Covid-19: The Sofia Globe’s message to trolls

The Sofia Globe has a message to the trolls posting Facebook comments in response to our stories, especially those about Covid-19.

We are doing our level best, with strained and limited human resources, to bring our readers information that is provably factual, objective and accurate, to say nothing of helpful to the general public, in every respect in this crisis.

This reporting task is not easy, nay, it is deeply exhausting, and it is being conducted also in the context of publishing stories on topics other than that of Covid-19, as we have been doing daily for eight years.

But we believe that now, as journalists, more than ever it is the time to act responsibly, to measure up to the heroic work of the professionals, most especially the medical professionals, in this fight against Covid-19. That you seek to pollute this task in pursuit of your own petty agendas is shameful.

Every waking hour that we may muster, your trolling will be deleted, and we shall be as vigilant and thorough in that as we are in our reporting.

Now is the time for every effort to be dedicated to the greater good, not to the flaccid attempted point-scoring of the mischievous, malicious, keyboard warrior, purveyors of hatred and disinformation. Flush away your hatred, mischief and time-wasting, and think about what you may get up and do, or not do, that is genuinely helpful.

Decide for yourself on which side the history of March 2020 should find you. One is “I behaved responsibly and did what I could to help, whatever my capabilities, mindful of my responsibility and duty to others”. The other choice is “I was a troll on Facebook, and I posted deliberately offensive, misleading material, designed to waste the time of others trying to do their jobs. Oh, my warped sense of humour made it all better”. The choice is up to your conscience.