Throughout American history, newspapers have served an important role as public forums — places where citizens can “meet up” and discuss the issues of the day. That’s why the Augusta Press has allowed, and even encouraged, comments on stories since Day One.
We are committed to fostering a public marketplace where ideas of all — well, most — types are welcome. We do place well-publicized limits on some ideas and some types of speech. For example, we won’t publish comments that are libelous or that invade privacy, that engage in victim shaming or blaming, or that are racist or personal attacks. We also don’t allow threats, profanity or commercial messages.
Comment policies
Readers who comment regularly are well aware of these restrictions; we publish them after every story, and you have to scroll through them to get to where comments can be made.
Sunday, we had to make a decision that is never easy, particularly for the press libertarian(s) on our editorial board. That decision was to take down a comment that initially got through the vetting process. The comment attacked several people for their appearances. These were not beauty pageant competitors or candidates for Mr. World, but people who had been chosen for professional recognition. Their appearances were totally irrelevant to the story. Hence the comment violated two of our standards — personal attacks and shaming.
Some might think such comments are funny and not meant to be serious, but we take them seriously, and we were not amused by the comment that had to be taken down Sunday. No one will be allowed to make fun of or abuse others within the confines of this paper’s website. Ever.
Civic virtue
Last Sunday, Executive Editor Debbie Reddin van Tuyll wrote a column calling for a renewed commitment among citizen to the ideal of civic virtue. Civic virtue, a citizen’s moral responsibility to his or her community, requires a level of decorum (sorry to use a word that’s been hijacked by TikTockers recently, but it’s the best choice here) and proper behavior that we, too, insist on from those readers who wish to take part in the public forum we create daily here at the Augusta Press.
Comment freely on actions of politicians and other public officials and public figures. Comment freely on public events and activities, the things it makes sense for citizens to take an interest in. But please, be civil to your fellow citizens, and that includes not engaging in slander, body or victim shaming, racism or any form of vulgarity. While we do not like taking comments down, we will do so when someone violates our policies. And, in egregious situations or when such violations become habitual, we could be persuaded to go even farther and ban some readers from making comments at all.
We ask commenters to remember the golden rule to apply liberally when offering their take on an Augusta Press story.
