A blog post, an editorial, a facebook status, another blog, another facebook status update, and now another blog post . . . and more new territory to cover in the electronic age. And to make it interesting, it involves Alder Thuy Pham-Remmele.
There’s two issues going on here, one was a quote that morphed its way to being out of context. The second is the screen shot of a facebook page posted to a blog and the question of if that was appropriate.
The easy one first. The quote was taken from my blog post about if Thuy should be allowed to reconsider her appointment (or non-appointment) after stomping out of the meeting in a huff (if you choose not to be at a meeting, why should you get to vote on or speak to an item you missed?). A quote from that blog post was used in an editorial that I think was trying to call me a hypocrite – which was a little unfair because the quote was taken out of context and unfairly characterized. For the record, I dismissed Thuy not because she’s bothersome to listen to (in fact, I believe she has as much right to speak as anyone else if she goes to the meetings), I dismissed her because she left the council meeting because she was mad, missed a discussion and then was asking to reconsider something she missed. I explained that in my blog post that they failed to acknowledge and instead to the casual reader made it sound like I gave them that quote in an interview or said it in a public meeting. This, of course, led another blogger to take another leap saying that my quote was used to explain why Thuy wasn’t getting the appointments she wanted, which wasn’t even close to what I said. Of course, he didn’t read what I said until after he posted his blog, because the Cap Times didn’t cite where the quote came from.
I’d call all that sloppy journalism, but, as the Wisconsin State Journal has proved time and time again, facts don’t really matter in editorials. And although blogging might be the new media, it does have more liberal standards than journalism. So, the quote was misused. Annoying, but not such a big deal. This kind of thing happens more often than I’d like, which is part of why I have this blog – to set the record straight. As I’m doing now.
The second issue is a little more disturbing, perhaps because it is a new issue. Was it fair, tacky, inappropriate etc to post a screen shot of my facebook status update to a blog? One argument is that I’m a public figure and I have so many friends that it isn’t really a private post. Probably even more so because I posted the update from Twitter. I have do have two issues with that, first, I’m no longer an elected official, just a blogger, so am I really still a public figure? And second, if I am a public figure, is that a lifetime status, or is there a way for me to escape the intrusion into my life at some point? However, I see the point, I think it was probably fair, but it changes how I will use Facebook in the future.
The other argument is that on Facebook, you choose who your friends are and who can see your status. Your friends can also post and other friends can see what they have written. It’s semi-public depending upon your settings and as with any electronic medium, you never want to say something you’re not willing to back up, because you never know where it will end up. However, I think posting the screen print of my facebook status is likely to have a very chilling effect on those of my friends who are more media savvy and politically aware. For other facebook friends, who might comment on my status who might not even be from Madison or aware of the media circus that tends to surround me, I think it is unfair that their comments could get posted to a blog because I’m a public figure. To them I might just be a niece or aunt or childhood friend or college drinking buddy. For those, I worry. Do I need to now put a warning with my status updates that comments made on Facebook may end up in the media? I always thought that there was an unwritten code that people would use their discretion and ask me directly for a comment if they saw something on my facebook update of note. But I guess not.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I freely admit, I use twitter and facebook to accomplish political goals. Twitter almost always only has public comments, facebook might have comments about the split pea soup I made or the gardening I just did or whatever show I’m going to see. And so posting part of my facebook status update is probably ok because I do use it as a political tool – but as one friend told me – it kind of took all the fun out of facebook and they are glad they didn’t make the comment they were tempted to.
So, do I unfriend all the media and bloggers that are on facebook and use it as a what-I-ate-for-dinner update for my closest friends? Or did it just become another political tool that is assumed to be open to the public. When I was an elected official, I did treat it that way, and began accepting any friends that requested to be my friend – now that I’m not an elected official does that change? These are interesting questions, with no real clear answers from talking to my friends, but whatever the case, the blog post yesterday at Dane101 changed things, again. I’m not sure if it was for better or worse, but it has definitely changed.
Finally, two last random comments.
Thomas Dewar – the Mayor’s buddy. I should have known not to take the bait. It was probably a set up. Either trouble follows that guy like the plague, or he creates it. That’s why I left his friend request sitting there for a couple weeks before I finally caved in. And voila, the very first comment he makes ends up a mini-controversy.
Second, is all of this exhausting? Perhaps. But only for those who are on-line types. Most of the City has no clue we’re even having this discussion. And probably didn’t read the Cap Times on line, or my blog, or Dane101 or my facebook status. If you’re not interested, don’t read it, and you can be less exhausted. I happen to think the situation raises interesting questions for geeks like me which is why I took the time to write this post. It’s something to think about.
