Opinion/Editorial
The Current recently published an editorial titled “MV lawyers vilified in searing exposé.” Shortly after publication we received an emailed comment to be published as a reader’s response to that editorial. It immediately aroused our suspicions because it contained completely false, and therefore defamatory, accusations against The Current, even going so far as to blame us for pursuing our successful legal action based on the Township’s vendetta against us. After investigating the origins of that email, we responded to the author, who called himself “Michael Cervantes,” saying the following:
“Before we publish your comment, we believe you should be made aware of the extent to which your allegations are completely false, such as to give rise to potential claims against you of defamation. In fact, your comments are so inaccurate and uncalled for, being easily dismissed on the basis of information in the public domain, that it calls into question your motive for making them.
“We note that the origin of your email was the Archdiocese of Toronto server, yet we cannot find any reference to your name either there or anywhere else from internet searches. This suggests that you may have used a false name which adds to our suspicions about your motives. Accordingly please let me have your immediate comments in the light of what I say above prior to our contacting the Archdiocese with a view to making a complaint.
“If you do not respond, we reserve the right to publish your comment with our detailed response which will demonstrate conclusively that you have made egregiously false comments about motives and actions.”
This produced an immediate response from the culprit, admitting that he used a false name and identifying himself as Dave Goulet – who many will recognize as being a longstanding freelance columnist for the Valley Gazette. He said, “You may withdraw my letter for public comment. It was made in haste without proper legal reflection.”
Given that one of Goulet’s accusations against us in his original email under the false identity was that we “attacked other community media,” we were convinced that this was a blatant attempt to persuade us to publish the Gazette’s dishonest, retaliatory garbage on our own pages as it did not have the courage or ethical qualities to do so itself.
We replied to him accusing him of using his lies as revenge because of our exposure of his employer’s conduct, i.e. hiding from its readers the Township’s corruption which caused the vendetta against us and which was accepted by the courts.
In response, Goulet vehemently denied it, going as far as saying that he had consulted with Michel Lavigne, the Valley Gazette publisher, who allegedly said he wanted no part of it. Given that “newspaper’s” appalling reporting history we were sceptical to say the least about that.
Lavigne received copies of this correspondence which we concluded by saying, “For reasons which I am sure will not surprise you and Michel, we feel that the public interest demands being appraised of this latest attempted attack on us and the circumstances under which it was made. Therefore, unless you can persuade us otherwise we intend to report soon on these events under the tentative title “Valley Gazette columnist uses phoney name, makes false accusations against The Current’s publisher.” This produced no response, either from Goulet or Lavigne.
We also asked Lavigne to disclose to us the identity of an impartial media organization to whom it would be appropriate to make a complaint. The Current, as well as The Eganville Leader, are members of the National News Media Council (NNC) which polices the conduct of its members by providing a mechanism for investigating complaints about unethical journalism. We received no reply which did not surprise us because from our previous investigations, we learned that the Valley Gazette does not belong to any similar organization whereby its own conduct can be investigated in the same way.
We believe that residents of MV should seriously consider whether it is in the public interest that the Township continue to financially support the Valley Gazette with any of its advertising needs. We remind readers that in the early days of The Current we asked to be allowed to tender for some of that advertising, especially as The Current is free. However, in breach of the Township’s procurement by-law, after jerking us around for almost two years we did not receive permission to do so.
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