Skip to content

I promise, the information is out there

Reporter Kate Saylors writes about being an informed citizen in the age of Facebook and fake news.
9661704_web1_stock-opinionpic-web

“There are none so blind as those who will not see.”

“You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.”

Both of those old adages, while incredible clichés, were called to mind lately.

My editor, John White, works covering Castlegar council. He wrote a column last week about some recent trends he’s noticed covering council in Castlegar, and it reminded me of a comment made at our council here.

“There’s been a trend I’ve noticed recently that I’ve found disturbing and disheartening: A handful of critics decide they are the voice of the community and bully everyone else at council meetings or public hearings and on social media […] I’ve never seen it as bad as it’s been in Castlegar since my arrival here last winter,” John wrote.

That’s not quite the theme of this column, but along the same lines: At a recent city council meeting, a few residents stood up to complain that they were not aware of anything the city was doing to combat the homelessness problem, nothing was being done, and people needed to know what the city was doing.

While this comment was directed towards the city, not towards media (and for the record, I think the communication of the city’s staff is good and cooperative), it made me think.

While I haven’t worked in newspapers for long, and the City of Grand Forks council is one of the only I have ever professionally covered, I’ve made a bit of a special project out of it.

Partly this is because in the year and a half I’ve worked here, our local council has made some very interesting and unprecedented decisions. They deserve the coverage I give them on issues both good and bad.

But the other part of it stems from my belief that municipal politics are important to the average citizen.

Residents should be informed about the decisions their front-line politicians are making on their behalf. If your garbage service gets cut, your water rates go up and your street wasn’t marked a priority for plowing, you better know who made those decisions and why.

So when people say they feel uninformed, I shake my head a little. It takes work to know what’s happening in your community, but believe me, the information is out there.

I can name at least half a dozen times when “the homeless situation” was reported on in the paper. Many of those times were on the front page. Most of them are based on a city council decision.

“…Those who will not see.”

In these days of Facebook echo chambers and fake news, it takes work to be informed. A “news diet” as it is often termed, should contain a mix of local, provincial, national and international news, from a few different sources. In my humble opinion, the Gazette should be one place you get your news, but also not the only place.

Being an informed citizen is not a passive act. The news will not come to you. Council makes decisions all the time, sometimes in such volume that it can be hard to keep up. I know that often, I’ll leave a city council meeting with a dizzying array of stories to write.

All you have to do is pay attention and read. Read the articles, read the sources (city council agendas are public) and read the often-ensuing editorial opinion. You’ll be better informed and engaged for it.