Government-subsidized newspaper publishes online death threat against City officials

You would think a real journalist would not publish anonymous online death threats against government officials. You would think a real journalist would not create an online forum for anonymous threats and racist, sexist and homophobic rants, e.g. a coment in the Record today concerning “Barney (The Fruit) Frank.” The St. Augustine Record insists on giving anonymous haters bandwidth, commenting after every single article. On July 24th at 6 AM, the Record published an anonymous comment calling for St. Augustine City Commissioners and staff to be “lined up and shot” in the Plaza de la Constitucion (a/k/a Slave Market Square) for supporting the Mumford & Sons concert, complaining about the alleged rejection of family faith-centered entertainment in local venues and demanding the concert be canceled. This putative religious poster evidently thinks it's funny to suggest that government officials be “lined up and shot.” We're not laughing, and neither are the government officials. A week ago, I wrote the Record Editor Ellis and Publisher Delinda Fogel about this threatening language, asking that it be removed and the poster be identified. No response yet. Rose Kennedy's favorite Bible verse was from Matthew: “To whom much is given, much is expected.” Even if you never purchased a copy of the St. Augustine Record, you're paying for it. The Record is “a newspaper of general circulation,” with a second class mailing permit. As such, it has the right – under current Florida law – to be paid for legal advertising by government agencies. No bids are required. Hundreds of thousands of dollars from government agencies flow into the newspaper's coffers each year -- announcing meetings, ordinances, zoning changes, elections, andbid opportunities. Some Florida legislators recently proposed legislation to allow ads to be placed in internet publications, a move that was opposed by the newspaper industry. One of the reasons that Florida newspapers are not more investigative may be the large checks their publishers receive from government agencies. Make waves, and someone might take away your legal advertising, some publishers fear. The same racket existed in Tennessee, where our Appalachian Observer competitors (Oak Ridger and Clinton Courier-News) were subsidized by legal ads from Anderson County government offices, making them look the other way where waste, fraud, abuse, misfeasance, malfeasance, nonfeasance and corruption were concerned. Since FY 2002, the St. Augustine Record has received the benefit of millions of dollars in advertising from local governments, including cities, Constitutional Officers and independent taxing districts as follows: St Johns County Board of County Commissioners $1,397,569.40 (includes Election Supervisor) St Johns County Clerk of Courts $ 666,662.27 City of St. Augustine $ 374,989.53 (more later) It's our money.