As a long-time subscriber to The Signal, a paper I rely on to know what’s happening in my community, I am compelled to voice my displeasure about your coverage of the unprecedented, violent acts of sedition on Jan. 6 in our nation’s Capitol in an attempt to overturn the results of the presidential election.
After watching the events unfold for the entire world to see, the following morning I picked up the copy of The Signal that was delivered to my doorstep. The headline read “Capitol Concerns.” Yes, CONCERNS…no insurrection, no sedition…merely concerns. Then there was a photo. No, not of violent smashing of glass, breaking down doors, attacking and killing a Capitol police officer or defacing national relics. No, not any of that. It was a photo of the invaders walking calmly through two rope lines in the Capitol Rotunda, as if they were there for a visit. But here’s the best part. The caption read, “A group of protesters Wednesday interrupted the congressional effort to certify the results of the Nov. 3 presidential election. The demonstration delayed the vote for several hours…” So according to Signal reporting, this was merely an interruption resulting in an inconvenient delay. Wow!
But wait, there’s more. On Jan. 16, two pieces appeared on The Signal opinion page — one from the editor and the other from the paper’s editorial board. In the aftermath of an insurrection that will live on in infamy, The Signal’s only editorial concern was the banning of Donald Trump from social media platforms. Not condemning the unprecedented insurrection. No, no outrage about that. Instead the editorial headlines talked about dictatorship…total media control…and “1984.” All because of the banning of our poor innocent president from Twitter et al.
Reasonable people can disagree with the decisions of Twitter and others like them with regard to what they will permit on their platforms. But that’s just it…they are their platforms and it’s their decision. The Bill of Rights prohibits the government from passing laws prohibiting speech. There is nothing requiring a private company to permit any and all speech. The small government crowd is constantly objecting to government intrusion on business but in this case they say it’s like “1984” if a private company doesn’t want to host content that they find dangerous. There are and will continue to be other platforms who are happy to host lies, calls for violence, conspiracy theories and propaganda. Parler will find a new platform and will be back in business soon enough. No need to worry, Signal. The likes of Trump and the thugs he has inspired will continue to find willing outlets. Of that I am confident.
In the meantime it would be nice if there was at least half of the outrage in your editorials about the violent attack on our government by armed insurrectionists invited by our president as you have shown for Mr. Trump’s tweeting issues.
Louis Paparozzi
Newhall
