By Steven T. Jones
I still can’t get a straight answer to why Mayor Gavin Newsom blocked me on Twitter. On Saturday, the Chronicle prominently ran a story on Newsom blocking me and four others (including the League of Young Voters) and let Newsom’s political consultant Eric Jaye say it was because we were “flaming” him.
Yet as anyone who looks at my Twitter log can see, I sent Newsom just one message: “Why do you think Twitter is a good communication medium for you?” Now is that a “flame,” or a legitimate question by a journalist preparing to discuss the mayor’s new communications tool on a television show on the subject?
So the Chron’s Erin Allday lets Jaye get away with a direct lie that was easy to disprove and doesn’t contact me for a reaction. She did, however, ask me whether Newsom blocked me, indicating that it was probably Jaye who blocked me and then fed her the story, which she wrote without raising questions about our thin-skinned mayor’s commitment to public accountability, press freedom, and open democratic debate.