The empire built under the aegis of News Corporation’s media mogul Rupert Murdoch has come under governmental scrutiny cajoled to fever pitch by public disgust over recent allegations of phone hacking and corruption allegations by News of the World, a national English tabloid shuttered in the past few weeks. The populist, celebrity focused newspaper began publishing in 1843. Shutting the publication down could not relieve News Corporation from the unsatiated feeding frenzy that had come about. Arrest of its former executive editor and editor came to pass. Staff, working for the present British government and Scotland Yard, once connected with News Corporation, has also stepped down amid demand for in depth investigations. The public outcry heard in the British Isles resonated among law enforcement in the United States. A Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) inquiry has been said by an anonymous source at the Associated Press to have begun. Demanding an FBI inquiry is US Congressional Representative Peter King. Allegations that the now defunct News of the World operation attempted to hack into the voicemails of 9/11 victims and their families, has shocked the sensibilities of many people. At issue for every community, international, national, statewide, or local, is the same. Can the public trust the media to deliver the news, unfettered by competing interests, and still maintain an ability to discern and navigate the boundaries of decorum? What are those parameters, and do they change and fluctuate in demeanor from one community to another?
The Westchester Guardian must traverse adversarial environments on every front. The City of Yonkers has engaged in stealing our newspapers. A personal judgment against Yonkers Mayor Phil Amicone to the tune of $8 million has yet to be satisfied. Following his lead, The City of Mount Vernon has recently, allegedly engaged in similar conduct. The Yonkers Tribune, an online sister operation of The Westchester Guardian, when its publisher Hezi Aris, asked questions too pithy for their intellectual prowess to respond to, much less comprehend, chose to deny access to the website approximately 8 years ago that continues to this day. They simply did not want to be exposed. They wanted to control the news. Their conduct / policy has failed. It is this conduct that goes to the heart of the issue of censorship by government. That is not their purview and the U.S. Constitutions attests to that very fact. When elected, they are expected to be transparent, instead, most become opaque in their approach to the public and media alike.
Whether the allegations regarding News Corporation prove true or not, elected officials must learn to respond to media. That is because the Fourth Estate, designated by the founding fathers appropriate and proper to be a conduit for reporting on news and information gleaned between those elected to serve the public good and the public who elected them. For politicians to deny the public access, by denying access to media, or favoring some media and not others, is anathema to the democratic discourse espoused to endure within our shores yet inexorably is purely spin. Discourse is denied by the omission of information that would permit the public the knowledge upon which to reach conclusion and possible consensus. Too many government have chosen to be patriarchs who believe only they know best, but The People are no longer children. The People deserve to be respected, not kicked to the curb or shunned.
The City of Yonkers does not respond to any inquiry asked of it by the Yonkers Tribune or The Westchester Guardian. Westchester County government has only a few weeks ago warned all personnel that they would be fired if they even said, “Hello,” to anyone working for The Westchester Guardian. By whim or design, there are some elected officials who bristle when their wrong doings are exposed. Once revealed, they exhibit righteous indignation for being found out. Yet they believe they are above the law and deserving of more than The People, and so often too thin-skinned to seek help for their addiction prior to their being exposed, e.g. Anthony Weiner’s so-called sexual addiction. Should media have allowed him his transgressions? Why did media permit it during the days of the Kennedy administration with regard to Marilyn Monroe. Had the president’s not been tolerated, women would have earned respected years ago.
Westchester County Legislators who stray beyond the law are able to keep it out of the public realm. You and I would be thrown into the slammer and forgotten. That too must cease.
Senator Jeff Klein (Democrat) got bent out of shape recently when The Westchester Guardian revealed the staff of his Independent Democratic Coalition (IDC) was partially sustained under a revenue stream offered through the magnanimity of Majority Leader and Senator Dean Skelos of the Republican Party. If this was an embarrassment, why did Senator Klein choose to go down a road he could have avoided but chose instead to believe the facts could be hidden and not revealed? His conduct puts into question the veracity of his conduct. Remember folks, we are the messenger, not the instigator of this conduct.
Similarly Senator Susie Oppenheimer has not returned many inquiries of her to our office. Perhaps she is incapable of responding to our inquiries? Be assured she will come before media to spin some innocuous event; she just can’t handle the tough questions.
Must media put up with this childish behavior? I say we must not.
The People will not tolerate abuse by media and The People must not tolerate abuse or aberrant behavior of those they elect to office.
Media must deliver the news as it is, rather than being mesmerized, swayed, and seduced by advertising money. Media must deliver the news whether the powerful are peeved or not. But we must deliver the news by abiding by the rules, regulations, protocol, and demeanor appropriate to the communities from which we report and about whom we report. We must deliver every credible voice wanting to be heard who desires to serve the public good devoid of our personal agenda. Every voice is relevant and pertinent. Even those some may feel do not reach a level of credibility to their personal liking are best heard. It is the discourse that will allow us to reach understand, possible consensus, and still maintain our direction together. Media must not, though so many do, curtail, dismiss or even mitigate those who do not agree with the personal tenets of those who direct any specific media outlet.
The Westchester Guardian can be trusted to maintain its credibility among public judgment and the court of law.
Those that play the game of favoritism, who expect to glean favor by giving notice to some, yet not to others, who reveal truths that suit themselves, but not the greater good, will expire under their own inequity, whether it be revealed as demeanor or actual deed.
What is your take on this issue? Do you trust media? What do you expect from media? Are you getting what you want from media? Are you involved in the politics of daily living: politics, education, economic development, zoning, among other issues? When you see something do you say something? I don’t mean a package left on a train or a bus or plane, though I should hope you would speak up in those circumstances, but do you reach out to media to right the wrongs that are evident to you? Does media respond to your inquiry or your assertions? Or do you accept being yessed to death by government who do not respond but play you?
The Westchester Guardian is a small operation. We do what we can with the staff we have. We may come up short in the public eye. Even so we strive to meet your expectations. If you see something, say something. Your name need not always be exposed, because the issue is neither you nor I. Whatever your sensibility, it will not be encroached upon. The issue is whether the concern is greater than the personalities involved. When that is so, retribution cannot be a threat anyone should fear.
The time for games is over. Mr Murdoch will soon learn that. It was under Mr Murdoch’s watch that this crisis came about; the public is now challenging his prowess and influence. I know it humbles us at the Yonkers Tribune and The Westchester Guardian. Serving the public good is our only goal. Count on it.
