[Professional Blog] Reardon Blog Deleted

In my last post, I told you that Shannon Reardon had been hired as Communications Specialist with the Liberal Opposition.

Reardon is an outspoken person, with decent writing skills that were sharpened and refined in her “Fighting Newfoundlander” blog. She’s also a long-time Liberal, and has been sharply critical of the provincial Progressive Conservatives.

After posting that item, there were comments from readers, and direct messages to me, pointing out that the link to Reardon’s blog had gone dead. I checked and, sure enough, the message from the host is, “no longer available” and “the authors have deleted this blog.”

I sent Reardon a message, asking why her blog had been killed. Her reply was brief.

“Standard practice for political staff,” she wrote.

And fair enough. It is what I expected. Anything she writes “on a go-forward basis” (and please, Shannon, don't use that phrase) would be measured against party policy, and would cause difficulty for all concerned if her views conflicted with the party line.

However, I don’t agree with taking down everything she has ever written. We know that all entries posted before this appointment were the personal opinion of Shannon Reardon. Some of it was controversial, but not wildly incompatible with the party line, and a few discrepancies would be understandable. 

Deleting the blog altogether from the public record makes me wonder what was in there that was so sensitive. 

Google cache, anyone?