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Saturday, March 8, 2008
No comment
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“No comment.”
Journalists hear those two words, in some form or fashion, often. We come to expect it in some situations.
Like when we ring the door bell or call the home of relatives in grief. Or incidents in which individuals have been accused of criminal or moral malfeasance.
Sometimes we get the blow-off in what should be feel-good stories. Like when a lottery jackpot changes a person’s life overnight.
It’s understandable, for lots of reasons. And let’s face it: Some reporters can be a bit overbearing. They can be arrogant, pesky, intrusive and, in some cases, downright vulture-like when it comes to gathering news.
As for the grieving parents, the newly-crowned millionaire or alleged miscreant - they are private citizens. It’s their call on whether or not they want to appear in a newspaper or on TV.
But for people who are hired, appointed or elected to public office - it’s a different ball game. It’s not about choice. It’s about responsibility and duty to taxpayers, the people who live in the community and pay the bills, including the office holders’ paychecks. Explanations, information and facts about issues shouldn’t be hard to come by. Access should be free of orchestrated blockades to mislead or keep the public clueless.
Years ago, I worked as an education writer for The Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel. I covered a semi-rural school system with a controversial, conservative-minded school board majority. Whenever I tried to interview the chairwoman, she’d ask what the issue was and what I wanted to know, even if it were a mundane topic. Then, she’d call back hours later with a scripted response. Some board members did her one better. They’d return calls the next day, when the story had already appeared in print. Crafty.
On Friday, AJC Gwinnett News ran a story about the $45 million baseball stadium the county will build for the top minor-league affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. County officials had said no property tax increases are planned to pay for the facility. Records obtained under the Georgia Open Records Act show that’s not entirely the case. There had been talk of a small property tax increase to finance the stadium.
Somebody in county government had some explaining to do.
Michael Pearson, the AJC Gwinnett News reporter, contacted county commissioners on Wednesday, two days before the story ran. He left messages on the cell phones of four of them, outlining the reason for the call, the story he was working on. Commissioner Mike Beaudreau picked up when Pearson called.
“No comment,” he said in so many words.
Pearson was only able to talk to County Manager Jock Connell and Bert Nasuti, the Gwinnett County Commissioner who came up with the idea to bring minor-league baseball here.
As of Saturday, mum still was the word from Commissioners Beaudreau, Lorraine Green, Kevin Kenerly and Chairman Charles Bannister. Maybe they are out of pocket, somewhere remote where cell phones and telephones don’t work. Maybe they decided to let Nasuti be the mouthpiece. After all, this was his baby. Perhaps they are bedridden; isn’t the flu going around?
Let’s hope it’s one of the above. I’d hate to think our public officials deemed the subject of the article unfit, that an explanation was unnecessary regarding a (mostly positive) project that’s lacked transparency.
OK, so maybe they don’t want to communicate through the media.
They still need to talk to the people.
Rick Badie’s column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Contact him at 770-263-3875 or e-mail: rbadie@ajc.com.
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