Attached is the letter Roy (Van der Hoek) has written in response to the false accusations and mis-leading information that was published in last week’s The Malibu Times from Lloyd Ahern. As I mentioned to you when we saw each other at the UCLA environmental law symposium last week, I do appreciate that you print letters to the editor unedited more often than not, and I hope you would print this letter unedited-particularly since the Ahern letter clearly is meant to defame Roy’s character, without merit. In fact, there are many who after reading the letter have questioned whether or not it was a wise decision for The Malibu Times to decide to publish such a letter without researching the facts.
Roy and I have spoken about your request for an interview on this topic, and we are both reluctant to grant The Malibu Times an interview based on a number of factors, yet we do want to have an opportunity to correct the record to your readers. The factors that concern us are:
1. The Malibu Times’ obvious bias in news reporting; for example, The Times’ publishing of front page opinion pieces titled “News Analysis” that are clearly filled with the Editor’s opinion, yet lead people to believe they are based on non-biased accurate journalistic reporting; usually these news analyses are published in addition to an actual editorial by the Editor on page 4, which leads to further confusion for the reader. The Editor of a paper is absolutely free to publish whatever opinion that person desires. However, responsible journalism dictates that news stories and editorials are not interwoven.
2. The Editor’s often-stated view that he is clearly not in agreement with the view of those who favor responsible growth and environmental protection for our community.
3. The Editor’s erroneous claim during the last election, (to which there was no ability to respond, since it was published just before the election) that Roy favors Eagles over Children. We are puzzled as to how the Editor ever could have come to such a false conclusion based on anything Roy has ever said or done, and while it may be the Editor’s opinion, editorial opinions are supposed to be based on facts. There are plenty of editorial columnists who have been fired for not adhering to such standards.
Given these factors, combined with the unwarranted, unfair and undocumented attacks The Malibu Times has also published about former Councilmembers and Mayors who have served this city with dignity, grace and commitment, AND given the fact that we must acknowledge that The Malibu Times’ readers are important to communicate with, we offer the following proposal:
Sylvie Belmond has been covering the political scene in Malibu since before the last election, and we both feel she has a high degree of journalistic standards, as well as knowledge and understanding of Malibu politics. We would agree to a 30-minute interview with Roy, if Ms. Belmond were to do the interviewing and writing of the story. We, of course, would want to tape the interview, as you suggested. However the power of the press is just that, and taping an interview does not guarantee the truth will be printed. In light of these considerations, we also ask that the story only be edited for grammatical changes, not for content. This agreement to an interview would be contingent on your guarantee that you will publish Roy’s entire letter to the editor in this week’s edition of the paper – giving it the same page placement (page 4) as Mr. Ahern’s letter received.
While we recognize that it is not a usual circumstance to make these sorts of requests, Roy and I feel it is our only choice in an effort to protect us from being unwittingly used to further the agenda of political opponents, and we would both prefer not to go the w way of other high-profile people in the community who have chosen, in order to protect themselves from what they have viewed as vicious attacks, simply to boycott your paper, not to read it, and not ever to grant The Malibu Times an interview. In our view, no matter how difficult, we must attempt to communicate with our neighbors if this community is to truly be a community where we work together for the common good. We hope The Malibu Times allows us their paper as a vehicle for such productive communication.
Given The Malibu Times’ unfortunate choice to publish a letter filled with such defamatory claims and insinuations, we hope you will give our proposal full and careful consideration.
Marcia Hanscom
Publisher’s reply to Marcia Hanscom’s letter to the editor: As I’m sure you’re aware I would not and could not agree to an interview on the terms you propose. We still would like to interview Roy to give him an opportunity to tell his side of the incident. In any event we will run Roy’s letter to the editor this week and I’m also willing to run your letter challenging our objectivity, as a letter to the editor. Let me know if you want to run your letter also.
Editor’s note: The following letter by Robert Roy van de Hoek was sent to The Malibu Times by Marcia Hanscom