Who's on first?

by M. Stewart

CORRECTION: I learned after posting this article that the MoJo print edition did carry a follow-up to the Independent candidate story. The online edition, which I read, did not post the story.

Still no follow-up on Saturday’s Review article on independent candidates who may have disqualified themselves by voting in the May primary.

Even if it takes the county board of elections two months to locate a piece of paper, reporters can find out whether a candidate voted in the primary by merely calling him or her and asking. Unless something has appeared in the back pages of the print editions, neither local paper has offered any information on the subject.

The lack of a follow-up story could mean that the initial glee over eliminating voter choice has gone sour. Although there is a certain logic to the secretary of state’s ruling on this issue, I still don't like anything that keeps a citizen from mounting a political challenge to the party machine—Democrat or Republican. The way I see it, anytime the needs of a party become more important than the choice of the people, the electoral process has failed.
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An article in today’s Post-Gazette about a Web site that allows students to rate landlords is interesting, especially in terms of how the Internet has empowered private citizens to share information.

For the most part, I believe the inherent dangers involved in what we might call the “amateur” exchange of information are outweighed by the benefits. Attempts to discredit this type of exchange continue from those whose agendas are disrupted by it. See, for example, this L.A. Times article on bloggers and book reviews.

In the Information Age, citizens must develop heightened critical reading skills that permit a functional evaluation of sources, but maintaining a healthy skepticism about what we read is nothing new. Anyone who reads a newspaper or watches television should be aware of the political, social and economic forces that drive it. We should be as suspicious of old media as new.

Like it or not, the days are gone when “authorized” communication dominates mass media. Unfortunately, we are approaching the point where people make little distinction between fact and opinion, even as recognizing that distinction becomes more and more important. In short, I think we have to know more than we used to. We have to be smarter than we were. These machines we’re all staring at are not toys.
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Finally, my sympathy goes out to Sherrill Jackson, whose son, Gene Lysle, never returned home after attending a concert in Pittsburgh three years ago. I can’t imagine what it must be like living with the combination of hope, despair and helplessness Sherrill must feel every day. All anyone can do is hope for the best.