To mimic the words of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, the media have no business in the bedrooms of the nation. It is not our place to expose the private lives of individuals. The private lives of elected officials are not necessarily newsworthy; what we care about is what they do on the job.
That is important to note this week, after Saanich Mayor Richard Atwell’s name appeared on our front page several times, and on countless radio and television broadcasts as well.
Atwell’s private life became public news because a line was crossed. When private matters might affect an elected person’s ability to do the job, the public has a right to know.
On Dec. 11, Atwell was involved in an incident involving another man and a woman. Police were called to a home in Saanich that evening. Atwell was a visitor to the home. The key point: Atwell is the chairman of the Saanich police board.
All of us, elected to public office or not, have to avoid any perception of conflict of interest in our careers. And yes, these considerations apply to the media as well.
A television anchor in Toronto was suspended this week because of his involvement with a public-relations firm, an obvious conflict. We have strict rules at the Times Colonist about what our newsroom employees can do in their own time, or can accept from businesses, elected officials and so on.
When the head of the Saanich police board calls the police for help in settling a personal matter, there could be a conflict. When a reporter finds out about an incident such as this, it is entirely appropriate to ask for an explanation.
We learned of the Dec. 11 incident before Christmas. After determining that there was something behind the rumours, we tried to contact Atwell.
Over several days, our reporters left messages for the mayor at his office and at his home, by telephone and in person. We also sent emails to three addresses, hoping for a response of any sort.
Atwell is new to public office. He does not have experience dealing with the media, and might have thought that we would just go away. As it became increasingly obvious that he would not talk, we started hunting for information from other sources. One thing we heard — and that Atwell confirmed on Wednesday — was that he had talked with the woman involved about a possible management job for her at Saanich district hall.
Bear in mind that Atwell removed Saanich’s chief administrative officer without council’s approval, and before he had been sworn into office.
Before we published the first story on the incident, we knew the names of the other people involved, we knew where they worked and we knew the address of the house in question. We did not publish these details because, as I noted, the media have no business in the private lives of private individuals without their consent. This story was about the chairman of the police board, not the others.
The private lives of public officials, including those people they choose to associate with, can give voters a better sense of their character. If their private lives intrude on their ability to work on our behalf, that’s a problem.
Private lives are private until somebody calls the cops. When the person making the call is the chairman of the police board, people have a right to know what happened.
The decision to publish this story was not taken lightly. We did our best to reach Atwell, who might have had a simple explanation.
Given his decisive victory in November, he has strong support. His cheering section at council meetings might be unprecedented at the municipal level. His many supporters would not be happy to read of potential
problems. I was not surprised to get complaints about our coverage.
On the other hand, failing to report the story would have meant that we were failing in our responsibility to the community.
For the most part, journalists don’t like reporting on this kind of thing. We don’t like stories that tear at the fabric of our community; we take no joy in reporting them.
We would rather report that council members are working to make this an even better place to live, but we can’t ignore a potential conflict of interest.
