Dear Editor,
Referring to your post entitled “Anonymous Letter-Maintainability Issue”, I am in full agreement with all the rationale and reasoning about your decisions on publication of posts in the Chronicle.
But I have some views on what you have written in the last paragraph. While I concede your prerogative to publish whatever you decide to based on merits and circumstances of the matter, by allowing an anonymous writer to post materials especially where some judgmental remarks are passed leads to the absence of a level playing field for contributors to the blog. An anonymous writer is thereby given full freedom of expression without an element of accountability and responsibility.
The reason that he/she may have to send it for publication may be the self-perceived expectation of a hostile response from the target group which he/she may like to avoid by hiding his/her true identity. Another purpose - which in my view cannot be ruled out – may be that the message conveyed may also be intended to convey to another target group viz. the adversaries of the pensioner fraternity such points which can be marshalled to counter the strong legal grounds that the Pensioners’ counsel are taking to obtain justice for pensioners. In other words, we cannot rule out an anonymous writer having a vested interest in creating confusion among the members of the pensioners’ fraternity
By entertaining an anonymous writer, LIC Pensioners Chronicle might have religiously followed the principle of journalistic ethics of publishing his/her post while the anonymous writer has not displayed an ethical behaviour. We have also seen wide-spread and indignant reactions sparked by the anonymous letter from regular identified visitors to the blog. In such circumstances, would the Pensioners’ Chronicle, being a very popular blog visited by a large number of LIC Pensioners like to encourage such writers?
I agree with you that it is the job of the Pensioners’ bodies to boost and keep up the morale of their constituents, but being a journal largely visited by LIC Pensioners, should not LIC Pensioners’ Chronicle avoid giving room for demoralization of old LIC pensioners by any unidentified individual through allowing anonymous writers to post their written views unaccompanied by responsibility for such writing?
I leave it to your editorial wisdom to ponder over the above points and take decisions as you may deem proper.
Kind regards.