Morning Call Gatekeeper

Before I started this blog in 2007, I was a letter writer to the Morning Call. My letters were not well received, more often I heard back nothing. When pressed, the opinion page editor, Robert Orenstein, would usually respond that my submission was either too long or too short. While Orenstein allowed an open door for the establishment, independent voices like myself had to fight tooth and nail for some column space. 

In 2014, the then South Whitehall Commissioners tried to green light demolishing Wehr's Dam for the Wildlands Conservancy. I managed to get it postponed for public comment. Their next tactic was a disingenuous referendum, where they tried tying preserving the dam to a tax increase. When I fought against that conspiracy, Orenstein claimed that my letter was just my opinion. Imagine, sending an opinion to the opinion page?

Orenstein and some others at the Call ended up taking an early buyout offer from the Tribune. They now produce a newsletter that you can subscribe to. While they promote themselves now as journalists, they don't tell you how their gatekeeping helped keep a corrupt mayor in power, and promoted a still ongoing real estate scheme.