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EDITORIAL: Beware, or wary, of cyber trolls

"Often we are quietly watching, wondering who is behind the fake accounts, or what reasons might be motivating those who are commenting as themselves."
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Journalists and newspapers are in the business of getting to information and communicating it to the public. Sometimes we come across details not everyone wants our readers to have. 

We do so ethically and responsibly, which can involve investing many hours digging through documents to make sure; making many phone calls on and off the record to confirm.

When stories run, our Letters inbox fills up, as do our email inboxes, and phone calls roll in. Local social media sites and stories on our website host comments from, and conversations between, readers with a wide range of responses, opinions, and theories.

We always err on the side of free speech, regardless of whether the accuracy of the interchange is questionable, so we don't touch those words — to comment ourselves, to clarify, to edit, or to correct. So long as they don't contain hate speech, or insults, or foul or defamatory language, we observe these discussions silently, often with the knowledge not all comments contain even a bit of truth.

Publicly, that's a precariously thin line — one that appears to be thinning with each passing day as more people turn to social media to air their grievances with the world.

And the direction in which online debates have seemingly shifted is away from respectful interchange and toward "trolling" — provocative or offensive messages intentionally left on the Internet or on social media by people to get attention, cause trouble, upset someone, or push an agenda.

These are the most suspicious types to journalists, as members of the public usually opt to call us directly instead.

Some do both.

Those who work at newspapers often hold their tongues on how public figures address us in private. Many, thankfully, are diplomatic and respectful in how they reach out.

Others, sadly, turn to aggression and insults, almost always over the phone, or worse, avoidance tactics, where they know the rest of the world will never hear or see how they behave. 

For some, these are isolated interactions, often fuelled by a rough day. For others, this is alarmingly normal behaviour.

It's part of the business, we tell ourselves. We take it on the chin, put our heads down, and keep doing the jobs we get paid to do.

More than once during the municipal election campaign, and outside of it, Gazette staff have been lambasted, using parts of explanations, or not-even-truths in attempts to discredit the paper or spin a subject away from accurate reporting.

In all cases, we chose not to wade into the mud. We stand by our decisions, take care to correct errors when they are made, and make ourselves available to the public.

Much to our dismay, though, is how available social media is for the exchange of unvetted details, and the penchant of more than one local "troll" to lurk and pounce.

To be sure, we may not engage, but we are not standing idly by. 

Often we are quietly watching, wondering who is behind the fake accounts, or what reasons might be motivating those who are commenting as themselves.

We hope our readers are, too.

Let's not forget, the squeakiest wheel always seems to have an agenda, and we're betting it's not always of the kind that's squeaky clean.

Editorials are the consensus view of the St. Albert Gazette’s editorial board.

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