Back when Robert and I were writing Naked Conversations, we wrote about the Kryptonite lock mess. It seems you could pick a Kryptonite lock with a 19 cent BIC pen and bloggers had something to do with making this information public. The 23 employees at Kryptonite stayed steadfastly mute on the topic--until we posted about it some nine months later. Then Donna Tocci, Kryptonite's PR person spoke out with passion and credibility about the company's side to the story, one which made many of us rethink our perceptions of the blogosphere's role, and one that changed what we wrote about Kryptonite in our book.
Had bloggers been vigilant or vigilantes? The question remains unanswered and still debated. Forbes magazine called us a lynch mob. Many of us consider blogs a way that the people can speak up. But is that what happens when a blogger takes on people who are clueless on blogs and what to do about them.
Now comes the story of blogger Lance Dutson who took on the Maine board of tourism and it's advertising and PR firms. He was tireless in charging wrongdoing, nepotism, arrogance and lack of response. he was threatened by a lawsuit, he reported on how his wife was intimidated on her job. He kept blogging atnd the other side kept silent, until this morning.
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For more details, including the who's who of it all, check out Jim Turner, an extremely thoughtful blogger, who points out much of the history along with how bad organizations opposed to Lance looked to those of us who investigated.
This week end, while I was blogging ardently about the need for greater blogger ethics, I learned from Lance that Dann Lewis, the director of the board of tourism had been fired. According to Lance this was because of Lewis' attempts to intimidate him through litigation.
Now, just like the Kryptonite saga, nine months after it began, the other side has now decided to speak out in the form of Sherry Lewis, who charges Lance Dutson "is a liar" who got away with it because he caught the other side by surprise, and like the Kryptonite folk, this other side was clueless about how to deal with the blogosphere.
In a lengthy comment on my earlier post, she wrote this morning :"...the dozen or so individuals involved had no idea what had hit them. The attacks were becoming relentless and very personal. After the meeting with Cone, Dann made it clear that engagement was the only way to go.
'Talk WITH us.'
Dutson could not handle such an approach."
In short, Sherry Lewis contends, Dann did not want to sue Dutson and had nothing to do with it. She further charges that Dann wanted to engage Dutson in conversation, and when the met, it was Lance who was accompanied by a lawyer and it was Lance who got up and inexplicably got up and left the room after about five minutes. (BTW, the "talk WITH us," line is an apparent reference to Naked Conversations book's promotional material.)
So who should I believe? I haven't a clue. In this case, I've tried to just be a reporter. I've been speaking with Sheri by email for the past couple of days and she seems pretty creditable. It took her two tries to successfully post her email, which implies she may be new to this communications form. She was forthcoming in revealing she is Dann's spouse.I think I would enjoy meeting her.
The trouble is, I found Lance to be creditable as well. I was diappointed not to meet him when I canceled a trip to Maine last October.
I imagine that the absolute truth lies somewhere in between the two versions. I lon ago learned that even those who were in the room have sincere differences of opinion what transpired.
Bloggers are also less experienced than traditional journalists in managing the hearsay of "he said/she said" reporting.
My lesson in all this is that in the future I will be more conservative in covering disputes that do not directly concern me. I will remember that most people in the world still don't get blogging, how it works and the power it holds.
We bloggers have become a powerful lot. But we are inexperienced with that power and we need to learn that with it comes increased responsibility.
