Comments on: Signal suspends all local columns after Lutness admits to plagiarism

By: pattisoul

pattisoul — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 09:18:42 +0000

Bravo, Mike, the tally you made of 29 LTE’s is the kind of impartial review I was talking about. You restated my point with different words. A conservative may readily recall the liberal letters he reads because they raise his ire; just like I may be more apt to recall conservative LTE’s because they’ve raised my dander. We are all biased one way or another, whether we acknowledge it or not.

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By: AleksGajewski

AleksGajewski — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 02:58:23 +0000

Although it might seem unfair The Signal suspended (or “punished”) all columnists from being published, keep in mind it is only for a week. It gives the editorial board a chance to review opinion submissions and to incorporate a way to check for plagiarism.

Those who have not plagiarized will be welcomed back. And hopefully, we’ll be welcoming some new voices as well.

And although The Signal is responsible for publishing plagiarized content, you cannot blame them for trusting 2 local, politically active writers. Everyone knows plagiarism is a big “no-no” in the world of journalism. It’s sad to think that it is something The Signal has to worry about among its local columnists. They should know better.

In regards to whether The Signal is biased: Let me tell you that none of the reporters (to my knowledge… and I would know… I am one) have an agenda to toot the conservative or liberal horn. We do our research, interview our subjects and write our stories to the best of our ability given the time constraints of that particular day. And every day is different.

Pattisoul said it best: “I think the beauty or the ugly lies in the eyes of the beholder.”

In regards to letters: The copy editors/paginators try their best to layout balanced letters on each page… but sometimes we cannot because the amount of space available on the page dictates what we can and cannot do.

If that means 3 conservative letters fit in the hole better than 1 conservative, 1 liberal, and 1 random letter, guess what we’re going to go with? It really has nothing to do with being choosy.

It also depends on the letter writers themselves. Living in Santa Clarita, a predominately conservative community, we are (more likely than not) going to receive more conservative letters than liberal.

That’s just the way it is.

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By: navigator

navigator — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 21:04:42 +0000

Mike,

Check out the mind numbing, countless LTEs by Paul Sibek over the past year if it’s possible.

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By: mike

mike — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 19:37:26 +0000

Jim, Navigator, I wouldn’t be so fast. Perhaps the liberal letters raise your ire so you recall them more vividly? FWIW, I looked at all the letters still listed on the site. Of the 29, 11 had no political viewpoint, concerning local issues, animals, religion, etc.. Of the politically oriented letters, 12 came from conservatives and just six from liberals.

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By: navigator

navigator — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 18:19:41 +0000

“It seems to me there are many more conservative LTE’s published than liberal LTE’s”

That comment seems a little contradictory when one local far left writer appears in the LTEs on what seems to be a close to weekly basis condeming everything conservative.

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By: MGutzeit

MGutzeit — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 17:33:13 +0000

The signal did the right thing. Other writers should not be punished or restricted just because some people forgot what we were taught in Junior High.

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By: The West Ranch Beacon – News & Commentary for the Santa Clarita Valley » Local Blogosphere abuzz over The Signal’s plagiarism-gate!

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 15:10:32 +0000

[...] can read his entire piece here: Signal suspends all local columns after Lutness admits to plagiarism [...]

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By: mike

mike — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 14:08:14 +0000

Yeah Jeff, what’s with the right wing bias?

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By: pattisoul

pattisoul — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 07:49:45 +0000

If this blog was unbiased the title of the post under discussion would have been “Signal suspends all local columns after Lutness AND* Vakay admit to plagiarism”.
The fact of the matter is, The Signal editor’s decision to suspend all local columns for a week was motivated by the cumulative effect of evidence of plagiarism by BOTH* Vakay and Lutness, not by just one or the other. (*caps for emphasis)

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By: pattisoul

pattisoul — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 07:28:48 +0000

To answer the question, does The Signal lean to the left or lean to the right; I think the beauty or the ugly lies in the eyes of the beholder. As a liberal, I perceive a Signal bend towards the conservative side. It seems to me there are many more conservative LTE’s published than liberal LTE’s and my take on the coverage of Buck’s Townhall was both pro Buck and pro GOP. Obviously SCV conservatives won’t agree.
So, whether The Mighty Signal leans to the left or the right; the only way to end the fight, fight, fight is to tally all the LTE’s and do an unbiased, scientific study to detect partiality in news articles; if that’s even possible. But then, folks who didn’t get the answer they wanted probably wouldn’t accept the results anyway.

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