Freedom of speech

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1993:

Janet Fontenot, new editor of The Southern
Utah Spectrum, a newspaper circulating 50,000 copies
daily, recently dropped a weekly column by Lester Wood
of Citizens for Humane Animal Treatment, and according to
Wood, “initiated a policy of censorship against environmen-
talists, refusing to print letters to the editor with a pro-ecolo-
gy viewpoint.” In place of Wood’s column, Fontenot is now
publishing a column called “Maverick Country,” which
Wood describes as “a rabid anti-ecology column.” Other
Utah journalists essentially confirm Wood’s account, noting
that Fontenot has praised cattleman Met Johnson as
“Legislator of the Year.” Johnson is among the members of
the Utah legislature who have advanced open seasons and
legal jacklighting of skunks, raccoons, and red foxes, plus
a 20% increase in the sale of puma permits, in the erroneous
belief that killing predators will make more game available
on depleted rangeland. The state wildlife agency and even
some hunting groups are against the proposals.
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