This coming Sunday marks the winter solstice. It’s a day we look forward to because it signals that daylight will last longer.
After that milestone, the countdown begins on the snow clock and three months later spring is around the corner.
The doldrums of darkness and winter may be disappearing but a chill in the news is worsening.
Apart from this column, our interaction with the reporters is limited. Obligations with the provincial and national boards, plus a heavy family schedule with sports, are part of it. We are also more comfortable having reporters stick to their own resources and draw their own conclusions as they put the news to bed each week.
Lately however, over the din of clattering keyboards, phone interviews and the banter about so much to do, we picked up a growing concern. Despite best efforts to reach some subjects, inquiries go unreturned and some interviewees make it quite plain – they don’t wish to or can’t talk.
Codes of conduct and more formal communication strategies were meant to elevate discussion and better inform the public. The results have been mixed.
We were trying to make sense of this whilst extending season’s greetings to a former Advertiser reporter. David Meyer, long-ago retired, was well known for his prolific prose and thorough coverage. He was old school for sure, having been educated at Ryerson J-school back when cynicism was almost a prerequisite to ensuring a balanced story. For anyone who would listen, Meyer would tell the story of his university prof demanding that every question be asked with a subliminal test; “why is this person lying to me?”
That was post-Watergate days and well known at the time as a period of mistrust. Flash forward 50-some years and news in some circles has become a regurgitation of press releases, gullibly passed on to the public wanting answers. An incomplete story just causes readers to tune out.
Civic journalism done correctly will not always be first. Unfortunately, speed has inaccurately become a measurement in recent times. Thoroughness takes time. Subjects hiding behind communication teams and handing questions off to the chair rather than committing themselves to a position, definitely factors in this delay to inform.
Meyer’s take on what happened? Back in his day all he had to do was phone 519-846-XXXX, he said, quoting from memory the phone number of Elora’s last reeve. On those calls, background was provided on council decisions and promises made for a return call if there was something she couldn’t quote decisively or was unsure about. There were plenty of other numbers in his Rolodex – pre-internet and smart phone age. There is some irony in that point, considering these times are meant to be far easier and more efficient with the online world. Simply, leaders once understood their role and were happy to talk.
In recent weeks, our education reporter has tried to get Upper Grand District School Board trustees’ reactions to their pending dismissal. Like many Doug Ford government announcements, the devil is in the details, but how desperately we hoped to see a reaction from local trustees to Ford’s plan of eliminating their job. We hoped to hear how much they value their role and how that makes education for our children better. Apart from one trustee willing to chat off the record, our reporter was advised to contact communications staff or the board chair, citing the need for a consistent message. Further to that, there was great worry that making noise against the province’s plan might hasten it. The chill has settled in.
While those frustrations make a reporter’s efforts more difficult, it has not yet deterred the nobility of the cause to inform. Journalists ask questions on behalf of the public. The five W’s – who, what, when, where, why – are often wrapped in the question of how. In order to pull stories together, all these points need answering.
As we exit year three of local council terms, the public will need to start considering who actually has the gumption to speak to their issues. Taxes, sustainable development, obvious shortfalls in provincial policy, housing, road networks, all forms of recreation and culture, ballooning local bureaucracies – these are all things we would hope someone would speak about.
The chill effect on politicians in the halls of local democracy needs to end.
