Good journalism? I am annoyed that the focus of the letters to the editor on Nov. 4 appear to be promoting the credibility of your newspaper to your readers.
Your “Guest Opinion” authors – Don Urbanus and Bob Reagan – shouldn’t be writing letters to the editor praising the newspaper they write for or giving political advice for a recall using this newspaper to further their one-sided biased opinions. This is neither credible, ethical, objective or respectable.
The “freedom of speech or freedom of the press” is not the issue. You have an ethical and moral obligation to the public to write the truth without influencing the readers’ opinions either way.
I have observed the names promoted as viable candidates for District 5. Spare the sales pitch, advice and conduct critique. The names are not familiar in the battle to save Rancho Calaveras from inclusion in the grant-funded Valley Springs Community Plan and others ran the Thomas campaign amuck. During the public vote to withdraw Rancho from the unsolicited Valley Springs Community Plan, none of those named debated to support or defended Rancho or Valley Springs. They were silent.
It was defeated and was supported by over 2,500 documented public protests, presentations and letters defending property rights, due process, full disclosure and the right to a community plan that belongs to the people that live, work and own property within the Valley Springs boundaries. Those proposed candidate names were not among them.
In my opinion, what we see when watching others depends on the incorruptibility of the onlooker and the judgment of the newspapers to report news in an unbiased and objective manner based on that incorruptibility.
Things are not always what they seem as written in your newspaper. Allowing your newspaper and staff writer – a recall proponent – to influence your readers in the District 5 recall is not professional or credible. It’s a conflict of interest.
P. Pereira
Campo Seco
Editor’s note: Neither Urbanus nor Reagan are staff writers for the Enterprise. They are community members who occasionally submit columns to the Opinion page. Doing so doesn’t mean they forfeit the privilege to express themselves in letters to the editor. The Enterprise invites their letters just as it welcomes letters from those who disagree with them.
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