many other websites.
In turning the tables on GCI's top executive, readers have demonstrated the power they now hold in an online world. Many newspapers encourage readers to engage in "crowdsourcing," where they gather information on their own and post it online, often to supplement the paper's own reporting.
In this case, however, crowdsourcing has backfired to a degree that the Journal News almost certainly never intended.
This isn't the first time a GCI paper has taken heat for publishing reams of sensitive information about private citizens. In 2007, the publisher of The Lansing State Journal apologized for publishing a database of state employee salaries that didn't include enough context about why it was of interest to the public.
Angry at The Journal News for revealing names and addresses of handgun permit owners in the paper's coverage area, readers have now retaliated by making public what they claim is Gannett CEO Gracia Martore's home address in Virginia as well as her photograph.
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| Martore |
"While she does have and alarm system a simple smash and grab robbery would be highley profitable."
Separately, a blogger has posted what he says is the home address and telephone number for Journal News Publisher Janet Hasson, plus an address and home number for the reporter involved in the paper's account. That post has now been picked up by the widely read conservative blog Instapundit.
Elsewhere, readers have now posted more than 24,000
The information doesn't include owners of long guns such as rifles or shotguns, which can be purchased without a permit, the paper said. And it noted that inclusion in the map does not mean the individual at a specific location owns a weapon, only that they're licensed to do so.
'Targets for thieves and thugs'
In a statement to ABC News, the paper defended its decision, saying readers "are understandably interested to know about guns in their neighborhoods" after a gunman killed 20 young school children and six adults in Newtown, Conn., a week before.
But critics would have none of that. "When newspapers turn on the population they serve . . . making a sector of the public unwilling targets for thieves and thugs, they should be closed by that public," a reader wrote moments ago on ABC's story.
The Journal News obtained the names and addresses through public documents under open-records laws. It says it has requested similar information for Putnam County, and plans to add that to the map once it becomes available.
In an online follow-up yesterday, the paper published seven mostly-critical letters to the editor responding to Sunday's disclosure. "The Journal News does it again," said Kevin Murphy. "A poorly written article trying to sensationalize the anti-gun frenzy."
Reaction on Gannett Blog was mostly thumbs-down as well. But there were exceptions, including this comment by Anonymous@1:55 this afternoon: "A gutsy move by TJN and one that should be applauded. The light of day is always the preferred option."
Unintended 'crowdsourcing'
Martore's reported home address is now spreading to many other websites.
In turning the tables on GCI's top executive, readers have demonstrated the power they now hold in an online world. Many newspapers encourage readers to engage in "crowdsourcing," where they gather information on their own and post it online, often to supplement the paper's own reporting.
In this case, however, crowdsourcing has backfired to a degree that the Journal News almost certainly never intended.
This isn't the first time a GCI paper has taken heat for publishing reams of sensitive information about private citizens. In 2007, the publisher of The Lansing State Journal apologized for publishing a database of state employee salaries that didn't include enough context about why it was of interest to the public.
Datelines is an occasional roundup of news topping Gannett websites.