In his Facts from the Chief column on Wednesday, Dec. 7, Sedona Fire District Fire Chief Kris Kazian discussed digital civility, i.e., behaving online with respect for others.
Kazian revealed in his column that a fire captain, who recently suffered a terrible injury in a propane accident, has been the subject of online attacks indirectly aimed at SFD.
Criticizing elected government officials for their public decisions is a cornerstone of democracy. If people want to criticize SFD, its operations, its board, its policies or its spending of public money, do so to your heart’s content. Like the city, the state or the federal government, SFD is a public agency and taxpayers are obliged to make sure it is serving the public good as chartered.
However, unsubstantiated, personal attacks on individual employees is unacceptable, whether in person or online. It is an act of cowardice and none of us should permit it.
The “online disinhibition effect” is a tendency of people to abandon social convention and common courtesy they would display in face-to-face interactions and viciously attack others via email or social media. This is due in part to the anonymity [or apparent anonymity] of online communication, asynchronous communications that don’t happen in real time, little oversight from website administrators to reprimand or purge offenders and imaginary personifications of a target — an online bully is attacking an avatar or a name, not a flesh-and-blood person.
While some social media conversations in Sedona turn into nasty attacks, the worst local offenders are local blogs that tout themselves as “news sites,” penned by a handful of bloggers who rant at length, often with few facts. A tiny number of anonymous commenters on these sites spend more time attacking each other than anything else.
While the First Amendment protects free speech, it is mistaken to believe it protects all speech. Defaming lies and false attacks are not only not protected, they can result in serious punishments in civil court.
Attacking private persons with false statements is out-of-bounds in public and can result in a slander lawsuit, just as publishing false statements in print or online can result in a libel lawsuit.
The reason why one can attack an elected official and not a private person is because there is a clear difference between “the chair” and “the man.” The public office is never protected from criticism, but the individual, whether a government employee, a business owner or even a criminal suspect, is protected from slander and libel.
As a newspaper editor — i.e., “the chair” — I am subject to all sorts of attacks for our news coverage or my editorials. I am more than happy to respectfully debate readers who question our coverage or our stances on issues, and I probably do so once or twice a week.
Additionally, if a writer signs their name in an email, letter to the editor or website comment, we have no problem publishing these comments in our print newspaper, on our website or our Facebook page. But anonymous attacks go in the trash or get deleted, often without being read.
If you feel passionate about a local issue and choose to comment or write a letter, sign your name. The First Amendment comes with the caveat that others know the speaker to determine the weight or validity of what is said. Under absolutely no circumstances ever will we publish an anonymous letter. We never have and we never will. We should hold online media to the same standards of digital civility.
If an online comment is anonymous, do not read it. It’s not from a real person with courage to sign their name and therefore, does not deserve a second of your time.
