I receive the below letter in response to my recent post on the potential of lawsuits against NOW bloggers.

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Dear Steve,

A while back, you wondered why some people responding to your blog remained anonymous--I think you have your answer. Intimidation.

Alas, there are always a few people in a community who call the police or the lawyers before they pick up a phone or knock on a door to discuss a problem with a neighbor. No wonder people are afraid to speak up.

Bloggers play an important role in public discourse in the community. They are not journalists and the ShorewoodNOW disclaimer makes it crystal clear that their opinions are just that--opinions.

As for "getting the facts straight," the Shorewoodians I've talked to would love to have the local government officials find more effective ways to communicate facts to their constituents, but as you've pointed out, the news coverage of Shorewood issues is rare. Village Board meeting minutes are not published, and eventually make their way onto a website weeks later. Village and School Board meetings often run for hours, and many people feel intimidated about going to a meeting for less than the entire time.

I wish the individuals who feel personally attacked would have the courage to speak out and offer their neighbors their point of view and add to the discussion rather than going to lawyers in an attempt to suppress dialogue in the community.

- Nancy Peske Darrow, 9/12/07
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Many of the bloggers from the various NOW sites met last night with the editors of the NOW sites, as well as executives from the Journal Sentinel. During the meeting, NOW Editor Mark Maley mentioned that three individuals have threatened NOW and certain NOW-associated bloggers with lawsuits in the last month.

Maley mentioned personal attacks by bloggers against private individuals and government officials, as well as a lack of fact-checking by the bloggers as possible causes of the lawsuits being threatened. He did not identify either the bloggers who would be named in such lawsuits, or the individuals threatening the legal action.

The mood in the room was considerably more tense during this portion of the discussion than it was when they were showing the soaring page hit statistics for the blogs and the NOW pages in general. The question of whether a blogger can be sued for what s/he writes makes many bloggers (including me) very uncomfortable.

On the one hand, we are writing things about events and people. The writings are put in the public space, and on a newspaper's own website. On the other hand, blogs are in a very grey area between reporting, opinion columns, and letters to the editor. The expectation of each of these forms and the standards for fact checking are very different when these different types of writing appear in print media.

With blogs, it is much more difficult to set reader expectations as far as what standard the blogger is applying to himself or herself. Some blogs are closer to reporting. Others contain more opinion, with perhaps some facts included. Others are purely entertainment or opinion, and make no pretense at reporting factual information. Should each type of blog be held to a different standard, depending on what type of writing it is?

The underlying question in all of this is...to what standard should bloggers be held?

The Journal Sentinel does not edit the blogs that appear on the NOW sites. There is a clear disclaimer on each and every blog on NOW sites which distances the Journal Sentinel from any content appearing in the blogs.

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"The opinions and views expressed by Community Voice writers do not necessarily reflect the opinions of ShorewoodNOW.com, Journal Interactive, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel or Community Newspapers. ShorewoodNOW.com does not control, is not responsible for, and does not guarantee the accuracy, integrity or quality of, the postings on this Web log."
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A few quick updates for you:

1. We now have a new reporter from NOW assigned to Shorewood. His name is Dave Fidlin. Hopefully the quantity of reporting about what is going on in Shorewood will show a noticeable uptick.

2. Groundbreaking for the athletic field renovation took place this past Friday. They held a ceremony during the final football game to be played on the old field. There will be an update from the D2D committee at tomorrow night's Village Board meeting.

3. Oakland Ave reconstruction is now well underway.

4. Budget season has begun for the Village. Listening sessions are scheduled at the following times and places.

• Monday, September 10, 2007—7:00 p.m.—Court Room—Listening Session
• Tuesday, September 18, 2007 – 7:35 p.m.— Committee Room
• Thursday, October 4, 2007 – 7:35 p.m.—Committee Room
• Wednesday, October 10, 2007 – 6:30 p.m.—Committee Room
• Wednesday, October 17, 2007 – 6:30 p.m.—Committee Room
• Saturday, October 20, 2007 – 8:35 a.m.— Committee Room

News coverage in Shorewood hit rock bottom this week. This past week, there were literally 0 stories about Shorewood in either the print or online versions of NOW. The only things added to NOW this week were two stories about athletics in other North Shore communities, a fashion blog, a feature letting you locate area sex offenders, and a press release announcing the sex offender locator tool.

Some might conclude that the absence of coverage means nothing is going on in Shorewood. So I checked around to see what a reporter might have covered, had s/he covered Shorewood this week. Here are some headlines you might have seen, if any reporter had been paying attention.

1. Streetscaping begins on Oakland Avenue
2. National night out a big success
3. Momentum slows for Shorewood Wi Fi network
4. Records show athletic field maintenance included in previous referendum
5. Fundraising underway for Atwater Beach renovation
6. Capitol Drive rebuilding to begin in Fall 2007
7. Neighbor dispute over trampolines taken to Village Board
8. Historic UWM Chancellor's house up for sale

I am sure there are other stories as well. The point is, there are things going on in Shorewood to cover. It has been brought to my attention that a number of North Shore notables have been kicking around the idea of starting an alternative news source to counter the continuously declining quality and quantity of what we are getting through the Journal Sentinel and CNI combination.


Comments

1. I agree 110%
- John Ackeret, 8/16/07

2. Hi. Although we'd like to think the media is looking for news, the reality is that the news typically comes to the media via press releases, phone calls, e-mails, personal contacts. If we want Shorewood in the news more, we need to market ourselves to the media.
- Katrina, 8/19/07

Monday’s Journal Sentinel editorial observed with concern the dwindling participation in local elections, and the rising number of these elections that are uncontested (READ THE FULL EDITORIAL). They then went on to advocate “an effort like the one under way in Madison , where the business community, the media and the Democratic Party are working to get more people engaged in politics and government.”

