Local editor’s candidacy for town council raises some questions

Hinton Parklander — 9/25/17

By John Hopkins-Hill
Hinton Parklander

Tyler Waugh, editor and publisher of the Hinton Voice, announced he will be running for council through an editorial in the Sept. 14 edition of the Voice.

The announcement outlined the plan the paper intends to follow in order to continue to provide fair coverage of council and local politics.

Per the editorial, Waugh will stay on as publisher and editor, but “will no longer report on, or publish opinions about, what happens at council meetings and related political issues.”

If Waugh is elected, he will no longer be part of editing or proofreading pages with council coverage.

Indira Lakshmanan, Newmark Chair in Journalism Ethics at the Poynter Institute, said that Waugh faces a difficult balance going forward.

“The challenge for this editor and publisher is that it is difficult to manage competing loyalties,” said Lakshmanan.

Lakshmanan said that the primary loyalty for a journalist is to serve the audience, whereas one of the primary loyalties for a candidate is to be elected.

“When those two loyalties are in competition, it’s very difficult to resolve them.”

David Black, associate professor at the School of Communication and Culture at Royal Roads University, said that the announcement plans for many contingencies.

“I think the protocol anticipates many, but not all, of the potential complications that might follow,” said Black. “We have to respect that … the publisher and editor of any media outlet in such a town has enormous influence, both in the newsroom and also in the community itself.”

Black said that there was one “red flag” he noted in the announcement.

“I was a little concerned that before he declared his candidacy he was clearly like anybody else, thinking about it, and that he was conducting interviews with candidates while he was considering running himself,” said Black.

The editorial in the Voice said that candidates interviewed in the “weeks leading up to his decision to run” were told of Waugh’s possible run and given the option to be interviewed by freelancers.

Waugh clarified in an interview that not all candidates were informed, but that once it became a serious possibility in late August, all further candidates were informed.

Lakshmanan said the editorial was “striking” in its transparency.

“It was impressive that so much thought had been given to laying out various contingencies and to describing them, but that doesn’t erase the underlying conflict that exists between being a politician being a journalist or the head of a news organization,” said Lakshmanan.

“What was striking was that on the one hand, they had given a lot of thought to laying our various contingencies, but on the other hand he has not stepped down from the position as editor, and even though he can say he has no relationship to or control over these freelancers, it could be hard to convince readers of that – of the complete separation of church and state.”

Black also noted this potential problem and suggested hiring a public editor as a solution, although he noted it would be unique at a paper the size of the Voice.

“The protocol is something that is enforced internally and no member of the public can fully understand what goes on in a newsroom or the kind of internal dynamics of any given media outlet,” said Black. “The protocol is great, but it is inadequate insofar as given that we’re in a small town where any media outlet is going to have enormous influence.”

Waugh said that he believes the reputation of the Voice and their upcoming election will prove the public’s trust is well placed.

“This is a rare situation, but it is not unprecedented,” said Waugh. “There are other papers, even in Alberta, that have this sort of structure. But we’re confident that the trust and integrity we’ve established as an organization and as individuals speaks for itself, and I think that the consistent, fair and unbiased coverage of the election that we’re going to provide over the next month will prove that confidence justified.”

Pierre Karl Péladeau drew national attention when he was elected as a Quebec MNA and later successfully ran for leadership of the Parti Québécois in 2015 while maintaining ownership of Quebecor, the second-largest newspaper chain in the country at the time. Péladeau would later put his shares of Quebecor in a blind trust. Quebecor was the owner of the Parklander prior to the sale to Postmedia.

In Alberta, Stephen Dafoe is the owner and operator of the Morinville News and a member of Morinville council.

Locally, Councillor Marcel Michaels worked as a news reporter for what was then called The Eagle radio station prior to being elected to council. When Michaels declared his candidacy, he was no longer allowed to cover local news and told he would be required to resign effective immediately if elected. He resigned from his position the day the election results were announced.

Both Black and Lakshmanan agreed that a newspaper cannot be viewed the same way as other businesses.

“Newspapers have a specific public purpose,” said Lakshmanan. “We have a specific public service obligation to report the truth and hold government officials in particular accountable, so it’s hard to see how that can be done when one is trying to wear both hats.”

Black said any potential conflict of interest in this situation is different than the “ordinary” types that frequently arise with business owners.

“It’s not an ordinary conflict of interest. It’s the ability to shape the life of the town in ways that might not just benefit [Waugh’s] bottom line, but his own political influence if you will.”

Organizers for the all candidates forum on Sept. 25 said that Waugh removed himself from any role with the forum shortly before his candidacy was announced. Organizers also said that the Voice plays an administrative role in the forum.

Organizers invited the Parklander on Sept. 20 to take part in the questions committee for the forum.