Tennessee editorial roundup

Recent editorials from Tennessee newspapers:

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March 16

Cleveland Daily Banner takes lessons from the “Momo challenge” hoax:

Now that the internet’s latest fright fest - the “Momo Challenge” - has scurried into the night, at least until an electronic prankster reimagines its sick intrigue, we are reminded of some valuable lessons learned.

Some might call it “the power of the unregulated internet.”

Others could tack on “just one of the inevitable hazards inbred in social media.”

Yet even more will suggest “You shouldn’t believe everything you hear, and only half of what you read.”

There’s yet another perspective, one to which we willfully subscribe; that being, “spreading unfounded rumors only worsens a lie; there’s no greater enemy to gossip than truth.”

As we understand it, the latter fueled the growth of Momo, a hypothetical creature of cyberspace equipped with eerie face and frightening body who is reported to have urged kids and teens to do harm to themselves, and to close the “challenge” by committing suicide.

The only apparent shred of truth to Momo is the face. It is the result of the vivid imagination of a Japanese artist who dubbed the piece “Mother Bird,” which went on display at Tokyo’s horror-art Vanilla Gallery back in 2016.

As points to the power of the internet and the abuse of social media, the grotesque visage found its way to Instagram and other electronic outlets. Someone dubbed it “Creepy” and reposted it. Someone else followed. Someone else repeated the pattern. In time, the someone’s of posting grew into the everyone’s of viewing.

Add to that the senseless rumors. As always, word-of-mouth advertising spread like wildfire. What started as a creepy face grew into a villain of unimaginable proportion.

Kids talked about it to kids. Teachers heard all the chatter and reported it to school administrators. Principals contacted parents and grandparents, many of whom had already contacted principals asking what was going on. Law enforcement agencies entered with cybercrime units and mental-health professionals tried to make sense of a new internet phenomenon gone ugly.

In the meantime, national media fueled the flames using the embers of sensationalism. The fire spread and Momo became the talk of every town wired to the web.

Over several anxious weeks, no one could put a finger on the origin of Momo’s alleged challenge of death. Tired digits scratched aching heads. Candles burned at both ends. Early morning coffee stilled late-night yawns. Still no answers. So, this latest fad of cyberspace . this villainess of social media . this breaking news of news reporting . was declared a hoax.

And, Momo died.

As expected, fingers pointed in more directions than Momo’s bulging eyes. Schools were blamed for not being more aware. Parents were blamed for not better monitoring their children’s internet use. Law enforcement was blamed for putting out erroneous warnings. News media was blamed for sensationalizing the story and instigating an unwarranted panic coast to coast and sea to shining sea.

Even this newspaper caught some flack on Facebook from readers who challenged our decision to publish a front-page story, as well as the eerie photograph, several days after the hoax declaration. Some even assumed we hadn’t heard the latest.

Well, we had . five days earlier. It is why we published the story . to try to draw some sense from the senseless.

If presented with a like circumstance next week or next month or next year, we probably would do it again.

Why? For the same reason mentioned in the second paragraph of this editorial: the power of the unregulated internet and the reach of social media.

In their finest hour, both are blessings in a world without borders where communication is as instant as it is constant. Yet, each harbors the potential for disaster and the everyday threat of danger.

As the vessels of their creators’ intent, they lead us down an endless highway of information. But sadly, too many trolls have access to the rights of way. And when wrong lies just a click away, it is the legitimate users who serve as collateral damage.

In the case of Momo, and other culprits of cyberspace just like her, there is only one to blame: those who lit the match and started the fire. True, the winds of gossip will spread the flame, but if there is nothing about which to buzz then there will be nothing to hear.

Look to the internet for its rightful purpose. Explore the miracles of social media to bridge gaps and tumble barriers.

If users can do that, the likes of Momo will never be seen again. If users can’t, then expect more of the same.

Online: http://clevelandbanner.com/

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March 19

Herald-Citizen of Cookeville on the merits of looking within for local leaders:

When the longest serving Cookeville City Manager Jim Shipley announced his retirement four years ago, the Cookeville City Council, as many government agencies do, launched a nationwide search.

That search returned 145 applicants, and five were interviewed by the city council.

Including advertising for the position, travel and reception expenses, the cost for that search was about $10,000.

While interviews were being conducted, city council members had a chance to see how finance director Mike Davidson performed as interim city manager, and ultimately voted to make his interim stint as city manager permanent.

