December 11, 2007
Ventura County Star editor's kinda', sorta' mea culpa
As news of the Ventura County Star's hostility to readers who dare to disagree spreads throughout the web, editor Joe Howry has been contacting critics with an apology.
Here's the comment he left on this blog:
Dear Mr. Lief: I was off yesterday and was unaware the comments had been taken down. I have seen to it that they have been restored, and I have written an apology. I don't know why they were taken down, but we are doing what we can to make sure this doesn't happen again.
Sincerely,
Joe R. Howry
Editor
Ventura County StarP.S. In the interest of accuracy, please note the correct spelling of my name.
I appreciate the fact that Howry is trying to clean up his paper's mess, but there's more to it than that.
Take for instance the selective editing done to the apology.
Howry tells me that he doesn't know why the comments were deleted.
But what did he tell readers on the Star's site, in the newly (partially) restored comments section following his article?
I apologize for the comments about my column being taken down. I neither authorized nor approved of the action. I understand that part of the problem was caused by a commenter who used inappropriate language. I urge all commenters to respect one another and use appropriate language.
Sincerely,
Joe R. Howry
Editor
Ventura County Star
I saved a screenshot of the original because of the way things seem to disappear from the newspaper's website.
Notice the difference between the two statements: Howry blames unidentified employees in his comment to me, with no reason given for the deletions, but then proceeds to lay the blame -- in part -- on someone who made "inappropriate" remarks in the comments.
Except that bob100 never said anything inappropriate or offensive, unless daring to disagree with the Star's editor is enough to be deemed banish-worthy. As far as I know, only one comment was abusive, hardly justifying the mass deletion of all the other substantive criticisms of Howry's editorial.
And that doesn't address why the Star thought that comments left by readers outraged by the quick use of the "delete" key was grounds for deletion, too.
It's also of some note that Howry posted the apology on the Star's site at 9:31 a.m., laying the blame on those "inappropriate" commenters, yet when he posted his more general, "I don't know why" comment on my site 32 minutes later, the (dubious) rationale had disappeared.
But it gets more devious than that.
Little Green Footballs, the website that broke the story about Dan Rather's use of forged documents during the 2004 presidential campaign, picked up a strand from Patterico's post and wove it into a noose: Ventura County Star Caught Using MSM Comment Deletion Trick
It’s a thoroughly evil trick: you post a comment at a mainstream media site that criticizes them, or goes against their prevailing biases, and the administrator deletes your comment. But they delete it in a sneaky way; when you visit the page and are logged in to your account, you still see your comment, but everyone else sees either nothing or a message that the comment was deleted.
It’s Orwellian, in a convoluted Boolean kind of way. They make you think everyone else is simply ignoring what you wrote. And they also insulate themselves from criticism by making you, the commenter, believe your comment was never deleted at all. They turn you into an un-person at their web site, unknowingly posting meaningless comments into a heedless void.
I almost admire the tactic for its sheer deviousness.
The latest paper to be caught using it is the Ventura County Star.
Last time I checked, that post had drawn almost 600 comments.
Another blogger has the details on the Star's skullduggery: JunkYardBlog: Ventura County Star is Pretty Much Busted.
Do you remember the recent unpleasantness when the San Francisco Chronicle was caught using software that isolated particular commenters with viewpoints they didn't agree with?
It worked this way: If you left a comment and had been flagged as a troublemaker using a "Block User" feature, you could still see your comment, but nobody else could. So you were basically talking to yourself. You thought your posts were showing up but simply being ignored by everyone else. Of course, if you weren't logged in as yourself, then you couldn't see your posts.
[...]
That's exactly what I believe is happening at the Ventura County Star, a paper that leaped to internet infamy last night by expunging unpopular comments and hoping the blogosphere wouldn't notice. I posted about that here. Patterico posted about it today at Hot Air, here.
I'm not the only one to notice this. In that Hot Air thread, other commenters who tried to leave comments at the Ventura County Star reported that they couldn't see my comments. And I couldn't see theirs.
Column author and VCS editor Joe Howry blames the elimination of dissent on a technical error.
Well, I submit that Mr. Howry isn't having a technical glitch at all, but rather is just using the "Block User" feature to eliminate dissenting opinion. And, below the jump, I have some pretty little screen captures to prove it.
[...]
Lesson to censors, like Mr. Howry: "Block User" might be a useful tool for dealing with truly lone nuts, but in the blogosphere, the "nuts" hunt in packs. We're aware of the Block User tool and it's completely inadequate for dealing with the distributed intelligence of the blogosphere, where people can actually compare notes and react to your censorship. Using it just makes you look cowardly and dumb.
Restore all the comments, Mr. Howry, and apologize for your deception. If you didn't do it yourself, explain who the responsible party is and why this won't happen again. You are, after all, editor of the Ventura County Star.
When you're in a hole, common sense tells you to stop digging.
But the Star, like the rest of the old-school, main-stream media, just can't get a handle on the new rules: instant accountability, and an end to their monopoly on the flow of information.
It used to be said that it never made sense to get into an argument with a man that buys ink by the barrel, but the interconnected nature of the internet has created hundreds -- thousands of fact checkers and editors, standing by to pounce on the MSM's mistakes or deliberate distortions and falsehoods.
I'm not calling Joe Howry a liar. But his "apology" doesn't begin to explain what the heck is going on at his newspaper. Let's just say that Patterico's description of the editor's mea culpa as "disingenuous" is both fair and rather understated.
When will the editor and his paper come clean?
Posted by Mike Lief at December 11, 2007 07:33 PM
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Comments
What nonsense, Howry, or "Howrey," just doesnt get it. He didn't admit he inaccurately reported the facts and he didnt admit he (the Star)engineered a plan to quell a comment clarifiying the true facts.
I see this type of "youa-culpa" all the time. people who shoot their mouths off, write something, make a poor decision and then don't fess up when it's time take responsibility. What's wrong with people these days?
Howry and his merry band of writers/editors had a golden opportunity to step up to the plate and correct a inaccurate story--in the process giving some credibility to their media.
I guess Howry isn't capable of telling the truth about anything, sad, but no one cares and I doubt Howry cares much either. His role is to create revenue, not report true facts. If a lie or controversy grabs more attention, that's more readers and otentially more revenue--that's a good thing Joey.
I've been saying it for years; no one can trust the media to report the truth. They report what they believe will sell newspapers--and generate revenue. That's it.
Thank god for Patterico and you Mike for having the balls to expose the truth. Media giants like the Star, are unlikly to change but this event gives us all a better reason to read and participate in free media--where the truth isn't hidden. As for Howry (I prefer Howrey), what a pitiful excuse.
Posted by: Gene at December 12, 2007 08:37 AM
Mike,
After hitting the send button on my earlier comment it occured to me that this enire event might result in the star offering you an "oportunity." I wouldn't be surprised if Joe sees the future value here in convincing you to join the Star "family." Wouldnt that be something? Would ya?
Posted by: Gene at December 12, 2007 08:43 AM