Editorial

• Freedom of the Press
• Fidonews Index for 2000 (so far)
  Plus further links to 1998 and 1999 indices [jb]

Freedom of the Press
Doug Myers

This week's editorial was inspired by Ross Cassell's guest editorial. But let me make it clear that I don't think that Ross seeks to abridge the principle of a Free Press. Nor is it a proper response to Ross's editorial; for what it's worth, I mostly agree with him. Rather, it's an attempt on my part to explain to the readers here how I view the concept of Freedom of the Press, and why such freedom might be extended to the clearly unpopular views of Charles Hunter (apparently the real name of "Mike," who complains of persecution at the hands of Fidonet).

The principle of Freedom of the Press has never, despite some opinion to the contrary, guaranteed the right of anyone to say anything they like in a publication. In countries where Freedom of the Press is a strong tradition, you will still find publications which are selective in what they publish. One wouldn't expect to have an article advocating increased military spending in "the liberal press," nor an article advocating increased social services in a "conservative newsletter." Nor anything not mentioning pigs in Doc Logger's cherished Swine Herders' Weekly.

Freedom of the Press is traditionally interpreted to mean that private publications are free from government control.

This distinction is blurred in Fidonet because Fidonews was started by that private organization's founder at a time when he considered Fidonet to be without any form of government. Though the Coordinator structure has evolved (not without argument) into a governing structure since that time, I don't think that there's ever been an effort to control the contents of Fidonews. Shall we say that Freedom of the Press is a strong tradition in Fidonet?

So recently your editor finds in his email an article by Charles Hunter, claiming persecution at the hands of Fidonet. Does he strike your editor as one who's story simply must be heard, either because it has merit or because the free press nature of Fidonews demands that it be printed? Or should the article be rejected because the author is not a Fidonet sysop or because the point of view might upset some?

Actually, neither extreme determined publication or rejection of the article. Certainly, I didn't think that Charles (or "Mike" or whatever) had a strong argument, and his tendency towards legal threats predisposed me to just delete the message to begin with. Nor did I consider whether he was a Fidonet sysop or not - I feel there are many who are not sysops who make positive contributions to Fidonet, and this publication is for them also.

So why did he get published? Well, it was a slow day for news...

... and I did consider that there was some content of interest to Fidonews readers. Like it or not, the expectation that the Sysops and Moderators of Fidonet should control what's posted here is strong with many, and should be vocalized from time to time... if only to repudiate the notion.

Had I rejected Charles article, it would have been over his legal threats, as I don't believe Freedom of the Press involves inviting lawsuits. However, I didn't reject Charles article mostly because I do believe that my own personal opinion of a point of view shouldn't weigh on it's acceptance; because I didn't consider his lawsuit talk to be an immediate threat; and mostly because his own words expose the fanaticism behind them.

So here's Charles (or "Mike" or whomever) having his brief fling on the stump. I ask the readers to hear him out, because I believe his own words damn him to rejection more firmly than any editorial suppression I could justify.

Fidonews Index for 2000 (so far)

Included in the Fidonews archive with this issue are Index files for 1998 and 1999. They're a little too big to be included in the Snooze itself, so I've included the index generated for the year 2000 so far... as a sample. Note that the second issue of Fidonews this year was incorrectly labeled Volume 18. [Those incorrect filenames are adjusted and correctly named in the fidonews.org archives. [jb]]

Vol # Date      Section    Title
~~~ ~ ~~~~      ~~~~~~~    ~~~~~
17  1 03-Jan-00 EDITORIAL  Broken Filebone
17  1 03-Jan-00 EDITORIAL  My Thoughts on Fidonet
17  1 03-Jan-00 ARTICLES   Are They Really Gone?
17  1 03-Jan-00 COLUMNS    Fidonet-related sites
17  1 03-Jan-00 COLUMNS    Ol'WDB: Mathematical Explanation
17  1 03-Jan-00 HUMOR      Ten Commandments
17  1 03-Jan-00 HUMOR      Surgery
17  1 03-Jan-00 COMIX      Cow-lliope in the Circus Parade
17  1 03-Jan-00 ADS        It's a Web Page
17  1 03-Jan-00 ABOUT_NEWS Masthead
18  2 10-Jan-00 EDITORIAL  Every Thousand Years
18  2 10-Jan-00 COLUMNS    Fidonet-related sites
18  2 10-Jan-00 COLUMNS    Ol'WDB visits NASA Lab for you
18  2 10-Jan-00 HUMOR      Monkey Management
18  2 10-Jan-00 HUMOR      Frog Noise
18  2 10-Jan-00 COMIX      Cow Circus: The Flying Cowlendas
18  2 10-Jan-00 ABOUT_NEWS Masthead
17  3 17-Jan-00 EDITORIAL  Is the Doggie Dead?
17  3 17-Jan-00 LETTERS    Fidonews:  cut back Volume
17  3 17-Jan-00 ARTICLES   The Sad State of Today's Fidonet
17  3 17-Jan-00 COLUMNS    ECHO TALK - Excuses
17  3 17-Jan-00 COLUMNS    Fidonet-related sites
17  3 17-Jan-00 COLUMNS    Friends@Fidonet
17  3 17-Jan-00 HUMOR      Jesus and Moses
17  3 17-Jan-00 HUMOR      Clinton's Pigs
17  3 17-Jan-00 COMIX      Cow Circus: Tightrope Walking
17  3 17-Jan-00 ABOUT_NEWS Masthead
17  4 24-Jan-00 EDITORIAL  Bullies
17  4 24-Jan-00 LETTERS    Who's Out There Lurking?
17  4 24-Jan-00 LETTERS    Why Not Cockroaches?
17  4 24-Jan-00 ARTICLES   THE BULLIES OF FIDONET
17  4 24-Jan-00 ARTICLES   What are ya gonna do?!?
17  4 24-Jan-00 COLUMNS    Ol'WDB: Makes you wonder...
17  4 24-Jan-00 HUMOR      Boy Becomes SomeBody
17  4 24-Jan-00 COMIX      Cow Circus: Cow Balancing on Ball
17  4 24-Jan-00 INTERNET   Fidonet-related sites
17  4 24-Jan-00 ABOUT_NEWS Masthead