Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Freedom of Speech Allegedly Denied for City Employees.

FRANKSMITHSAYSNB EDITORIAL:

A gag order has been issued stopping all telephone communications by city employees instructing them to not return telephone inquiries from Robin Vinci of the New Britain City Journal including all department heads and the Mayor’s office. Dwight Blint quoted Phil Sherwood who “allegedly stated that he would be limiting his contributions from the mayor’s office and would have to see day by day if he deemed the paper worthy of comment.”
Apparently, the Mayor’s office is showing its disapproval of the paper’s content that may have offended his or Sherwood’s “likes” being a cheap attempt to control the paper’s editorial choices.

 Public scrutiny being squashed through this dictator style edict should cause every New Britain citizen grave concern regarding the Constitutional freedoms of speech and the press as they related to our New Britain Gulag.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

FREEDOM OF PRINTED WORD.....

Robin Vinci, Editor and Owner of the New Britain City Journal, posted on Facebook that rumors about a gag order placed on city officials was confirmed by the Mayor’s communication director Phil Sherwood. According to Robin Vinci , she was told that all departments, including the mayors office, have been instructed not to return her calls or provide comment for her paper. This “gag order” is so unfathomably malicious it is a wonder that the Mayor’s office would even contemplate it.

By issuing this edict the city is losing access to an amazing paper with a large readership. The parks and recreation department would potentially be denied the right to advertise public events in this paper. The departments unable to comment on major issues affecting this city and the residents. Allegedly Sherwood stated that he would even be limiting his contributions from the Mayor’s office. And would have to see “day by day” if he deemed the paper worthy of comment.

Clearly unable to handle critique or criticism the Mayor’s office is now looking to control speech by restricting the flow of information. It is amazing that this “open and transparent” administration’s biggest fear is a free weekly paper to who they can not directly influence editorial control over. One would wonder why the Mayor is afraid of his policies having to bear public scrutiny.

Robin Vinci newspaper has always been extremely non-partisan. She has invited contributors and articles from all sides of the political spectrum. She has allowed candidates to submit statements each election cycle that were free of editorial revision and tampering, letting the candidates truly speak with their own voices. She has helped promote New Britain business and the good of our city in every edition. If she is what this administration has to fear then I truly wonder whether or not they have the good of the city in mind.

FREEDOM OF PRINTED WORD.....

Anonymous said...

All she has to do is roll over and let Sherwood control every word printed like others seem to have done.

Anonymous said...

Robin Vinci is a fascist and her newspaper is a sham. Everyone knows it. It has been a bad newspaper for years and now that Sam Zherka the slumlord has sunk his claws into it, it's even worse. The citizens of New Britain just need to be told the truth instead of the lies of Frank Smith, Lou Salvio, and the slumlords. Once that's taken care of, O'Brien will win re-election by an even larger margin than 2011.

You people are all scum.

Frank Smith said...

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Freedom of Speech Allegedly Denied for City Employ...":

Robin Vinci is a fascist and her newspaper is a sham. Everyone knows it. It has been a bad newspaper for years and now that Sam Zherka the slumlord has sunk his claws into it, it's even worse. The citizens of New Britain just need to be told the truth instead of the lies of Frank Smith, Lou Salvio, and the slumlords. Once that's taken care of, O'Brien will win re-election by an even larger margin than 2011.

You people are all scum.

Now that you have gotten your vicious venom out your system now can attend to the city's business as the Mayor's assistant communication director.


Nicholas D. Mercier said...

"Robin Vinci is a fascist and her newspaper is a sham. Everyone knows it. It has been a bad newspaper for years and now that Sam Zherka the slumlord has sunk his claws into it, it's even worse. The citizens of New Britain just need to be told the truth instead of the lies of Frank Smith, Lou Salvio, and the slumlords. Once that's taken care of, O'Brien will win re-election by an even larger margin than 2011.

You people are all scum."


Where to even begin?

1. Robin's paper is a sham? Her paper has been succeeding and growing while the Herald has seen lagging sales.
2. "The citizen's need to be told the "truth"? Which version of the truth would that be? It isn't enough to just call someone a liar - you might want to actually point out what they have said that is a lie.
3. O'Brien may win re-election, but if he does it won't be on the merits of administration. His budget is a bloated ill-conceived joke, his policies have angered thousands of citizens, and his public relations policies are laughable.

The Mayor's office pledged to put partisan politics aside, but in no way have their actions reflected that. They repeatedly shout down and shut out any opposition, even that from within their own party. They seek to limit free speech and squash open government. You want to talk about a "sham" look no further than the Mayor's office. So far every meaningful campaign promise he has made has been broken or so diluted that it becomes a meaningless gesture.

Anonymous said...

Nick- dont bother fighting with Calabrese.... to quote William Shakespeare

“I would challenge you to a battle of wits, but I see you are unarmed!”

And you want to talk about a SHAM- how about the fact that the taxpayers of NB have now paid for postcards to be sent to landlords, online and print Herald ad's: all for the mayor to try and win people over to his side in a political stalemate- thats the REAL SHAM HERE.

Anonymous said...

The liberals are coming unglued because they can't control what is printed. Robin reports the news without radical liberal spin, and they obviously can't handle the truth!

Anonymous said...

“I would challenge you to a battle of wits, but I see you are unarmed!”

obviously someone who knows the mayor really well!

Anonymous said...

Calabrese go crawl back under a rock with Nick P!

Anonymous said...

Wasn't one of the first things Adolf Hitler did was to silence the press?

Anonymous said...

You are wrong about newspapers falling by the wayside. Only radical left wing newspapers are failing because people are tired of the one-sided reporting.

Responsible journalist based newspapers like USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and the New York Daily News (just to name a few) are showing record profits because people seek honest well balanced reporting over one sided liberal propaganda.

Anonymous said...

you losers are so funny... like 20 people read this blog and all the "hits" you guys get are the same people over and over again. You'll never get it.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like history repeating itself in new britain:

The elimination of the German multi-party political system not only brought about the demise of hundreds of newspapers produced by outlawed political parties; it also allowed the state to seize the printing plants and equipment of the Communist and Social Democratic Parties, which were often turned over directly to the Nazi Party. In the following months, the Nazis established control or exerted influence over independent press organs.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous Anonymous said...

you losers are so funny... like 20 people read this blog and all the "hits" you guys get are the same people over and over again. You'll never get it.

November 29, 2012 8:50 PM

That's pretty impressive. 20 people creating over half a million hits in a little more than a year. I guess he must be counting Sherwood as one of the 20???

Anonymous said...

I have 2 questions for the anonymous poster who claims nobody reads this blog.

First of all, if nobody reads this blog then you must truly be a nobody because you are reading this blog.

Secondly, if what you claim is true that nobody reads this blog, then why when I went into the diner for my breakfast this morning was the crowd there laughing and joking about how Mr. Smith is doing such a good job exposing what an absolute ass Sherwood is making out of the mayor?

I guess the crowd at the diner is considered a bunch of nobodies also?

J.R.

Anonymous said...

Ass is only half the description when referring to our beloved mayor. The rest of the story would have a hole in it.

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