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The Desert Sun Shills For Its Website
Posted 7/23/2008 10:00 AM PDT on MyDesert.com

Journalistic ethics continue to elude The Desert Sun newspaper. The year-old redesigned website, MyDesert.com, has become the driving force - as in dollar$ - behind news reportorial offerings and editorial decisions. The newspaper clearly serves as a shill for MyDesert.com with significant efforts being made to increase website visitors. The presence and page views of each visitor are closely tracked and the activity volume determines the advertising revenue the website is able to generate. It's all about money!

A recent story in the newspaper about the Palm Springs Architectural Advisory Committee drew fifteen comment responses on MyDesert.com. The committee had rejected plans for three restaurants in the proposed Hard Rock Hotel that's scheduled to be built. Most of the posted comments were negative though none gave any indication the person had factual information or real knowledge of the rejected plans. Most of the comments belonged into the category of "hot air", and few were worthy of memory or reproduction.

Today's newspaper featured seven of the negative comments under the topic "Community Conversation" in the Local Section. Of the fifteen comments, one was quite positive. The editors chose to overlook that one and instead went for the seven negative ones. That has to be seen as a strike against the new Executive Editor's recently announced "fair and balanced" reporting policy.

The issue of elusive journalistic ethics comes into play because the individuals making the comments are, for the most part, completely anonymous. They post their comments under such pseudonyms as KHANME, CANINES, CKWIK40, PSGIRL, CVOWL, CHICO and SITDOWNCOMEDY. A few have posted minor details about themselves. One is a female from Bermuda Dunes, there's a male from La Quinta, two male's from Palm Springs and three are completely anonymous. Anonymous! The newspaper requires Valley Voice opinion pieces and Letters to the Editor to include the writer's name and city of residence. News Reporters ask those being interviewed for identity information. Also, letter writers are limited to one offering each thirty days. Not so with comments from MyDesert.com. There are no identity requirements and no frequency limitations imposed on posted and printed comments.

A second journalistic ethics issue appears when those being targeted by "Community Conversation" postings are not given the opportunity to respond. Comments about the Architectural Advisory Committee should have been referred back to the reporter who wrote the original story for a possible follow-up article. Again, the question about the "fair and balanced" reporting policy has to be asked.

It's my opinion none of the anonymous comments printed in the newspaper were worthy of the space they occupied. The apparent purpose in printing them is to shill for the website. The hidden message here is that readers who register on the website and subsequently post comments may similarly achieve their own moment of fame. The saddest part of the entire "Community Conversation" effort is that it's reaching for the Internet's conversational gutter. The folks with negative views are often those seen as most provocative and it's their agitative words that are being used in the newspaper's tasteless promotion of its website. If someone decides to promote an annual "Scoop from the Gutter" award, serious consideration should be given to a nomination for The Desert Sun newspaper.

Note: The above is from my blog posted on MyDesert.com. It may be found through the index there at www.mydesert.com/blogs under the entries for "Observer" (opposite the icon photo of my little dog).