ONE of my colleagues was recently working on a story that required information from a Western Australian Government department.
For the uninitiated, journalists are often herded through to public relations advisors.
Rarely are we given access any more to the people who actually make decisions within government departments as they might actually say something of some substance.
Heaven forbid these intelligent and capable people make a comment that hurts the department’s public perception.
Sometimes even the spin doctors don’t like dealing directly with journalists, requesting we send questions via email in order to give them time to formulate and plan their response.
In this particular instance though, the reporter was asked by the public relations advisor whether she could hold off on the story because (and I quote), “she was going on holidays tomorrow.”
I am sorry, we will wait for another news outlet to get the story first, sure, go enjoy your holiday.
This is beyond a joke.
Too often journalists are forced to deal with media mismanagers who are charged with protecting a brand rather than create open lines of communication.
It has become more about what they won’t tell us as opposed to what they will.
Some of the worst cases of “gate-keeping” comes from within local councils - what should be an open and transparent form of government which the public has access to.
When did we become so precious?