Municipal McCarthyism
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Mu...921/story.html
BY KEN GRAY, THE OTTAWA CITIZENAPRIL 1, 2009 9:53 AM
In the 1950s, fear ran through the United States and unsubstantiated accusations ruined people's lives.
Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy branded innocent people Communists without a shred of truth, resulting in their being blacklisted from their jobs and bringing them and their families improperly into disrepute. His Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations operated as a kangaroo court, where individuals' backgrounds were probed and trumped up Communist accusations were made. Journalists, early in McCarthy's career, just reported what the senator said -- that there were 57 Communists in the U.S. State Department, even if there weren't.
The period was known as the Red Scare. That's because McCarthy was playing on people's fears and the public was uneasy about the march of Communism. The Soviet Union had quickly developed the atomic bomb with its progress aided by espionage. That same Soviet Union had occupied Eastern Europe. China had gone Communist. McCarthy knew how to play on those fears for political gain.
We have a different kind of McCarthyism at Ottawa City Hall now. Unsubstantiated allegations, rumours, name-calling, mockery and, the worst part of it, all from someone who writes anonymously. Give Joe McCarthy his due -- he might have been a liar, but at least he had the guts to put his name out there.
Zeromeanszero.blogspot.com, or ZMZ as the popular blog has become known across the city, has as its purpose to try to force Mayor Larry O'Brien's resignation. The blog is very effective. With its wit and cruel criticism, the daily rant must be embarrassing for His Worship. In Richard Nixon's era, this blog would have been part of the late U.S. president's dirty tricks campaign. McCarthy and Nixon were unethical figures of the right. History has condemned them. But ZMZ is liberal and the reaction at city hall, a mostly liberal bastion, has been different. One councillor hoped the person behind the blog wouldn't be discovered because this anonymous work "provides a valuable service."
This is the kind of 'journalism' in which the Internet tends to specialize. Some call it citizen journalism, but an accurate description would be unethical, immature and amateurish. A newspaper or broadcast outlet is subject to the laws of libel and contempt. So are blogs, if you can catch the person writing them. And that's the rub ... no one, yet, can prove who is writing ZMZ.
What is likely is that at least one councillor, and perhaps two, is contributing to or writing this. From the voice in the blog, it sounds very much like one councillor in particular. The writer is possessed of details of the goings-on around city hall that only an insider could have. Now, it's one thing (not a great thing) for a resident to write an anonymous, politically motivated blog, but when an elected official or public servant is part of it, well that's getting very close to McCarthyism. Unsubstantiated rumours and smearing by a member of government -- that's dangerous.
Proper journalists (you know, the ones who obtained post-secondary degrees or are industry-trained) are possessed of craft ethics, have their work pored over by bloodless editors, sign their material, publish in newspapers with pride and commitment and understand how important it is to be accurate -- and they don't go for the kind of excesses that occur in some bloggery.
If all the doom-sayers are right about traditional journalism dying (I don't think so, but it's a school of thought), are blogs like ZMZ the kind of work on which democracy will rely? Name-calling, political motivation behind the writing, news with a twist -- that's what you'll get in the future. As well, there is no press council to which an offended person can appeal, no court in which the author can be sued (unless the author can be found), no way to punish contempt in a courtroom.
Welcome to the future of journalism. No training, no ethics, no law, no mores, few skills. Simply journalism by the mob. Man the barricades, civil society is in jeopardy.
All this and a subculture on the Internet full of abuse and vitriol. Some of the vicious notes I have received, almost all anonymous, have been so venomous as to leave my knees shaking. They make Rush Limbaugh look like Mr. Rogers.
If ZMZ is the future of journalism, then when you see real working journalists today from a reputable organizations, give them a hug. They are a precious resource. They might not possess the truth, but they are trying to find it.
Ken Gray is a Citizen editorial board member who produces a monthly podcast, Inner City, at ottawacitizen.com/innercity and a blog, The Bulldog, at ottawacitizen.com/bulldog .
His column runs Wednesdays.
E-mail:
[email protected].
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Read Ken Gray's new blog The Bulldog in which he tells what he knows about the ZMZ blogger.
ottawacitizen.com/bulldog
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