Justified or not, Mike Winder has put himself in hot water for using a pseudonym to publish articles in local newspapers.
My first thought on hearing about it? “What were you thinking, Mike?”
Using a pseudonym to make a point or to tell a story is not without precedent in our culture and country. In fact, pseudonyms and nom de plumes have a famous history in our United States. Whether it is Samuel Clemens writing as Mark Twain or three young politicians pushing for ratification of the constitution as this blog’s name sake, Publius (the three would be John Jay, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton), our country’s politics and literature have a history of nom de plumes, pen names, and pseudonyms.
In the case of the founders, a nom de plume was often used to protect the writer, especially since the First Amendment didn’t protect writers. Silence Dogood, a pen name used by a young Benjamin Franklin, helped him get letter’s to the editor (0r the equivalent) published. He managed to get fourteen in print before the published (his brother) caught on and cut him off…and ended his internship.
Ironically, or perhaps, coincidentally, this is almost exactly what happened to Mike Winder, the Mayor of West Valley City. Finding that the papers were cutting staff, were publishing more about West Valley’s crime rate than its growth rate, and that he couldn’t publish under his own name, he got creative.
He created a new personality. He created Richard Burwash. From the Deseret News, the main outlet for Richard Burwash’s bylines.
Using the name Richard Burwash, the West Valley mayor had more than a dozen stories published over a two-year period. His stories first appeared in the Oquirrh Times beginning in September of 2010. He later submitted three stories that were published in the Deseret News, and one that was posted on KSL.com. A photo taken by Winder also appeared in the Salt Lake Tribune, credited to R. Burwash, in October 2010.
Winder even pretended to be the fictional Burwash when he spoke with editors over the phone and in emails.
Four stories were published through Deseret Connect, a freelance contributor network through which stories are submitted to its media partners, including the Deseret News and KSL.
Winder says he stopped using the pen name when he learned it was against Deseret Connect policy, and he informed Deseret News editors of his actions this week.
Needless to say, the folks at Deseret News were not amused.
“While we appreciate that Mayor Winder would, of his own accord, quit writing under the assumed name and then detail the error to us, we remain highly concerned that someone would purposely misrepresent himself,” said Clark Gilbert, president and CEO of the Deseret News and Deseret Digital Media.
“The Deseret News believes in giving voice to the community, but that must be done in the context of transparency and honesty. We deeply regret that Mayor Winder would do this,” Gilbert said.
Apparently, Winder not only used a pen name, he also created a whole persona for Burwash, using a photo he found on a Google image search (and that person wants an apology…does it qualify as identity theft?), a Facebook account, an email address, had conversations on the phone with editors wherein he pretended to be Burwash and, when he decided to end the charade earlier this year, he informed the Deseret News that he (Burwash) had moved to London, and so would not be writing anymore.
To his credit, Mayor Winder came forward to inform the Deseret News of his deception.
This week.
Why he did not do it when he first realized it was against the Deseret News’ policies, I do not know.
He reasoned that he had falsified his identity for the articles because he wanted to push out more good news about his city, West Valley. With 56% of the news published about West Valley City focused on crime, Mayor Winder felt that it was important that he use all the means at his disposal to let people know that things in his city were not as bad as the news media portrayed it.
His articles published under Richard Burwash’s byline were always factually correct, misleading only in authorship. If the articles were factually true, then, why should we worry?
Should we care?
The answer should be ‘yes.’
Mayor Winder, with his sights set on the mayorship of Salt Lake County, stands to benefit from good PR for his city. While Mayor Winder mislead no one in any fact except for the authorship of the articles, that he knew he could not publish them under his own name indicates that he recognized, or should have recognized, and important element about journalism: the authorship of an article matters. Readers turn to the press because they assume it is not in the pay, employ, or control of the government. An editorial by a mayor is not read or perceived the same way as an article by a member of the press. In fact, an article by an elected public official is often seen, and found in the editorial pages, as a persuasive piece, an editorial, not news. I’m not the only one who thinks as much:
Winder’s strategy violated the ethical principles of public relations professionals and was “clearly a conflict of interest,” said Dennis Scott Jolley, a University of Utah Hospital spokesman and president-elect of the Greater Salt Lake Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America.
“He has stated that the information he gave was accurate and truthful,” said Jolley, noting he was speaking for himself, not the chapter. “But the way in which he chose to [present] it undermines the public trust and is dishonest, in my opinion.”
