Patterico's Pontifications

12/10/2007

Ventura County Star Deletes Comment Because It Disagrees with the Editorial It Is Commenting On

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:27 am



The Ventura County Star deleted a comment yesterday, apparently for the offense of taking issue with the facts in an editorial.

Mike Lief has the details.

The basic premise of the editorial is that the D.A. has been attacking a judge for giving lenient dispositions on misdemeanors, but that this is unfair because the judge was trying to clear out a backlog. The basic premise of the comment is to say that the editorial omits several pertinent facts.

Here is a sample passage from the editorial in question:

It is significant that the DA’s Office waited until Gutierrez had mostly completed his mission before registering a complaint.

And a sample passage from the comment that was deleted:

When you say “It is significant that the DA’s Office waited until Gutierrez had mostly completed his mission before registering a complaint” you are ignoring the fact that DA’s have been objecting to the judge decriminalizing misdemeanors in this county for quite some time – on the record!

Yeah, you’d better delete that, Mr. Editor.

It’s also interesting to note that the editorial relies on anonymous sources:

According to most sources, Gutierrez has been an excellent judge. He is not considered a lenient or soft-on-criminals judge. As one source said, “If you look at some of his sentencings, he’s hammered people.” In fact, around the courthouse, he has a nickname: “Maximo,” indicating his tough sentencing.

We’re not even told what the profession of the “source” is. Just as bob100 is likely a Deputy D.A., I’m guessing that the “source” is a defense attorney.

Go to Mike Lief’s post for all the details. Then you might consider going to the editorial and leaving your own comment asking just what the hell is going on here.

10 Responses to “Ventura County Star Deletes Comment Because It Disagrees with the Editorial It Is Commenting On”

  1. I can sympathize this you, The Houston Chronicle does the same exact thing on a daily basis:

    at 12/7/2007 7:14 AM CST
    This story was news a week ago but the chronicle doesn’t like to post articles like this UNLESS THEY HAVE TO because it doesn’t support the editor’s ultra liberal agenda (anti-gun,anti-war, anti-American, pro illegal immigration, etc). It is painfully obvious that the editor disagrees with many of our laws and seeks change the “social order” by whatever means necessary including misleading the readers. An example of this was Lisa’s last editorial that was presented as “NEWS” (at least this one said “COMMENTARY”). At times they are about as honest & well meaning as Q-Ball X (I get a kick out of how the chronicle likes to use the term “activists”).

    I wish that the chronicle & the other Hearst newspapers were actually NEWSpapers. Their subscription rates continue to fall for a simple reason which apparently is beyond their editor’s grasp. If they just printed the FACT, I’m sure that a majority of people already know how to make up their own minds without help.

    Hound_Dog (9531b2)

  2. I can sympathize this you, The Houston Chronicle does the same exact thing on a daily basis:

    at 12/7/2007 7:14 AM CST
    This story was news a week ago but the chronicle doesn’t like to post articles like this UNLESS THEY HAVE TO because it doesn’t support the editor’s ultra liberal agenda (anti-gun,anti-war, anti-American, pro illegal immigration, etc). It is painfully obvious that the editor disagrees with many of our laws and seeks change the “social order” by whatever means necessary including misleading the readers. An example of this was Lisa’s last editorial that was presented as “NEWS” (at least this one said “COMMENTARY”). At times they are about as honest & well meaning as Q-Ball X (I get a kick out of how the chronicle likes to use the term “activists”).

    I wish that the chronicle & the other Hearst newspapers were actually NEWSpapers. Their subscription rates continue to fall for a simple reason which apparently is beyond their editor’s grasp. If they just printed the FACT, I’m sure that a majority of people already know how to make up their own minds without help.

    Hound_Dog (9531b2)

  3. A “maximo/minimo” is worrisome to defense attorneys too. You never know whether he “hammered” your client to cover his behind for the one(s) he let off with a wrist-slap. The issue has gone to the Seventh Circuit on habeas corpus for at least one Cook County judge. (It denied relief but there was a dissent.)

    nk (26f031)

  4. What a bunch of knobs. I hope you roundly rake them over the coals on this, Patterico, as they so richly deserve and this story also gets picked up by other blogs. It makes them look as they are.

    And please don’t ban me for that strong, stinging, personal criticism. I could have called them stupid and paid them a higher compliment.

    Christoph (92b8f7)

  5. This what I left at the site:

    Why did you delete the other comments? That’s a pretty bogus thing to do unless they were profanity laden or somesuch. You have taken over the judge and/or jury role here with regard to the comments, the same charge you levy in the editorial by the way. Deleting comments generally indicates you may have something to hide from the rest of us. Your editorial may indeed be on the money, but deleting comments really casts a shadow over the point of view being offered. If this editorial is on point, it should be able to withstand criticism.

    Laddy (60399e)

  6. Heh. Funny thing about the Ventura County Star. I left a comment there and they disabled comments and deleted all the prior comments on that editorial.

    Like we wouldn’t notice.

    JYB post here.

    See-Dubya (1fc18b)

  7. Newspapers and liberal media elites are linked co-conspirators in an ongoing effort to topple traditional American values and all that we stand for as a nation.

    Sepino 5 (d3e3b4)

  8. ^ VC Star is a conservative paper.

    Vermont Neighbor (b3bbb4)

  9. Well, the opinion expressed under the banner of the publisher on the editorial page may be conservative, but that doesn’t make the staff so (see conflict between WSJ Ed Page and Front Page).
    Al Hunt was the DC correspondent of the Journal for years and years, and no one ever accused him of being conservative.

    Another Drew (8018ee)

  10. Sent this to Joe Howry at the paper on Tuesday morning 8:57 CST:

    “A free press requires the strength to resist censorship. You foster censorship.

    You don’t want a free press, do you? You choose to reward censorship.”

    Signed my name.

    Got this reply 11:37 AM CST:

    “Dear Lynn: I was off yesterday and unaware of the problem. The comments have been restored and I’m trying to find out what happened. I apologize.
    Sincerely,
    Joe R. Howry
    Editor Ventura County Star”

    Found that extremely interesting since an Editor didn’t know his paper was deleting comments on HIS OWN EDITORIAL.

    reff (99666d)


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