by Abucar Yusuf Hassan
Saturday, July 21, 2007
I have been a long admirer of Hiiraan Online website since its beginnings. But I have been lately disappointed with its selective publications of news articles and commentaries. I have been reading the news reports selected and published by
Hiiraan.com and compared them with other Somali website news and comments. I am disappointed.
I thought this website was going to be a leader in the new information age and present unbiased balanced information and opinions. But that is not the case, since all the commentaries following a news event are only from fanaticals opposed to the Federal Government and the process of building bridges of reconciliation and dialogue.
No matter what your personal opinions or affiliations are, as a professionally reputable and respectful editor you should represent all the factual information, and let the readers make their own opinion and conclusion.
I have even written an article and forwarded it to Hiiraan Online. Almost a month has passed since, I did not see the article published and I neither had a response from the editing committee to acknowledge whether they had received or are evaluating my article.
Whatever you are accusing on Abdullahi Yusuf or Gedi, you are not doing any better. I was hoping that you would rise above the occasion of what is ailing our nation: Emotionalism and short slightness. I will discuss this issue of "Emotionalism and short slightness" after you acknowledge receipt of my article and give me a reason why you did not publish it.
Sincerely,
Dear Mr. Yusuf,
We like to thank you for your support and are very happy to hear from one of our audiences, and we are ready to entertain constructive criticism as we strive forward for perfection, and it is through such criticism we pay attention to how we dessiminate information, news and articles that we relay to our audiences on daily basis.
We do our best to publish news and articles objectively with impartiality, yet there are individuals on both sides of the political spectrum who accuse us of biases, though subjectively every publisher or writer is always and will alway have biases in his/her writing.
Hiiraan Online has the privilege of having on its editorial board a very skilled and intellectuals who hail from different backgrounds with the right credentials and qualifications. These members of the editorial board censors and only publish articles they deem appropriate.
We hope that this will answer your concerns and sincerely appreciate your effort in helping us improve our website. We will always welcome your honest feedback.
Editorial Board
Hiiraan Online