Is The Lewiston Sun Journal A Newspaper or Just A Tabloid?

LEWISTON SUN JOURNAL – NEWSPAPER OR TABLOID???

The question here is whether or not the Lewiston Sun Journal is a newspaper or a tabloid.  Every now and then, the Lewiston Sun Journal publishes guidelines for Letters to the Editor.

Now according to the guidelines “The Sun Journal welcomes readers to express their views in the hope these expressions provide a forum for debate.”  It goes on to say “Letters to the Sun Journal should be expressions of the writer’s opinion, not copies of opinions from other sources.”  Apparently these are only words that have no meaning because a resident of Lisbon Falls submitted a Letter to the Editor which I have enclosed.  His letter referenced an Appeals Board Hearing where the Public was denied the right to speak during the Public Hearing portion of the meeting.

Is Free Speech Dead at Lisbon “Public Hearings”?

A couple years ago Lisbon Councilors decided to silence their critics by severely limiting public input at Lisbon Council Meetings. They decided to only allow the public to speak on items directly related to an agenda item.

About a month ago the Lisbon Appeals Board went a step further by refusing to take any input from the public at an Appeals Board “public hearing”. Chairman Morgan-Alexander stopped a Lisbon resident from giving relevant safety testimony at this public hearing.  She allowed the applicant and abutters to speak but refused to let the public give opposing relevant testimony.

According to an MMA (Maine Municipal Association) guideline this type of meeting is considered a quasi-legal hearing and is regulated by different guidelines than a legislative public hearing.  If these guidelines are not strictly adhered to the results of the hearing may be subject to costly litigation.

Questions raised by refusing to adhere to MMA guidelines.

What is the purpose of “Public Hearings” if not to hear from the public?

How can the public voice its opposition to unsafe conditions when the Appeals Board refuses to let the public speak?

Has the equal protection requirement been fulfilled when members from the public are not allowed to speak?

This was an appeals board meeting advertised as a “public hearing”. 

It appears Free Speech is on life support in Lisbon.

Ed Stacey

Lisbon Falls

Please review the guidelines the Lewiston Sun Journal published and see if you can see why the letter was not published?  I can verify the Sun Journal called me personally to confirm the facts in the letter and I confirmed it all.  A newspaper would publish the facts to the people.  I believe the mission of a newspaper is to educate their readers in just what is going on in their area.  I contacted concerned citizens in Rumford, Peru, Livermore and Lisbon and come to find out the Lewiston Sun Journal will NOT publish any derogatory information about any towns in the area regardless the validity of the information.  If the Lewiston Sun Journal is not going to publish all the facts and censors free speech, then it is nothing more than a tabloid.

How can the Day Editor, Ms. Judy Meyer, not publish Letters to the Editor that meet the guidelines of the Lewiston Sun Journal?  Ms. Meyer wears two hats.  She is the Day Editor of the Lewiston Sun Journal and she represents the Newspaper Publishers on the State of Maine Right to Know Advisory Committee.   After denying citizens right to free speech by not publishing Letters to the Editor; how can Ms. Meyer sit on the Rights to Know Advisory Committee.  The Rights to Know Advisory Committee suggests that the people have a right to express their opinions in Letters to the Editor without censorship by Ms. Meyer.  How can the owners of the Lewiston Sun Journal ask residents to submit their opinions and then deny letters that meet all of their guidelines?

The reporter for Lisbon is Ms. Paula Gibbs.  Ms. Gibbs does no cover every Town Council meeting but the ones she does cover she leaves in the middle of the meeting and only reports half of what came out in the meetings.  I contacted other towns and the individuals that cover their meeting for the Lewiston Sun Journal does not publish everything that took place at their meetings.  So what is the point of only providing half the information put out in these meetings?  How can subscribers depend on the Lewiston Sun Journal for their news?

I believe subscribers should know that the Lewiston Sun Journal does NOT provide all the information that goes on in this area.

Larry Fillmore