The issues underlying the recent furor about the distortions contained in Jay Fleitman’s July 2 column are nothing new. In a previous column on June 4, Fleitman addressed the May 4 Not Backing Down forum at UMass — that I helped organize — on the backlash against pro-Palestinian voices.
Without giving any evidence or proof, he asserts, “It is clear that the content of this conference (sic) conformed to the definition of anti-Semitism as formulated by the U.S. Department of State…”
This was a major distortion of the content of the event stated as fact without anything to back it up. (Video of the entire event can be seen at www.notbackingdownumass.org, so people can decide for themselves).
If I wrote a column saying that Fleitman is a bigot and a racist without providing any evidence, the editorial staff of the Gazette should rightfully reject it even as “opinion” as it violates basic norms of fairness and journalistic integrity. But apparently it is fine to casually and slanderously label people “anti-Semitic” without the need to provide any evidence to support it.
This issue is not about Jay Fleitman, who is a right-wing ideologue living in his own delusional post-truth world where facts and evidence are so 20th century. It is also not about having right-wing ideas represented in the opinion pages of the Gazette. Clearly they should be there as reflective of some members of our community — and indeed there are many writers who could express such views within the contours of rational discussion.
The real issue is how committed the Gazette is to basic norms of journalistic integrity in everything they publish, or whether the opinion page is a fact-free zone. If so, perhaps it could be labeled as such so readers know what they are getting.
Sut Jhally
Northampton