RIO GRANDE — Wildwood Mayor Gary DeMarzo, in a Tue., Jan. 11, letter to Herald Publisher Art Hall, threatened to “remove the Cape May County Herald as the city’s official newspaper” because of its on-line Spout Offs and reader-generated comments, which, he claimed, facilitate “lies, mistruths, rumors and outright slander.”
Additionally, DeMarzo copied all Cape May County mayors and freeholders “asking each … to pass a resolution removing any business association with your publication.”
“For over 40 years, the Cape May County Herald has been and and will continue to be a community forum seeking to provide an open exchange of ideas. In this electronic age, we offer an avenue where the community expresses their opinions. Should anyone, including Mayor DeMarzo, feel a posting is offensive, all we ask them to do is bring it to our attention; the vast majority of the time it is removed, and additionally, repeat offensive authors are banned,” Hall stated.
“The media has a duty to responsibly facilitate a free exchange of ideas among the citizens. The Herald takes this responsibility extremely seriously. While a minority of people abuse their right to free speech, we do our best to deal with them because a free exchange of ideas is so critical to a vibrant democracy,” Hall added.
Following is the unedited text of the mayor’s letter:
Notice of Dissatisfaction
As per our conversation, let this letter reflect my personal dissatisfaction of your organization and my professional intention as Mayor to remove the Cape May County Herald as the City’s official newspaper. This organization will not financially support, or be a part of, an irresponsible publisher.
I can no longer allow the demoralization, degradation and, frankly, public flogging of the residents I serve. Your refusal to be accountable and responsible to the community is deplorable. Your hurtful facilitation and propagation of lies, mistruths, rumors and outright slander has gone too far. Your paper has allowed the insulting of uninvolved bystanders, humiliation of innocent family members and physical harm to readers. You should be deeply ashamed.
In our conversations, you continue to hide behind the “free and open exchange of ideas.” Quite frankly, that is nothing but an aberration. You are breeding hate, fear, discontent and anger throughout this community. Perhaps you take some perverse enjoyment in watching pain inflicted on others in a sadistic fashion. Mr. Hall, profit is your motivation, not the facilitation of the “First Amendment.”
Your claim that “you” have control of the message board is a joke. I read over and over the most hurtful comments about wives and daughters. You post pictures of arrestees, accident scenes and other family tragedies. Then, like some barbaric stoning, you allow any and every piece of feces to be thrown at the recipient. Twenty four (24) hours a day you allow a torrent of comments and remarks to be posted with no defense to the target. Perhaps, if the victim is lucky enough, he or she will get a call back within two days and get it removed. On top of the lambasting, you add insult to injury by selectively deciding what is acceptable and what will be removed. Your ad hoc discretion leaves some without a voice, while others are allowed to remain unfettered.
As I am not without recommendations, my suggestion is to look to other message boards. Many organizations in your industry, as local as the Press of Atlantic City and as worldly as the New York Times, have opinion pages and comment sections all with safe guards and accountability measures. Or, go the opposite direction.
Notify the participants that the thrum is no holds barred” and allow complete and unedited comments to be posted. This would unencumber your staff from spending countless time and resources monitoring this message forum.
Further, this topic was discussed at the most recent monthly Mayors Conference. I will be asking each of the 16 Mayors and the County Board of Freeholders to pass a resolution removing any business association with your publication. Additionally, your site just like QVC, Facebook and My Space, which has sexually explicit content and other disruptive sites, will be blocked from the City’s computer server. It is my hope that the community will follow and our message will be heard, giving you a taste of the discomfort you are causing us.
In all sincerity, Mr. Hall, you and your “board” are out of control and perhaps I cannot stop it, but I will not al-low this City to be part of it. And certainly this City will not fund it.
Mayor Gary S. DeMarzo, MPA
Cape May – Governor Murphy says he doesn't know anything about the drones and doesn't know what they are doing but he does know that they are not dangerous. Does anyone feel better now?