To completely turn the tables on the editorial board, one of the main things we need in the Milwaukee area, in order to increase citizen participation in local elections, is an increase in media participation. The editorial reads, “Political parties, media and the business community of southeastern Wisconsin need to figure out a way to get more citizens engaged.” If the editorial board of the Journal Sentinel wants citizens to get engaged, they should begin by getting the media engaged.

By way of example, as I have said many times in the past, the amount and the depth of the press coverage given to Shorewood elections is woefully inadequate. Bloggers were the only “press” covering any of the debates this year. Although I do my best to cover what I can of Village politics, I have another full time job, and really do not have the time it would take to do it right.

The only NOW articles written about the elections were superficial pieces centered on candidates’ answers to a few softball questions. No paper went the extra mile to get voters involved by showing how the candidates were different on key issues. No reporter uncovered a big story by analyzed campaign finance statements. No media outlet created an issue tracker to show how the candidates differed on the 6 or 7 main issues. Surely reporters can find time to attend some of the debates, track the statements made by the candidates, analyze the issues in the election, pore over the voting records of incumbents, write about the differences between the candidates, and so forth. If editors do not make the effort to include this type of information in their publications, why should we take seriously their calls for us to participate in an event they do not deem worth covering?

How can the Journal Sentinel help convince voters that our local elections matter? By covering them as if they matter.

Comments

1. Hi Steve, The lack of participation in local elections is pathetic and the absence of good media coverage, except where there is serious contention or controversy (see the school referendum in Brookfield) does play a role. However, the way local elections are scheduled almost insures a lack of participation. If the local elections were combined with the national elections participation would be up (although our national participation is poor as well). I know that holding separate elections for local issues generally brings out those who are interested (and hopefully informed). My feeling is that local officials really don’t want a large turnout; it is easier to get issues passed. The situation was even worse in New York where school board would bring budgets and referendums to the voters three and four times until they “wore down” the electorate and got the issues passed (usually with a fraction of the votes cast in the first election). Hope to see you soon.
- Ed Duncklee, Shorewood Resident.
April 23, 2007

I probably should not pick on the editors of the North Shore Herald/JSOnline who generously gave me my soap box. But what does this article that appeared today on ShorewoodNOW have to do with Shorewood?

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Singing for your supper

Nicolet students raise money, collect food for needy families
By Dianna Greening, Staff Writer
Posted: Nov. 27, 2006

NICOLET - Downtown at the Loyola Family Center, more than 125 students from various schools, including Nicolet High School, walked circles around boxes piled high in the center of the basement.

They came in shifts for a couple of hours at a time Nov. 18. Loud, upbeat music helped fill the room with vibrancy.

With a circular setup, students held out a box while helpers put such items as canned goods, breakfast foods, dry noodles, baby food and Jell-O inside. Other students then took the filled boxes, taped them shut and placed them on the growing pile.

The packaging event was the culmination of a week of fundraising and food-raising activities for the annual Thanksgiving Food Drive at Nicolet. The school has been doing the drive for more than 30 years.

In order to receive a food package, a family must be earning less than $12,000 a year.

...

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Comments

1. Let me think for a moment; might it be insinuating that Shorewood Schools could have/should have done a similar project to help the less fortunate but didn't? Wait, this is a trick question, isn't it?? Dang it, now those black helicopters are SURE to be landing on my lawn!
- Jaime Henthe (Shorewood), 11/24/06

2. Hi, Steve: I just wanted to let you know that the Nicolet story posted on ShorewoodNOW was there by mistake. I have taken it down...after reading your blog item. Take care!
- Mark Maley, NOW Online Editor, 11/27/06

A frequent complaint I heard throughout the campaign was the lack of news available about Shorewood, especially on the internet. People complained at the reduced space given to Shorewood when the North Shore Herald format replaced the old Shorewood Herald. So now that we have ShorewoodNOW.com, our own news source that we can control, where is everyone? You can write your own stories, start a blog, or submit pictures. Why are so few people taking advantage of the opportunity to solve the problem they identified?

Other municipalities have 7 or 8 bloggers, and far more pictures and community-submitted news stories than we do. I know from experience that Shorewood residents have a great deal to say about events of local interest. So type your thoughts up, and start a blog, or submit a news story.

What kinds of topics could you write about? If you are part of Grass Roots North Shore, tell us about your recent meeting. If you are part of a Village commission or committee, tell us about your meetings. What about the PTO? How are they reacting the possibility of shuttering one of the schools? Do you live on Glendale or Woodburn? If so, how has the construction affected you? What do you think about the idea of redeveloping the whole of Oakland and Capitol, as is currently proposed? What do you think about the Gores house coming down? Do you like the new BritInn on Oakland? What about the renovated Village Pub? Are there enough books in the Library? What did you think of the Iraq referendum? What should be done with Atwater Beach? The Oak Leaf Trail (bike path)? Should Shorewood restaurants and pubs be required to go smoke-free? What are your thoughts on Starbucks opening on Oakland? Did you enjoy Savor Shorewood? What should happen to the SHS Football Program? Should Shorewood spend money on a marketing program to attract new residents? As a Village, do we spend too much on consultants? How can we solve the school funding problem? Should we bring back sidewalk snowplowing? Are taxes too high? Too low? Does your street badly need repaving? Do you think we need overnight on-street parking? What should be done about the vacancy rate in rental properties? Should the Village refrain from using pesticides/herbicides on Village property?

These are the kinds of questions we ask ourselves every day as a Village. I know many of you out there have strong opinions on one or more of these topics. So start typing, and join the conversation.