Of all the things I’ve learned while working in the media, I’ve come to realize how tough it can be for city governments to maintain transparency.
Toeing the line between what they can disclose and what should be withheld is a challenge. But at some point, city governments should understand that disclosing information – or at the very least talking to the public or media – is an important factor in serving our communities.
Some of our local cities do the best they can to maintain that transparency. Of course, some cities are better at the whole transparency game than others.
But what irks us in the media is when city governments, primarily high-ranking city officials, ignore requests to meet face-to-face to talk about an issue. Especially when it’s an innocent topic, like, let’s say, the idea of hands-free ordinances.
Understandably, managing a city is a high-stress job that requires a lot of hours. Officials can’t always meet when we, the media, want them to. We get that.
But it’s bothersome when city officials respond to a voicemail request for a phone interview by asking questions to be submitted via email.
It’s bothersome when officials want questions for an interview to be submitted via email when a face-to-face conversation was previously requested and would be quicker and easier.
At what point does a city official realize they have now set a caustic precedent?
Perhaps city officials don’t always remember what an advocate the newspaper can be.
But balking at face-to-face interview requests seems to say quite a bit.
It shows they aren’t willing to, at least, make some time to sit down and chat about the issues.
What’s most concerning is, if that’s how they treat the media, how exactly do they treat their constituents, the people paying them?
Maybe city officials should remember, for their own benefit, painting with opaque colors will lead to more questions. And we, in the media, will be more than willing to pour mineral spirits on the issue to cut through all that paint.
