From the Newsroom -- Tony Dodero

In honor of President’s Day, I’m going to devote my column to

something that our Founding Fathers established some 225 years ago that

remains near and dear to this newsroom, the First Amendment.

Over the past week, we had some incidents here in this newsroom that

nudged me out of complacency and reminded me how precious the First

Amendment guarantees of freedom of the press and speech are.

You see, you don’t have to live in Afghanistan or Russia to have

threats against a free press take place. It can happen right here in

Newport-Mesa. I have several examples actually over the last few days,

but allow me to share just a few of them.

The first example comes from our advertising department. The Daily

Pilot ran a story last week that reported a certain business had gotten

in trouble with the law. That business, it so happens, is an advertiser

with us. I should say,o7 wasf7 an advertiser with us.

Right after our story ran, an employee of that business called our

advertising department and left a voicemail message stating the business

was pulling its advertising with the paper.

So what, you might ask?

Well, it is correct that no one forces advertisers to use our paper.

So they do have the right to cancel their contract with us any time.

But what is the message here? Did that advertiser expect special

treatment? Are we as a newspaper and a guardian of the public trust

supposed to just ignore lawbreakers if they spend enough money with us or

have a good friendship with the paper?

Absolutely not. And so what this advertiser has done is sent a message

that they do expect special treatment and they don’t support the right of

a free press to operate.

It didn’t end with the advertiser, though. We also received a heated

phone message on our hotline from someone angry about four letters on our

Community Forum pages, three of which were unfavorable to his views.

After calling us a few names, he vowed to tell the community just how bad

we are for sharing other points of view.

But again, isn’t the role of the press to provide a divergence of

opinions, not just those that are favorable to one idea or another?

I also had a caller threaten an advertising boycott because she didn’t

like our editorial views either. Of course the result of that would be to

put the paper out of business.

So let’s think about this. Would Newport Beach and Costa Mesa be

better served if these folks had their way and the Daily Pilot ceased to

exist?

I’m sure some of you are licking your chops at that possibility.

Especially those who cringe at the thought of another story about Dennis

Rodman. But aside from the latest on the Bad Boy himself, let me point

out what else would go away.

First and foremost, readers would lose the only daily source of news

for this community. Other news outlets don’t pay near enough attention to

this town to dispute that claim.

And what would losing that mean?

Readers would have no idea what Mayor Tod Ridgeway is up to at Newport

City Hall, or that Greenlight even is a viable group. The problems with

the Westside of Costa Mesa would be a mystery to many and the Home Ranch

project would have gotten about a day’s worth of ink in the competition.

What did Costa Mesa Mayor Linda Dixon have to say about parking

recreational vehicles on city streets? You won’t read it here anymore.

And good luck having your letter to the editor published regarding El

Toro or John Wayne.

There would be no more coverage devoted to schools and all of the

great programs at Newport-Mesa Unified. Nothing about API scores or the

academic all stars that we highlight each year and, even worse, no more

coverage of graduation ceremonies complete with the photographs of the

grads in joyous exultation. And, oh yeah, you won’t read much about

Orange Coast College or Vanguard University or UC Irvine anymore.

There will be no more boating coverage and you’ll probably never know

a thing about the Christmas Boat Parade or Newport to Ensenada’s annual

yacht race.

The latest at South Coast Rep, the Performing Arts Center, the Newport

Harbor Art Museum, the Newport Film Festival, all gone. No more daily

coverage of the Orange County Fair or Fourth of July coverage at the

Dunes.

It would mean the end to our unprecedented prep and youth sports

coverage. No more Dream Teams or Athletes of the Week.

And if Newport Harbor wins the CIF title in football again, it’ll get

a small mention somewhere but nothing big here.

Worse than anything, though, there would never again be a special

edition devoted to the 103 Most Influential People of Newport-Mesa.

OK, I think I made my point.

Those who threaten us, those who vow to tell the public “how bad” the

Daily Pilot treats the community, those who want to try to put us out of

business aren’t champions of democracy and a free press.

They only want the press to serve their own selfish motives.

But that’s not why we exist.

We exist because the framers of our nation’s Constitution believed a

free press was vital to the democratic process.

Even more, we exist because this community for the most part supports

this paper and demands a newspaper that has integrity and provides them

with relevant news.

That’s a responsibility we take seriously.

*

OK, now that I’m off my soapbox, I must tell the readers that I do

regret one thing we published last week.

We ran photos of a woman modeling some fairly provocative Valentine’s

Day lingerie in our weekly style feature called “The Look” that left some

readers both blushing and steaming mad.

We always joke in the newsroom about how we are a “family newspaper.”

But actually, there is a lot of truth to that statement and this time

around, we let the families down.

I take full responsibility for allowing the photos to run, but I vow,

that under my watch, we won’t do it again.

* TONY DODERO is the editor. His column appears on Mondays. If you

have story ideas or concerns about news coverage, please send messages

either via e-mail to o7 tony.dodero@latimes.comf7 or by phone at

949-574-4258.