Letter from the editor: Defending citizen journalism against intimidation

An informed public needs multiple news sources — not attacks on those who dare report

To the reader:

A handful of people seem to put a huge amount of energy into trying to control what others write or limit what others can read on social media. It must be exhausting for them.

I see a ruthless pursuit of ad hominem attacks simply because they disagree with what others say or post about Mandeville city government.

Back in the ’70s and ’80s, we had to do this radical thing in school. It was called: critical thinking. We read opposing views, thought about them, and came to our own conclusions. We didn’t knock on neighbors’ doors to ask what newspapers they read or TV news they watched. And we certainly didn’t try to report them to the authorities for disagreeing with us — even Nextdoor, if you take my meaning.

Some people confuse misinformation with bias. Misinformation is a misstatement of facts. Bias is the prism through which we all see the world. Everyone has one, shaped by life experience. A citizen journalist is no different. But bias does not erase accuracy as long as quotes and facts are verifiable. This is the foundation of what I practice: observational journalism.

Thanks to the collapse of the small-town daily newspaper, Mandeville today is a “news desert.” As recently as the 1990s, three reporters — one each from The Times-Picayune, The News-Banner, and The Tammany Farmer — loitered about City Hall, scrambling to make their counts. Today, there is only Nola.com/Times-Picayune, which absorbed The Farmer in 2017 and now tries to cover the whole region with a fraction of the staff it once had. The News-Banner closed in 2013. Ironically, the Information Age marked the beginning of the end of small-town print news.

That void is why citizen journalism matters. Mandeville Daily is just that: one person, in his spare time and at personal cost, trying to keep the record straight. I haven’t always been alone at this. Local attorney and former councilman Ernest Burguières did it for years, earning a strong following through solid reporting and commentary.

I’ve gone to great lengths to present my reporting professionally despite limited resources. The name Mandeville Daily itself is a tribute to a bygone era. “Mandeville” signals it is intensely local. “Daily” is an homage to the printed paper that once landed on every doorstep.

My recent article on the budget debate was one of the most carefully documented I’ve ever written — grounded in the city’s own numbers and in comments from the mayor, the finance director, council members, and others who spoke. I combed through public records, old council meetings and newspaper archives, providing meticulous attribution for every detail. Not one fact has been disputed. Think about that. Instead, the response from a familiar faction is to attack me personally, trying to gin up a mob to dig into my private life.

“Who writes the Mandeville Daily, and why does he lock out comments? Is he close friends with Jason Zuckerman and part of the mayor’s propaganda machine?” one post read. Predictably, others seized on it, launching their own searches and insults into my personal life.

For the record: the answers are the same as before — me, because I can, yes, and no. This is a small town where everybody knows somebody.

The individual behind that post has met me numerous times and knows exactly who I am and my background. He pulled similar stunts during the Sucette Harbor hearings in 2023. He has used antisemitic language in attacking Mr. Zuckerman, who was born and raised Jewish, despite converting to Catholicism later in life. Mr. Zuckerman has made clear that converting to Catholicism did not mean abandoning or disavowing his Jewish heritage, which he continues to honor and celebrate as a central part of his family history. Mr. Zuckerman is also a staunch supporter of Israel in its war against Hamas and an outspoken critic of the unprovoked October 7, 2023, large-scale attack on Israel.

Someone should remind this individual making these posts that only six million Jews had to literally die so that he could have a witty punchline to use on planning and zoning in Mandeville, Louisiana. At one point, he even published completely false and defamatory claims about me. Coincidentally, I received text messages in 2023 from a different individual threatening that “dirt” on me and a friend would be released if I didn’t stop my reporting.

Recent national headlines prove that unstable people are easily provoked by online figures or twisted ideologies — and how quickly Nazi analogies are weaponized to brand opponents as threats to democracy. That behavior is toxic at the national level and no less so here at home. Inciting others to dig into citizen journalists is just as reckless, and it can lead to serious harm.

Now, these same voices demand that I allow their propaganda and counterpoints be carried on my social media posts which provide links to my articles. But I refuse. I am under no obligation to platform competitors using the readership I’ve built. Should Coke have to include a Pepsi with every six-pack? Should Burger King have to sell McDonald’s burgers, too?

If they truly disagreed with a bias, they already have the means to counteract my effectiveness: do their own work. Present the facts professionally, consistently, and without libel or personal attacks. Just tell the story as if I, William Kropog, didn’t exist. That would give the public a real choice, which is exactly what I ultimately want. True, it would take time and effort, but it can be done. Instead, they resort to false accusations and attempts to de-platform others who stray from their narrative.

They are too shortsighted and focused on the next election or maybe even Sucette Harbor 2.0 in order to see that they’re not just hurting me, but the entire community too. Their behavior has a chilling effect on local journalism at a time when we need it most.

The Louisiana Open Meetings Law is called “the Sunshine Law” because the intent is to shine the light of day on local government. But if would-be citizen journalists are intimidated into silence with personal attacks, then the law isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.

To those critics I say this: if you want to comment on my stories, submit a letter to the editor. I might publish it — if it avoids personal attacks and falsehoods and meets the standards that I alone set. But expect a counterargument, as is my prerogative.

I wish there were more of us — two, three, four competing citizen news sources — because that would make Mandeville stronger, and provide a check against potential corruption. Attacking people for what they say or write is not debate. It is an assault on the principle that Americans should be free to inform and to be informed.

That principle is worth defending. Always.

In defense of the record,

William “Wild Bill” Kropog, a middle name I gave myself
Editor Emeritus, a title I made up

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