Banished to Cy-beria! What is this country...

I have been banished to Cy-beria for exercising my freedom of speech as a blogger and citizen journalist by the publisher, Walter Brooks, and his website, capecodtoday.com that publicly prides itself as a 'news' site and promoters of freedom of speech. What a laugh!

My blogs there were pretty innocuous.... Magic Eye, devoted to the beauty and magic of the natural world and Cafe Capri devoted to poetry. Both have been completely deleted along with my own material and all of the public comments on them.

Why?

Because I disagree with the publisher over his support of a single project (which is a big advertiser on the site... maybe the big kahuna!), Cape Wind. And I am vocal about it and the out right censorship on that site which routinely censors, deletes and alters public comments where the Cape wind project is concerned.

This reminds of the time I was out walking when visiting my brother-in-law in California and jay-walked. The cops were going to arrest me not for jay-walking but for not carrying my id! I was told it is illegal for anyone to leave home without it. Did you know that? Is that true? Can you or your children or mother be arrested for not carrying an id?

But back to banishment to cy-beria. It seems to me that journalism in this country is up for the highest bidder. I wrote to a respected medial consultant over this issue and was told, point blank, that a newspaper can publish anything it wants including "The Moon is Made of Green Cheese".

As to censorship, it is alive, well and protected in this great country of ours.

YIKES!

Comments: 11

Dona Tracy May 30, 2007, 6:20pm EDT

I know Bob that is the beauty of integrity and a great site that allows self expression. Bravo Gather!

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deborah o. May 30, 2007, 6:28pm EDT

Maybe you should remind Walter that is he supports censorship then he is threatening his right to say what he wants!! How can a journalist or publisher or anyone in that industry support censorship? Isn't that an oxy-moran?

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Dona Tracy May 30, 2007, 7:33pm EDT

I agree deborah but this publisher actually wrote as his parting words "This is not a public medium. I own it and do what I like... Why don't you offer you priceless prose to CCTimes which is more your kind anyway." Then he called me a stupid woman and told me to f**k off..." Apparently the news is not held to any standard at all and can be totally at the whim of the publisher.

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Karen G. May 30, 2007, 8:39pm EDT

Dona,
I have followed your posts on CCToday, specifically with regard to Cape Wind, for almost two years. You have never been anything but cordial, informative, and intelligent. This has no doubt been difficult considering some of the oddballs that post there. Walter Brooks has proven himself the biggest whackjob of all by banning you from his site. Continue to fight for what you believe in -- that Cape Wind is no good for Cape Cod. I hope to heck that it will be defeated, but we need to remain vigilant and continue to educate our friends, families, and anyone we can. Maybe comments should be moved to the Cape Cod Times...as bad as some say it is (I happen to think it's an OK publication) I think alot of people use it as a source of information for things happening on the Cape. Here's to the day that Cape Wind is a foggy memory.

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Dona Tracy May 30, 2007, 9:06pm EDT

Thank you Karen. I hope so too. I am also hoping to extablish a community website on Cape Cod where the citizens may be heard and not censored and humiliated for wanting to protect their community and natural resources from a private developer that couldn't care less about them.

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Karen G. May 30, 2007, 9:35pm EDT

Well, I am not as well versed as you on the subject of Cape Wind, but I certainly see it for what it is -- a sneaky boondoggle masterminded by a clever, and unfortunately tenacious, developer. I think the community website is a great idea. I will gladly direct anyone I know who is interested in the subject to your site. It would be a refreshing change from the sophomoric antics of Brooks and his crew to know that someone with some integrity would be behind such a website. Keep us posted.

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Dona Tracy May 31, 2007, 6:41am EDT

Thank you! The public's objection to this project has been dismissed through the developers propaganda as only 'the rich with a view'. That is simply not true. The authors of the Cape Wind book made sure they didn't ask the People of the Cape. In fact they avoided them, all of the communities, the airports, air traffic controllers, ferries, researchers, conservation groups and, instead, spied on country club fundraisers and dug up dirt on supporters of the organized not for profit opposition. What is interesting is that developers most always get their way because they can outspend citizen opposition and simply wear them down. In this case they met an opposition with financial backing. Bravo for the opposition!

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Karen G. May 31, 2007, 7:58am EDT

And, when Wendy Williams posts an article on CCToday that draws some valid criticisms, CCToday almost instantly deletes and closes all comments on her article. It has been an eye-opener to say the least. As you said, censorship is alive and well. Especially at CCToday.

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Dona Tracy May 31, 2007, 8:27am EDT

I know, Karen. It is amazing to me how blatant they are. Maybe I am a bit innocent about the press but it seems to me that kind of censorship is really damaging to their credibility. so many people read but do not comment and this kind of tactic to supress opposing point of view cannot go unnoticed.

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Steph D. Jun 10, 2007, 10:38am EDT

That is horrible! Even though I may not agree with whatever, I would still like to read about opposing views! There is a positive side to opposing views.

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Banished to Cy-beria! What is this country coming to?

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