Why is LA Indymedia hiding so many posts?

by sh(A)ne Wednesday, Feb. 01, 2006 at 10:21 PM

Is "hiding" opposing viewpoints supposed to help the democratic process?! Hypocracy.

Why is Indymedia LA hiding all of the following posts:

http://la.indymedia.org/news/2006/01/145950.php

http://la.indymedia.org/news/2006/01/145959.php

http://la.indymedia.org/news/2006/01/145940.php

http://la.indymedia.org/news/2006/01/145865.php

http://la.indymedia.org/news/2006/01/145863.php

I realize that some of them present a viewpoint that many people here might not agree with, but I thought this Indymedia thing was supposed to be about "democratizing" the media.

How is "hiding" all the ideas you don't agree with helping to promote Democracy?! How is this helping encourage civil debate? HOW IS THIS NOT JUST AS FASCIST & REPRESSIVE AS THE CORPORATE MEDIA'S HIDING THE STORIES THEY DON'T WANT YOU TO SEE?!

I'm very angered by this. I know this post will just be hidden like the rest, but for those of you who see it in the mean time, I think you need to question the convictions of the "ruling collective" running this Indymedia site.

This is Bullshit.

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While we try to avoid hiding posts as much as possible (Bullshit, so it seems), the following types of items will merit close scrutiny and may be hidden:

* "Spam" posting; i.e., posts deliberately designed to disrupt the newswire and its basic ability to function. These are posts that are deemed to be devoid of content or analysis and appear to be published with the sole purpose of disruption. (NO)

* Posts the author has requested hidden. (NO)

* Posts that are obviously incorrect or misleading. This includes attempts to spread misinformation or to impersonate another individual. ("misinformation"?? Maybe you don't agree with what these posts say, but "misinformation"?? That's scary -- when a small "editorial collective" gets to impose its point of view on the people who rely on Indymedia for exposure to views that they may not otherwise hear in the mainstream press. What problem is Indymedia solving, if it represses the stories it doesn't like, just like the corporate press??)

* Posts that contain generalized and negative assertions about any race, nation, creed, class, ethnic group, sexual orientation, etc. (Hell NO)

* Posts that advocate the mass physical elimination of a specific race, nation, creed, class, ethnic group, sexual orientation, etc, or that link to websites that advocate the same. (Hell NO)

* Posts that treat the newswire as a personal "bulletin board" with non-political content directed at one or another newswire participants. (NO)

* Unreadable formats (i.e. photos posted as text). (NO)

* Posts titled "test". (NO)

* Duplicate posts (including duplicate photographs). (NO)

* Advertising of products or for-profit services. (NO)

* Pornography, excepting sexually explicit satire. (NO)

Original: Why is LA Indymedia hiding so many posts?