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Web writing isn’t
all journalism

I wouldn't be surprised if Duke Bainum's lawyers are considering suing a certain local Internet site Duke blames for his loss in the mayor's race. If I spent a couple million of my own dollars trying to win an election and lost, I'd want to sue someone, too.

The charge is that a posting on the Web site "smeared" Bainum by discussing a very old civil court case involving his wife. (I'm not going to say the name of the Web site because, frankly, I know that will annoy a lot of people.)

It wasn't a smear, but Bainum has enough money to probably put just about any Web site he wants out of business.

There's an old saying about politicians and newspapers: Never get in a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel. (Actually, newspapers by ink by the truckload, whereas Internet Web site publishers merely rent electrons.)

Anyone with a computer and a few bucks can become an Internet publisher. That's like saying that anyone with a sailing cap and something that floats can become a commodore. And although I, in my kayak, enjoy the same law-of-the-sea legal protections enjoyed by the Queen Mary, one is a little easier to sink.

I WOULD URGE Bainum not to try to crush the Internet object of his ire because, like it or not, the Internet is the front line of the war for free speech.

When the technology of mass printing first emerged, anyone with a printing press could spout whatever foolishness they wished. Eventually, "reputable" newspapers gained prominence, although their reporting was far from "fair and balanced." The Hearst and Pulitzer New York newspapers' coverage of the Spanish-American War was fanciful at best. Today, most sane people know not to give the same amount of weight to reporting in the Homicidal Nazi Hamster Lovers Gazette as it does to reporting in the Wall Street Journal or, hopefully, this newspaper.

On the Internet there is some quality reporting, along with shoddy journalism, political drivel and rank silliness. (I, not surprisingly, prefer the rank silliness.)

Eventually, the public will be able to tell the difference between responsible journalism sites and those with specific political bents. The fact that some people mistook the piece on Bainum's wife as straight journalism shows we aren't there yet.

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