Claims of “false and defamatory statements” concerning the former vice-chancellor of the University of the West of England (UWE) caused The Bristol Blogger’s website to be taken down earlier today.
A notice from blogging platform WordPress said that the popular city blogger’s site had been “archived or suspended for a violation of our Terms of Service” this morning.
Barred... temporarily: The anonymous Bristol Blogger forced to withdraw material from his website
A spokesman from WordPress told radio journalist Martin Jones this afternoon that “we received a complaint that there were a number of false and defamatory statements on the blog. This was checked and we agreed with the complaint. The blog was was suspended to remove the material from view.
“The blog owner has been in touch, the blog is not now suspended and he has details of the statements which need removing. This has to be done today.
“He has been advised that if he disputes this and wishes the statements he made to be allowed on the blog then he must settle the issue outside of wordpress.com first.
“We do not censor blogs but where defamation has occurred we are obliged to act as stated in our Terms of Service.
“Apart from the specified statements we have no issue with any other parts of the blog right now.”
The Bristol Blogger’s site was running again early this afternoon, but he told Bristol24-7 the matter related to material he had published on Sir Howard Newby in 2007.
The former UWE vice-chancellor, now at the University of Liverpool, left his post in Bristol after 16 controversial months in the job.
The Guardian reported in 2007 that Sir Howard had talked of UWE’s potential to be a “distinctive new kind of university for the 21st century, achieving excellence in learning and teaching, knowledge transfer and the extension of educational opportunities to all who can benefit”.
He kicked off with a “blue skies thinking” exercise to review various aspects of the university and create the new strategic programme.
But while university officials said staff were consulted, academics felt decisions had been made ahead of any conclusions. The University and College Union at UWE is reported to have labelled his tenure “disruptive for students and staff, disastrous for staff morale and damaging to the reputation of the university”.
The use of management consultancy firms linked to both Sir Howard and his wife, assistant vice-chancellor Lady Sheila Newby, also caused concern.
The pages on The Bristol Blogger website related to Sir Howard Newby have now been removed, as has a separate WordPress website ‘sirhowardnewbywatch‘.
There are still, though, references to the Blogger’s article on the internet – including Bristol Indymedia and other blog sites, found via a Google search.
All publicity, wether it be good or bad, almost always ends up to be good in one way shape form or another. Take Paris Hilton for example. I had no knowledge of her before those video tapes made news headlines.
[...] geeks then went on to tell local radio journalist Martin Jones, “we received a complaint that there were a number of false and defamatory statements on the [...]
[...] at Index on Censorshop, and Bristol 24-7: Claims of “false and defamatory statements” concerning the former vice-chancellor of the [...]
Sir Howard Newby and others who feel remarks made about them on the web are dematory are wasting their time and effort trying to hush things up. Firstly, they’ve never heard of the Streisand Effect, where attempts to censor/remove information has the unintended consequence of causing the information to be publicised widely and to a greater extent than would have occurred if no censorship had been attempted and secondly, There’s always Google’s cache which preserves deleted and/or amended web content.
Hi
The ecologics.wordpress.com blog has also been hit. I’ve contacted WordPress, requesting clarification. Please stay tuned, and contact WordPress directly, expressing your views on the matter. Should WordPress be able to eliminate blogs or posts simply because one person or institution claims that the writing is defamatory? The people behind this action will not have the last word.
Hi
The ecologics.wordpress.com blog has also been hit. I’ve contacted WordPress, requesting clarification. Please stay tuned, and contact WordPress directly, expressing your views on what it means that a so far exemplary organisation can get away with closing down a website simply because one person or institution claims that the writing is defamatory.
UWE is becoming an ever greater corporate presence in the city. Hard to go anywhere and not see the ubiquitous logo and naff U+WE better together strapline. In all the stuff put out about the expansion of Frenchay campus following the purchase of most of the HP site, it’s a job to find any mention of education or learning. Whenever any questions are asked about rampant corporatism, the answer is always “it’s the way things are going”. Glad I’m not a student now.
[...] January, 2010 · Leave a Comment So, thanks to radio journalist Martin Jones and news website Bristol 24/7 we now know that the reason for WordPress’s fritzing of The Bristol Blogger today was due to [...]
Productive if the story is not taken up, I hope bloggers write about Sir Howard.
I am also an ex-UWE tutor but a while ago!
well done for publishing this.
and I tell you what, worht sniffing around UWE corridors still today, lot’s of shit going on up there… cutting departments, lecturers under MORE pressure so I hear, having to manage thier time better. So I hear, they are service providers now rather than academics.
R.I.P education
It’s been hijacked by big business.
Shame more of the students of today don’t realise where there tuition fees are being spent!
Dear ex uwe student,
Had to edit your comment briefly as parts of it were genuinely libellous. Hope you understand my decision, but thanks anyway for making the effort to get in touch.
Christopher
even more further reading, not subject to a take down notice yet! Bristol Blogger on Sir Howard Newby quoted on DCScience, does anyone know if the University got it’s money back? http://www.dcscience.net/?p=181
So the complainant has succeeded in drawing attention to comments made on the blog back in 2007 and pretty much forgotten about up till now. Counter-productive or is that what the complainant really wanted?