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[[Image:JeffBergosh.jpg|thumb|right|140px|Jeff Bergosh]]'''Jeff Bergosh''' is the [[Escambia County School Board]] representative for [[Escambia County District 1|District 1]]. He was elected in [[2006]], filling the seat vacated by his brother [[Gary Bergosh]], who was elected to won a [[Circuit Court]] judgeshipin the same election. He came under fire in 2007 for posting comments on the [[pnj.com]] messageboards using a the pseudonym'''Godzilla'''. In over 100 anonymous posts to the website, Bergosh's posts were mostly centered on defending had defended the quality of education in the Escambia County public schools. Some of the posts were critical of education, criticized his political opponents, and in one post out of 135 total Bergosh named praised himself in the third person.

Bergosh is a 1986 Graduate graduate of [[Pensacola High School]]. After high school, Bergosh he moved out west to attend college. He earned , earning an Associates of Arts degree from Grossmont College (El Cajon, California) in 1990 and a B.A. from San Diego State University in 1994. Before entering politics, Bergosh had a ten-year career as a retail business operator and facilities management specialist, retail business operator, and he had spent including about 1 1/2 years working as a cultural resource manager at [[Naval Air Station Pensacola]].<ref name="lookingout">"District 1 candidates looking out for students." ''Pensacola News Journal'', August 18, 2006.</ref> When his brother decided not to seek reelection, Bergosh said he was asked by [[Escambia County Superintendent|Superintendent]] [[Jim Paul]] to seek the office.<ref name="lookingout"/> He was elected on [[September 5]], [[2006]] with 5,110 votes — about twice as many as his closest rival, [[Todd Leonard]].<ref>"Escambia County School Board." ''Pensacola News Journal'', September 6, 2006.</ref>

==PNJ forum Incident"Godzilla" controversy==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 had noticed that the PNJ had utilized their own internal IT information to learn the true identity of "Godzilla, an 's"off posts were similar to the record" admission was given to Rabb. Against views expressed by Bergosh's wishesat School Board meetings, Rabb and the PNJ ran she was able to confirm with the story and were criticized heavily for doing so. The Columbia Journalism Review questioned the PNJwebsite's administrator that Bergosh's tactics personal email address had been used to make this story using in-house IT information register the account. Bergosh admitted to the persona when confronted by Rabb, but issued an official denial.<ref name="whois">"Who is schools' 'Godzilla?'" ''Pensacola News Journal'', October 4, 2007.</ref> Bergosh finally 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 in subsequent articles, ''News Journal'' editorials, and cartoons in the PNJ for a number of the comments he made using as Godzilla, which included:*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 claim that schools in the poverty stricken lower-income [[Escambia County District 3|District 3]] were a statistical drag on the rest of the district's grade as performance. *a whole. This post was made in defense of Escambia County's school system when 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 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 suggestion 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"/> Bergosh was critical *criticism of teachers' unions for "roadblocking districts every step of the way" referring to the local teacher's unions threatened litigation in a debate over the implementation of the state approved and funded teacher merit pay plan. In one the same debate, Bergosh (1as Godzilla) post out of 135, Bergosh referred to complimented himself in the [[Wikipedia:Third-person narrative|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 current 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> although this policy may have been altered since Bergosh initially registered.{{fact}} 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."<ref name="statement"/>

Bergosh accused the The ''News Journal'' 's decision to share details of "outing" his identity on what he had believed their website registration database with the editorial staff was a safe outlet for anonymous opinion: "When criticized by many members of the [[pnj.com]] forums and other publications. According to the [[UWF]] ''Pensacola News Journal[[Voyager]]'' created an anonymous forum, encouraging "A bias was inherent in that story — the use of pseudonyms, as bias to let people take down their guards and speaking in a frank manner regarding political ideas and thoughts, I jumped at the opportunitysell more newspapers."<ref name="statement">[http://ricksblogmedia.www.bizthevoyager.net/wp-contentmedia/storage/paper977/uploadsnews/2007/10/jeff11/Opinion/Newspapers.Should.Report.Not.Exploit-bergosh3035316.shtml "Newspapers should report, not exploit.pdf Statement by Bergosh regarding Godzilla"]''The Voyager'', October 11, 2007.</ref> The publication pointed out that their website[[Isaac Sabetai]], online editor for the ''[[Northwest Florida Daily News]]''s terms of use reserved , called the exposé "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 appropriatebush league."<ref>[http://www.pnjnwfdailynews.com/appsblog/pbcs.dllpost/theOnlineEditor/section?Category=TERMS pnj.com Terms of Use]<746/ref> Hundreds of forum posters weighed in on the issue Comments-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" Anonymity Comments and that the left-leaning newspaper had engaged in "[[Wikipedia:yellow journalism|yellow journalism]Anonymity]" 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 12October 9, 2007 may have provoked the PNJ to dig up the information from their IT department to identify him in the newspaper.</ref name="statement"/>

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[[Category:Escambia County School Board members|Bergosh, Jeff]] [[Category:Pensacola High School graduates|Bergosh, Jeff]]