But when Davidson announced in January that he was resigning, council members took a different approach to finding his replacement.

They turned to the talent within the ranks of its long-serving city department directors.

Cookeville Planning Director James Mills has not only been involved in many sensitive decision-making processes such as planning for future growth and where that growth should go, but he’s also been instrumental in trying to bring new sidewalks and roads to our city.

Mills started making changes when he began as a city planner in 1998 - guiding the city’s growth.

You can be sure when Mills makes a recommendation that it’s after careful study and thought, and although developments and rezoning requests that come through his office aren’t always popular, he treats everyone involved with respect.

After 21 years as a planner and nearly 900 mentions of his name in this newspaper during that time, it’s clear Mills has long been a leader in this city as it continues to grow.

Cookeville consists of many things that make it unique, and it seems appropriate that a longtime city planner would be deemed most qualified to steer our city into the future.

And from the standing ovation Mills recently received from fellow city employees at the news that he would become the next city manager, it seems that the longtime planning director has earned the respect of not only the city council but also the people he works alongside every day.

At the Herald-Citizen, we’ve been witness to the way Mills works and handles city business, and we couldn’t agree more.

Online: http://herald-citizen.com/

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March 17

Johnson City Press warns Mark Zuckerberg, using Bell Telephone Co.’s breakup:

Mark Zuckerberg is too young to remember Ma Bell, but he would do well to do a little reading. We suspect downtown Johnson City businessman Dick Nelson would be willing to help.

Ma Bell was the nickname for Bell Telephone Company, later AT&T, a massive conglomerate of affiliated companies that held a monopoly on telephone service for most of the country for the century after Alexander Graham Bell developed the technology in 1876. Bell controlled all aspects of the industry, including the devices themselves, leading to series of antitrust series of lawsuits and federal actions over decades. Finally in 1983, the U.S. Justice Department of Justice broke up Ma Bell, splitting her into what became known as regional Baby Bells, including what evolved into Verizon.

Now we have what we might as well call “Ma Facebook,” a company so pervasive that it affects most aspects of our communications and increasingly our spending habits. Zuckerberg’s 15-year-old creation is already as powerful as Ma Bell ever was - it claims 2.3 billion registered users around the world.

Because of Facebook’s unparalleled reach and addictive consumer habits on social media, businesses both large and small, including this newspaper, now use the social media platform as one way to reach customers.

That’s where Nelson enters the story. Facebook offers businesses the opportunity to place ads and “boost” their other posts - increasing how many people see their messages. As Staff Writer Zach Vance reported last week, Nelson often did so for his downtown coffee shop, Dos Gatos, but Facebook cut him off. When he sought explanation, Facebook simply told him it did not “support his business model” and would allow no further appeal. The ban was permanent and even crossed over to his other business, Nelson Fine Art.

Nelson ran afoul of Facebook’s policies by promoting cannabidiol oil products sold in Dos Gatos, despite the fact that such products are legal. In Tennessee, CBD products must come from hemp, not marijuana, and do not contain enough product to create a high. Nelson could not even get clarification on Facebook’s policies. The company did, however, respond to the Johnson City Press.

“When it comes to hemp and CBD specifically, we allow the advertisement of any non-ingestible hemp products without CBD,” a spokeswoman told Vance in an email. “Any products that contain ingestible hemp and/or CBD are not currently allowed, nor any products that are ingestible or allude to psychoactive effects.”

OK, so that’s the policy. Facebook certainly has the right to set its own standards, but those rules should be readily available to business owners like Nelson. And why ban everything Nelson sells? His entire ad account is indefinitely suspended. There’s just no logic or fairness in such an arbitrary, blanket decision.

Small businesses have a hard enough time surviving without such a dominant entity inhibiting them. Facebook’s near-monopoly on social media commerce is dangerous.

Zuckerberg already is facing Ma Bell-like scrutiny and with good reason. People learned just how invasive the technology could be when news broke last year that millions of users’ data had been harvested by a third party without their consent and used for political purposes. Despite promises in the wake of the scandal, Facebook continues to face concerns about lack of privacy, especially commercial use of its users’ information.

The day will come when regulators zoom in squarely on Zuckerberg and Facebook’s heavy-handed control over commerce and consumers, and it won’t take a century to ring that bell.

Online: https://www.johnsoncitypress.com/