More talk, less bullying ...

Police, journalists just trying to do their jobs

It began on a dead-end road at the edge of a bean field in rural Elgin County in June 2017.

It ended — finally — this week in a courtroom in St. Thomas, Ont.

Brett and John Hueston, publisher and editor of the Aylmer Express, were acquitted of obstructing a peace officer and other crimes allegedly committed when they showed up where police were investigating a death after a car plunged off a cliff into Lake Erie.

The case sparked outrage in the journalistic community across Canada at the time, and with good reason. The father and son were merely doing their jobs.

As Ontario Court Justice Glen Donald noted, the whole case could have been avoided if only the officers on site had communicated better with the journalists, according a report in the London Free Press.

Too often that is the case when we meet in a tense situation. The police are quite correctly trying to do their jobs and they don’t want the journalists in the way. The journalists are quite correctly trying to do their jobs and don’t want to be in the way, but they can’t be ordered away completely, and keeping them in the dark merely raises needless suspicions.

I have seen too many journalists behave badly to defend them blindly.

I have cringed many times at media scrums, winced during so-called media events, and lowered my head in shame when my colleagues do embarrassing things in the alleged pursuit of a story.

There are, in short, many bad journalists who act irresponsibly and thoughtlessly. (And I’m not perfect either, for the record.)

But the vast majority are caring, thoughtful, sensitive, polite, amiable, collaborative, respectful and often helpful, even if they don’t sometimes appear that way.

They believe what they do is important, that freedom of the press should be a guiding principle for everyone — not just journalists — in a functioning democracy. And they know it is not enough for authorities to promote transparency; they must be seen to be transparent.

That wasn’t the case that day near the cliff. Journalists are the eyes and ears for a public that is increasingly kept in the dark, intentionally or otherwise, by those in presumed power, often the same people who assume secrecy is better than openness, and bullying is better than straightforward communication.

Police are not the only ones who forget this from time to time, but they are the ones with the power to arrest, and therefore media confrontations with police generate more headlines than others.

Good journalists and good police officers know well that this is a partnership, and both have what’s best for the public in mind (although we sometimes interpret that differently).

Unfortunately, events like the one involving the Huestons set these partnerships back for everyone.

The judge this week had some hopeful words on that too: “The Huestons’ arrest and this prosecution could not have helped that relationship. I’m hopeful that each side to this dispute can find a way forward for the betterment of our institutions and for the longevity for our free and democratic society.”