[This is the complete, unedited version of the letter to the editor of The Islander, published on 2012.03.29]

March 23, 2012

Dear Editor,

I am writing in reply to the lead article in The Islander of March 22, 2012 “Chirgwin censured for code breaches” and the editorial “Unfit to continue” in the same issue. It is important to note that both the signed article on page one and the unsigned editorial “Unfit to continue” on page four were written by Shauna Black. In other words, the same person wrote the ostensibly bias-free news article and the highly subjective opinion-editorial. Obviously, there are some problems with this approach.

If you reread the lead articles and the editorials in The Islander issues of September 15, 2011, September 29, 2011, October 20, 2011, and November 17, 2011, you can clearly see a pattern: The sub-texts of the lead articles on political matters are prejudicial to someone (For example, “Surf forum ends in anger” in the issue of September 15, 2011 is prejudicial to Mr. Karno Walker,  “Council calls in the troops” in the issue of October 20, 2011 is prejudicial to Crs. Ken Liu, Rosalie Chirgwin and Graham Walkom). The editorials that follow either attempt to justify the bias or finish the job started in the lead article. Nowhere is this clearer than in the recent “one-two” combination of “Chirgwin censured for code breaches” and the editorial “Unfit to continue”.

When I queried Ms. Black about the authorship of the editorials, she stated that she had to write the editorials herself because The Islander was a small newspaper and she was the only full-time journalist. But there are other possibilities. Why not try having guest editorials from people in the community that represent other viewpoints?

Charlie Canning
D’Estrees Bay