The moral and ethical dilemma in this Town is: When do I sell out? The Trail Gazette faces that dilemma every day, but they should be honest enough to publish the actual date they sold out so that we could all celebrate. The Town is famous for parades; they should give the Trail a parade as a thank you for joining the “team.”
First of all, how do we know that they sold out? If it isn’t obvious by the slanted coverage of each and every burp that gets printed, we know that Bill Ferguson, Publisher of the Trail serves on at least one Town committee. This is ethically wrong. He sold out the papers independence by joining the “team.” He sold out the papers independence by publishing every slanted article that Baudek and Repola write, as a good “team” member should but refuses, as does editor John Cordsen, to publish articles or even letters that are contrary to the Town line. Can you imagine their owner, the Denver Post, behaving in such a way?
There is nothing about community in this newspaper. Many readers of the Estesparkian have had letters and articles rejected because they didn’t fit the Town’s plan. Not the Trail’s plan, but that of the Town. You see, they sold out. How can any newspaper refuse a letter to the editor that is sent to them with no objectionable language, no personal attacks but with only an opinion? Shame on them for the lack of true journalism standards. Shame on them for not being a community newspaper.
Perhaps a wake-up call could be given by refusing to advertise in the Trail until they publish a policy on free public opinion that we can all live with. The Trail, like the Town, should be governed by the people they serve.
