When we started the Great Falls Gazette, it was originally going to be a nice little paper/newsletter focused only on positive stories about our great city. As we started to develop the paper, we quickly learned that, locally, there wasn’t a lot of news.
As publishers, we jumped on that with a “Wow, this community is underserved, and the ‘Big’ paper is dropping the ball” After three months, a lot of banging our heads against the wall, and some eye-opening experiences dealing with local government, we have a much clearer view of what is happening.
When I was in Junior High School, we had a civics class. It was mainly about how our system of government works and our responsibilities to and from that government. One thing that really stuck with me from that class is that there is what is known as the Fourth Estate, The press.
The press is not elected. In fact, the press is the watchdog of our system, a fact that has been reinforced by the Supreme Court time and time again. Here is how the press is elected. We, the people, decide which of the press gets our attention.
Now, I’m sure we’ve all seen television shows or movies that portray reporters as pushy, irritating, obnoxious people demanding answers and honestly being less than nice to the police, politicians, and anyone else who happens to be in the crosshairs. Is that realistic? Well, yes and no. Here is the thing. Reporters are focused on the story. Most reporters I know are pretty empathic people and generally care about their subjects.
Where this goes wrong is when people or institutions are dishonest with the reporter. They try to hide things. They filter information, and that is where most reporters turn and start becoming demanding. The desire to find the real story is very strong, and when a reporter finds that a public official or large company is hiding information, the compulsion to dig deeper, harder, and with less concern for the subject’s feelings happens.
Here in Montana, we don’t have to be quite so nasty and mean. In our state constitution, we have The Right to Know Law, which states: “No person shall be deprived of the right to examine documents or to observe the deliberations of all public bodies or agencies of state government and its subdivisions.”
This right is protected by Article 2, Section 9 of the state constitution. Like any good system, Article 2, Section 10 protects individual privacy, and Section 8 protects the right of the public to participate in the operation of agencies before final decisions. These three “legs” of Right to Know are important to ensure that the public can keep tabs on what the government is doing.
So what does this have to do with a lack of local news in the Great Falls area? With blogs, internet news, media conglomerates, and general apathy, many in government have not had to deal with reporters who would push to get news. A good case is made when a Great Falls Police Department official tasked with keeping the public informed told us, “Well, we put out information on Facebook” Apparently, no one informed this person that not everyone uses Facebook regularly (or sometimes at all). Additionally, Facebook has admitted in senate testimony that they can not guarantee that everyone will see every post that may apply to them, even if they want to.
Obviously, this is concerning if the only place information is being shared is Facebook or other social media. We receive comments frequently that people don’t trust information on social media and often have no desire to use social media. I agree that it’s hard to respond to many requests, and disseminating information to news organizations is a simple way of ensuring free and fair access to all.
This all means that news organizations must step up and do their job. They need to go out and ensure that our public officials and employees are making public that information that is critical for maintaining the government we all want and require.
The Right to Know Law, within reason, helps reporters keep our local and state government honest and keeps citizens informed. With an election coming up, it’s important to know that one of the main purposes of the free press is to ensure that the citizens of this country have the facts needed to make informed decisions about their government, as well as being informative and entertaining. It’s a lofty goal but one I enjoy thoroughly.
Author: Andy Anderson
Andy is publisher of Foxys Publishing Co, as well as pressman, ad sales, distribution and sometime janitor. He occasionally makes a wild attempt at writing but quite often is seen running around our offices trying to "Get 39 million things done today..."