Why, then, was it appropriate for Founding Fathers to use pseudonyms, but not Mike Winder? The difference is that the Founding Fathers, especially in the years before the Bill of Rights, faced criminal penalties for publishing their opinions. Without protection from the government (i.e. the British Crown) Founders arguing for rebellion faced prison and death for their opinions. Mike Winder only faces the difficulty of getting published.
While hiding behind a pseudonym to push the publication of factually true information, may be benign, it raises into question the means that Mayor Winder is willing to employ to obtain his purposes. It is no wonder that the Deseret News feels like Mayor Winder violated ethics of journalism in his hoax. He may have meant well, but intentions do not justify means.
And we all know about where the road paved with good intentions leads.
Which is why we should worry. Even if the publication under false pretenses was intended to help West Valley City, the means shine a poor light on Mayor Winder’s character and may make it more difficult to trust him in the future, either because of his willingness to deceive or his lack of good sense.
I say all this with the caveat that I know Mike personally and have counted him as a friend. I believe that he serves with the best of intentions.
However, the public trust must be upheld, and public servants must be held to a higher standard. Manipulation of the press by dishonest means has raised questions in my mind about the trustworthiness and good sense of Mike Winder. Ambition and good intentions can result in good leadership, but untempered by good sense they can both betray the public trust. Neither ambition nor good intentions are counted as virtues. On the other hand, restraint, honesty, and transparency are all virtues that the public expects and should seek in its elected representatives.
Mayor Winder is young, yet, and I hope that his better sense will prevail in coming years. While this certainly smacks of fraudulent behavior, I hope that Mike will prove it was merely poor judgment, showing it to bean aberration in his behavior and not typical. Only time will tell.
Related articles
- West Valley mayor used fake name to write news stories ()
- Legal, ethical questions raised after WVC mayor exposes pseudonym ()
- Mayor Admits Writing News Stories Under False Name (politicalwire.com)
- Utah mayor used alias to act as news reporter (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
- Mayor Admits Using Fake Name To Write For Paper (huffingtonpost.com)
- Headline on this Poynter story: “Mayor uses alias to write freelance stories quoting himself.” Seriously. (shortformblog.tumblr.com)
- Nom de plumes, aliases and pseudonyms (valeriesirr.wordpress.com)
About Daniel Burton
RSS - Posts
Complete non issue. The media reports what they want you to hear. It’s not like they were controversial op ed pieces.
If it was a controversial op ed piece, the issue would be even less important. That’s not news, but an editorial. It isn’t intended to be fact, but persuasive, a position piece. That he wrote these as news pieces, telling the public that he was a non-partisan and unaligned reporter is the issue. He presented himself as the opposite of what he was.
Let’s pretend it was Governor Herbert, except that it was the nightly newscast and he was wearing a mask and providing broadcasts that make Utah look like a great place…still no big deal? On the contrary, I think it would be a very big deal.
I agree.
Here’s an additional one for you — what if he was blogging under a falsely created identity as a public official? What if he’s a public official who blogs as an “anonymous citizen”? Same problem?
I don’t know that a blog would matter so much. Blogs receive a lower level of expectation, plus are not published under a masthead of a news paper. And even when news papers do host blogs, the blogs indicate the actual author and that opinions are those of the writer, not the paper.
Newspapers? Yes. Blog, not as much, if at all.
I guess what I’m getting at is whether the real problem is a public official providing public content under a fake name or if it’s the use of traditional news channels.
I see. It’s a relevant question. For me, it’s the use of traditional news channels.
That said, Winder using any outlet and trying to pass it off as news would be objectionable, I believe.
I agree. I’ve heard that some are defending Mike, but it seems to me that if this was a Democrat like Ralph Becker doing the same thing for Salt Lake City, those same Republicans that are now defending Winder would be up in arms about a Democrat using a pseudonym to promote his/her city through journalistic publication.
Winder argues that he did this to help his city. So what other dishonest things is he willing to do make his city or himself look good?
I like Mike personally but I was also disappointed to learn of this. Part of my disappointment was that he would go so far as to create a fake persona via Facebook etc. to more fully mask his fake identity and that he would impersonate Richard Burwash on the phone to further the deception.
Is this just the creative exuberance of a young and ambitious mayor? I hope so. The fact that he voluntarily came forward with the information before he was caught is a good sign, but he must be aware that his credibility will take time to rebuild. It might be good for him to be less ambitious for a little while and work on rebuilding his image through good solid work. I think he has a bright future but only if he treats this with the gravity it deserves and does not try to gloss over it.