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Bergosh Is Godzilla
School Board Member Stops Denying He Used Moniker To Blog
Escambia County School Board Member Jeff Bergosh made it officialGodzilla is dead.
At least, as far as the District 1 board member is concerned.
"I will never blog on that local media again," he tells Independent News Publisher Rick Outzen in an exclusive interview on his radio show, "IN Your Head Radio," on 1620 AM.
Bergosh used the Godzilla moniker to post about 135 messages on the Pensacola News Journal blogs and forums, until the daily paper exposed him in a front-page story Thursday, Oct. 4. Bergosh finally officially admitted he was Godzilla to Outzen.
The admission came after denying it for nearly a week, even posting a comment to PNJ's story on the issue. His comment read in part: "I unequivocally deny being Mr. Bergosh, he is much too nice and I am way too outspoken," and "Mr. Bergosh would never publicly express the criticisms that I do."
The Gannett-owned daily says Bergosh admitted posting as Godzilla and then called back denying it. It also quoted Escambia County School District Associate Superintendent Ronnie Arnold asserting that Bergosh told him he was Godzilla.
Bergosh denies both accounts, claiming he told a PNJ reporter off the record that he was Godzilla.
"This is yellow journalism and shows a lack of journalistic integrity on the part of the Pensacola News Journal," he says.
He also says he never admitted using the name to Arnold, calling Arnold's story a "complete fabrication."
Godzilla or not, the saga does raise the issue whether newspapers should allow readers to post comments anonymously, when it requires letters to the editor to be signed and verifies the writer's identity.
Bergosh says the newspaper "outed" him and is using a double standard by not revealing other public officials who are posting or posting the names of commentators who are offensive.
"When the Pensacola News Journal created an anonymous forum, encouraging the use of pseudonyms, as a way to let people take down their guards and speak in a frank manner regarding political ideas and thoughts, I jumped at the opportunity," he says. "What a wonderful idea to let people freely express themselves and to make thought provoking remarks, without worrying about retribution."
He accuses the News Journal of chilling free speech on its forum by revealing his identity.
"They made an example out of me," he says. "What they have done is killed a good thing. They created an atmosphere of distrust among all the bloggers and lost all credibility."
Bloggers became so critical on the website of the newspapers decision to track down Bergosh's computer information and e-mail address that it prompted PNJ Executive Editor Richard A. Schneider to write a response on the paper's website.
"We believe public officials should not do the people's business in private," Schneider says. "Normally, this has meant public officials doing the public's business behind closed doors. Technology has added Internet forums. It is our belief that as a public official, Mr. Bergosh should comment about the school board in public, and not through, apparently, some alter ego."
Schneider adds, "There have been other public officials who have been on the forum using their own names. Why can't Mr. Bergosh?"
He also says other bloggers should have no fear of the paper revealing who they are or of the paper shutting down its forums. "We understand that many of you need the anonymity because of where you work, etc. We are sensitive to that."
St. Petersburg Times columnist Robyn Blumner says all newspapers should end anonymous comments on their websites, which she believes hurts paper's credibility.
"In my view, the reader commentary posted on a newspaper's Web site should meet the same standards and criteria as that applied to the letters to the editor section of the print edition," Blumner writes recently. "That means no one should be anonymouswhich I believe would reduce the vitriol and irresponsible attacks. And, if the reader states an untruth the comment should be barred."
Meanwhile, Godzilla, er, Bergosh claims the forums can actually be positive forums to effect change. He says it helped him lead to the school district and county negotiating a lower price on the use of the Pensacola Civic Center for high school graduations and got the school district and teachers' union to agree on merit pay raises.
"I wasn't doing this under the context of hiding under an identity, but rather was following the rules and keeping in the spirit in which this public forum was established in the first place," he says. "Let's get that straight. If I was trying to hide anything why would I use my personal computer and e-mail address."
Arnold says as a public official he would not blog on a newspaper's website and that he advised Bergosh against doing so.
"I told him to cool it and said he would look foolish," Arnold says.
