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Contributor / 2009-10-16 11:50:38

To the Editor (for the letters page, if you have the b***s to publish it),

I could not believe my eyes when I went through this week’s edition of your newspaper. There was no mention whatsoever of the PUMA22 public meeting at the New Asturias restaurant on 2^nd October (last week). This meeting was attended by in excess of 220 residents of Orihuela Costa and other areas within the Valencian Region.

As you know, the meeting concerned the decision of the Valencian Government to withdraw their longstanding (since 2002) commitment to providing free healthcare to all residents who could not obtain such healthcare from anywhere else, which in many cases was fundamental to their decision to come here in the first place.

Again, as you well know, many of those attending expressed their anger, and more particularly, how dreadfully the medical and financial implications would impact on them following this decree. Yet you have failed to report that the meeting happened at all, let alone its substance.

So much for a free and responsible press. No doubt your editorial decision was based on the fact that there is a suggestion that this campaign, to reverse the Valencian proposals, also threatened to make this an issue in the UK press, by advising people to avoid the Valencian Region, either by coming to live here, or by taking their holidays here. Could that possibly be because your business advertisers would not like it? Could it be that you are concerned that your advertising revenue might be reduced a little? Could it be that you have been warned off?

Where you have reported the details of the Authoritie's decision, it is slanted to suggest that this is a good thing. It's not, and the Valencian Sindic De Greuges (Ombudsman), having received many complaints from PUMA 22 members, is very sympathetic to our cause and is taking this whole matter up with the Valencian Government.

I, and many others, regard your failure to report on a matter that has far reaching implications, for a significant number of your readers, is disgraceful, and indefensible.

 

 

Well where shall I start – how about with ‘Dear Paranoid…’ – what on earth are you wittering on about. According to you we are not a ‘free or responsible press’ because we couldn’t attend a meeting on a subject which you obviously feel passionate about. That’s fine and admirable but to then rant on about how we have been ‘warned off’ or that ‘our advertisers wouldn’t like it’ shows that you truly are not from this planet my friend. Our advertisers are the reason we exist and their politics are, I’m damned sure, a pretty mixed bunch – so which ones are we actually pleasing, or is it that we are trying to please all of the advertisers, all of the time?

Wow! Do you find yourself looking over your shoulder a lot and jumping at every noise – are we all out to get you then in some conspiracy we’ve contrived. Come on, we are a small, free, local newspaper that has hard working staff trying to bring as much local info’ as we can in a short space of time. We cannot make it to every meeting but usually some thoughtful person will write in afterwards and give us a report of what happened. Unfortunately…we got you. ED.

Oh by the way, we didn’t need b***s to print it, just ink.

Tags: Puma22, Orihuela