The Malibu Times’ stringent requirement that letters to the editor be verified as legitimate deserves high praise. This policy appears to be necessary given the occasional submission of letters of questionable authorship, often claiming to have been written by visitors whose identity can be neither traced nor verified. The thrust of these letters, however, is always the same, hewing to the views of pro-Coastal Commission/anti-City Council groups like Malibu CAN which preach that anything less than total capitulation to the will of the Coastal Commission would mean environmental Armageddon.
The undoing of this perennial charade began with yet another such letter in the January 1 issue of the Surfside News, claiming to have been written by a Finnish couple named Ramijjens. After my exposing the fraud by pointing out that Ramijjens is not a Finnish name, “Mr. Ramijjens” continued to send increasingly eccentric letters regarding Malibu politics, despite the fact that he presumably lives in Helsinki.
The final letter ended with a shocking confession from the editor of the Surfside News identifying this phantom Finn as a local. It is deeply disturbing that the editors of the Surfside News were complicit in deceiving their readers, for they clearly knew from the beginning that the real author of the letters was not a Finnish visitor, but a “west Malibu” resident. What might have transpired if it were discovered that the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times or the Chicago Tribune knowingly and willingly participated in perpetrating editorial fraud upon its readers? Malibuites can be grateful that at least one local paper does not expect us to accept lower ethical and journalistic standards simply because our community is small.
It’s the nature of journalism that newspapers will have an editorial bias. But there is also a sacred trust with readers and advertisers that assumes a certain ethical standard. The Surfside News (which has since closed the book on this affair) has violated that trust. Though we may never discover the true identity of Mr. “Ramijjens,” we do know the identity of the publication that provided him/her/them cover. If nothing else, the Surfside News owes Malibu residents an explanation.
-Wade Major