Unfortunately, this campaign season was riddled with cyberbullying and I’d like to address one instance in particular. Newport Buzz contacted the candidates with what was stated as a candidate questionnaire. However, most of the candidates received different questions.
Ellen Pinnock and I, along with a few other candidates, chose not to respond for various reasons. Some of those reasons were that we were afraid our answers would be misrepresented.
Newport Buzz only posted that Ellen and I declined to respond. This started an aggressive response from some of its followers that weren’t directed at the issues but instead were directed at body shaming and personal attacks, especially against Ellen.
Newport Buzz did nothing to counter these attacks, instead it ignored and allowed the cyberbullying to continue.
To those of you who chose aggression, personal attacks, cyberbullying, and body shaming over focusing on the issues facing Newport, you should be ashamed of yourselves.
Ellen is a pillar of our community who works tirelessly to give back and make Newport a better place. I ask what have you done to improve our community? Because cyberbullying, personal attacks, and body shaming certainly aren't contributing anything positive.
This woman is someone's daughter. How would you feel if someone treated your daughter this way? She's someone's mother. How would you feel if someone publicly humiliated and bullied your mother? Where is the compassion, decency, and basic human respect?
And to Newport Buzz, how is allowing this behavior journalism? These hateful and degrading comments should have been removed. Allowing this type of hostility to continue raises serious questions about your responsibility as a media outlet and whether your intention is to inform the public or provide a platform for bullying certain candidates.
And while we're discussing journalistic integrity, here's another question: If this was truly an exercise in fair and objective journalism, why weren't the responses—or decisions not to respond—of ALL candidates published? Why weren't all candidates held to the same standard?
Newport deserves better. Our residents deserve meaningful discussions about the issues affecting our city, not a political environment fueled by personal attacks, humiliation, and hostility.
Disagree with someone's positions. Challenge their record. Ask tough questions. That's democracy. But bullying, body shaming, and personal degradation have no place in our community, our political process, or responsible journalism.