I encourage anyone to use any and all forums to get your voice heard. FILE PHOTO
I encourage anyone to use any and all forums to get your voice heard. FILE PHOTO
THE Press Council has a basic principle of balance when it comes to stories, but they do have one exception to that rule: the concept of balance achieved over time.
I like this principle because, firstly, I won a Press Council complaint on this very basis, but also because divisiveand controversial topics, covered in our paper or in other media, rely on this exception.
As much as I would like to think the Times-Age is the stand-alone authoritative source on everything, the reality is no newspaper operates in a vacuum. On big ticket items, all media will want their slice of the action.
We have plenty of divisive issues in Wairarapa, including the pou, the Martinborough Town Hub, Masterton's all-weather athletics track, the Featherston town square, and they have, as newspaper people put it, got "legs". They engender story after story, in which people are entitled to voice their opinion, and we are entitled to accurately report them.
It goes without saying that people will not agree with the substance of an opinion, but one would hope they agree people have a right to have an opinion. Freedom of speech includes the right to be offensive, and conversely, no one has the right not to be offended. This is the spirit and vigour of public debate.
What people should also remember is the Press Council gives weight to the "balance" of voices expressed via the Letters to the Editor, comments on the website, texts and social media postings. Lately I've seen a marked improvement in the texts, which at their worst can be a vague collection of incomprehensible rants on bad driving. Now I'm seeing people take advantage of the forum (and admittedly the anonymity) to create literate arguments and right-of-replies.
I encourage anyone to use any and all forums to get your voice heard. The space isn't infinite, and every so often I have to say enough is enough, but these forums are not frivolous, not even the texts. They are well-read, legitimate forums for keeping public debate alive and well.
