Call for Policy to Increase Protection for Victims of Ritual Abuse in San Diego, Part I - Page 6
© Ellen Lacter, PhD
An August 20, 1998 "San Diego Reader" article, "The Memory Wars", describes a social relationship between Mark Sauer, Carol Hopkins and Elizabeth Loftus. Sauer should not publish articles such as "A Web of Intrigue" when he feels personally attacked by one of the players, and is on a friendly basis with her opponents. He cannot be unbiased, and in so doing, he fails in his responsibility to the public and abuses his power as a reporter.
Ellen Lacter, Ph.D., submitted an opinion piece to the San Diego Union-Tribune on September 29, 2002, objecting to the premises in Sauer's September 24, 2000, article, "A Web Of Intrigue". The newspaper did not respond and the opinion piece was not published. It is posted on the world-wide web at: http://truthbeknown2000.tripod.com/Truth...
Similarly, on June 16, 1994, the San Diego Union-Tribune published an article entitled; "Chasing Satan in Sacramento", blatantly ridiculing legislation proposed by California State Senator Newton Russell, SB 1997, which "sought to add three years to the sentence of anyone convicted of molesting a child "as part of a ceremony, rite or any similar observance." This law was scaled down and became law in 1995 as section 667.83 of the California Penal Code, and was subsequently repealed. Ellen Lacter, Ph.D., immediately wrote a letter to the Editor of the San Diego Union Tribune objecting to Sauer's article. Her letter was not published. There was no response from the newspaper except a letter from Mark Sauer disagreeing with her points.
On September 21, 2002, the San Diego Union-Tribune published another Sauer article, "Abuse or Unfounded Fear", with his typical agenda of arguing that ritual crime does not exist. Sauer objected to two workshops on ritual abuse being included at a Family Violence conference in San Diego on September 25 to 28, 2002 with over 150 presentations.
Between 16 and 20 people wrote letters to the Editor of the San Diego Union-Tribune providing the "Ritual abuse exists" perspective. None of the articles were published. Many of these letters were diverted to Sauer, who responded with his typical points. It is unknown whether the letters editor read either the many writer's letters or Sauer's responses.
In theory, there should be an ethical wall between the editorial function of the newspaper and the news function. This was breached by referring the letters to the editor to Sauer. The writers did not address their letters to Sauer and did not intend for him to read or respond to them. The writers intended the letters to be considered by the editorial department for publication. The writers did not wish to engage in a dialogue with Sauer. Rather, they wished to engage in a public dialogue concerning ritual abuse in a letters-to-the-editor section of the newspaper.
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