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=="Godzilla" scandalPNJ forum Incident==On [[October 4]], [[2007]], the ''[[Pensacola News Journal]]'' published an article by reporter [[Sara Rabb]] that revealed Bergosh had been posting comments on [[pnj.com]] under the pseudonym "[[Wikipedia:Godzilla|Godzilla]]." Confronted by Rabb, Bergosh denied being Godzilla. Facing the fact that the PNJ had utilized their own internal IT information to learn the true identity of Godzilla, an "off the record" admission was given to Rabb. Against Bergosh's wishes, Rabb and the PNJ ran with the story and were criticized heavily for doing so. The Columbia Journalism Review questioned the PNJ's tactics used to make this story using in-house IT information .<ref name="whois">"Who is schools' 'Godzilla?'" ''Pensacola News Journal'', October 4, 2007.</ref> He finally Bergosh confirmed the online identity during an [[October 8]] "[[IN Your Head Radio]]" interview on [[AM 1620]].<ref>[http://ricksblog.biz/?p=2490 Bergosh=Godzilla]</ref>

Bergosh was criticized via several subsequent articles, editorials, and cartoons in the PNJ for a number of the comments he made as Godzillausing a pseudonym in the daily paper's anonymous forum. All of the forum posts presented in the PNJ articles were devoid of context and therefore the true meanings could not be discerned. Among his posts were claims that schools in the predominantly black poverty stricken [[Escambia County District 3|District 3]] were a "statistical drag" on the rest of the district's grade as a whole. This post was made in defense of Escambia County's school systemwhen compared to other nearby districts that do not have the same social and poverty issues to contend with. In another post, the subject of which was discipline and he attendance issues among 16 and 17 year old students in the district who had not yet completed middle school that did not want to be in school and who were tremendous discipline problems , Bergosh suggested they not be compelled to stay. In that post Bergosh stated that governments should "do away with compulsory education beyond grade 8. … Build more prisons and get ready for the influx, but let's keep school a positive environment for students who WANT to come to school!!"<ref name="whois"/> He Bergosh was critical of teachers' unions for "roadblocking districts every step of the way" referring to the local teacher's unions threatened litigation over the implementation of the state approved and even praised funded teacher merit pay plan. In one (1) post out of 135, Bergosh referred to himself in the third person during a debate over merit pay for teachers, a passionate volley meant to let people in the community know that 2.1 million dollars in teacher bonus money was about to be voted "out" of Pensacola and back to Tallahassee: "I know we can count on Board member Bergosh to be there and vote to keep the bonus money here in Pensacola. I know he is not going to genuflect, bow down and kiss the union ring, and give the union what they want."<ref name="whois"/> When the School Board voted 4-1 against the existing merit pay plan, Godzilla said he could hear their "spines breaking in unison."<ref name="outing">[http://www.cjr.org/behind_the_news/outing_godzilla.php Outing Godzilla: An Internet crack in the Chinese wall.] ''Columbia Journalism Review'', October 16, 2007.</ref>

Bergosh accused the ''News Journal'' of "outing" his identity on what he had believed was a safe outlet for anonymous opinion: "When the ''Pensacola News Journal'' created an anonymous forum, encouraging the use of pseudonyms, as to let people take down their guards and speaking in a frank manner regarding political ideas and thoughts, I jumped at the opportunity."<ref name="statement">[http://ricksblog.biz/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/jeff-bergosh.pdf Statement by Bergosh regarding Godzilla]</ref> The publication pointed out that their website's terms of use reserved "the right to identify you as the author of any of your postings or submissions by name, email address or screen name, as we deem appropriate."<ref>[http://www.pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=TERMS pnj.com Terms of Use]</ref> Hundreds of forum posters weighed in on the issue and it was disclosed that the original PNJ forum sign up disclaimer, which had indicated that personal information would never be disclosed to any third party, had been switched to a new 7 page terms of service in March of 2007 to a policy which allowed for the release of any information the paper deemed appropriate. Many forum posters understood that the new Gannett Terms of Service actually amounted to a "no-privacy" policy. The consensus among the posters was that the PNJ had been deceptive about how the new terms of service had been implemented. Bergosh asserted that he "never divulged any 'in-house' secrets or committed ANY crime" and that the left-leaning newspaper had engaged in "[[Wikipedia:yellow journalism|yellow journalism]]" as retribution for his conservative opinions, prompting him to "fight for my right to freedom of speech." In addition to these reasons, Bergosh pointed out that he felt that his scathing response to Richard A. Schneider's editorial from August 12, 2007 may have provoked the PNJ to dig up the information from their IT depoartment to identify him in the newspaper.<ref name="statement"/>