JH Underground – news, sports and music blog from Jackson Hole, Wyoming news, sports and music blog from Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Today the News&Guide has a front-page story about local blogs and our coverage of last month’s avalanches at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.

Basically, the story asserts that while blogs may have been fast in “shooting from the hip,” the most accurate and reliable source of news remains, of course, the good old-fashioned paper you can hold in your hands — a point that would have been more convincing were it not for a few typos and editing bloopers.

David Gonzalez of The Snazz has a pretty witty retort. As the old joke goes, at least they spelled my name right.

The fact is, while the paper may claim some sort of high ground for careful, deliberative reporting and editing, reporters and editors often make mistakes because they are rushing to meet deadlines — arbitrary time constraints dictated by the need to feed a printing press. The newsroom can be a pressure cooker.

That’s why I’m usually reluctant to criticize the work of my friends in the print media. After all, I worked at the newspaper for nearly 10 years and know well how much commitment and idealism journalists bring to the task.

Print journalists everywhere are struggling with the Internet in general and blogs in particular. Like Buzz Bissinger. And The Washington Post.

I grew up with newspapers and understand the need for a “paper of record,” but also recognize that they must be challenged to maintain the highest standards. (Susan Estrich recently wrote a great piece, printed in the Jackson Hole Daily, explaining why blogs are dependent on newspapers.)

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Volunteer cheer

Today, I do have a bone to pick with the News&Guide, and it’s not over the blog story. It’s about the letter to the editor written by an anonymous Teton County Search and Rescue volunteer stabbing ex-team member Steve Romeo in the back.

Romeo is the blogger Rando Steve of Teton AT recently dismissed from Search and Rescue for posting photos of the Headwall avalanche. The letter is a vicious personal attack calling into question Romeo’s motives for writing:

“I never saw the images and writing that got you fired. I refuse to visit your site (in fact, I will not mention it in the press) due to my supreme disapproval of what you do. You are an experienced and skilled mountaineer and skier, but your egotistical approach and sell-it-all attitude compromises everyone who ventures into the mountains for self-fulfillment, instead of ego and greed.”

This person needs their own blog! Full text of the letter appears below.

The letter writer makes some valid points, but if you are going to attack someone in this manner, at least have the guts to sign your name. Even more cowardly was the newspaper’s decision to print an anonymous missive despite a strict policy stating all letters must be signed.

For the paper to publish a gratuitous swipe at a blogger in an issue in which it attempts to criticize blogging for relying on unnamed sources is bewildering. Forget the typos; bending a core principle to drum up letters is by far the most embarrassing mistake.

According to the News&Guide, the following letter was addressed to Steve Romeo, former member of Teton County Search and Rescue:

Sell it all

I am writing anonymously to protect my position as a search and rescue member. First off, thanks for your time as a member of the team. I am appalled you were fired. You were one of the strongest and most competent members of the team, and [Sheriff Bob] Zimmer asking you to step down shows how little he understands the team’s internal function.

It shows he would rather have power over us than have the strongest team possible.

In your apology to the team, you claim to have let your teammates down. The truth is the opposite, you were valuable in any situation. It is not Zimmer and search and rescue you have let down, but rather the whole community. In making money by exposing the things the whole community loves, you have violated something that is precious and cannot defend itself. Worse than that, you have been doing this since you started your Web site.

I never saw the images and writing that got you fired. I refuse to visit your site (in fact, I will not mention it in the press) due to my supreme disapproval of what you do. You are an experienced and skilled mountaineer and skier, but your egotistical approach and sell-it-all attitude compromises everyone who ventures into the mountains for self-fulfillment, instead of ego and greed. Fortunately, it seems there is a point where people will no longer take your exploitation, it is just too bad the solution was kicking you off the team, not shutting your blog down.

Steve, you were a strong, competent and trustworthy team member, and not the first one with strong qualifications to be fired from the team. You behaved unprofessionally and were fired over it. Apparently you were warned, but how professional can Zimmer ask volunteers to be? In my time with the team, there has been very little talk about compensation for the long and unpredictable hours we spend helping others, and a great deal of talk regarding behaving in a professional manner. Perhaps our next sheriff will address this issue.

Finally, to the whole community: I understand Steve posted pictures and text some residents found inflammatory. He used poor judgment in what he posted. In my experience, this has always been the case. I am sure his headwall coverage was no worse than the daily spay he publishes. Please join me in boycotting his Web site until he stops selling the places we love.

Name withheld by request

Jackson Hole

Posted under Media