March 3, 2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, the so-called “fact checking” of letters to the editor of the Ridgewood news seemed to be inconsistently applied over the years .
Reader says , “over the years I have submitted many letters to the editor of the Ridgewood News (various editors). Any statement not clearly phrased as an opinion was fact checked, often more than I personally considered necessary. I had to supply documentation, explain, etc. Sometimes a letter was edited (always with my approval) and sometimes not printed at all. No newspaper is obligated to publish any letter to the editor in whole or in part. To publish outright lies as flat statements that could easily have been checked was journalistically and ethically unacceptable. This letter was full of them, including the implication that the mayor can fire anybody at will. We have checks and balances; that could never have happened, and in fact did not.”
Yes the practice of “fact checking” was particularly noticeable if your letter was not supportive of the latest scheme to pave over Graydon, build Garagezilla, load the CBD with high density housing, create bike lanes to nowhere , put turf fields in flood plains, let Valley build on its site at the density of the world trade center, build unusable ramps for the disabled at Graydon when far better solutions existed and of course rebuild toilets at Vets field for a cost of 1/2 a million dollars .
