Not responding to media seldom kills a story

In his 2011 book “Republic Lost,” author Lawrence Lessig relates a story told him from a member of congress, who was faced with returning phone calls from his hotel room after a hard day of campaigning.

Lessig said that upon returning to his hotel room, the candidate had close to 100 calls from constituents about a variety of issues, but just one call from a large campaign donor. Which one do you think the candidate chose to call back?

Dumb question but yep, the campaign donor.

Lessig’s must-read book is about how money has corrupted our democracy and could lead to the end of representative government. I cite this example not because of its content, but because it illustrates something about choices.

As the local paper, we are confronted with choices every publication cycle. What is newsworthy, to begin with, and then is that item newsworthy enough to warrant a full-blown story, a short brief or maybe just a photograph.

Not an easy call as there is little in the way of exact science on how to pick what matters most to as many people as possible, and what matters but to a select few.

I’m sure politicians face the same dilemma, as Lessig illustrates above. Who to call back and for what.

Every election cycle, the Cheney Free Press editorial staff picks local races of importance and sends those candidates a small number of questions about issues facing voters on the West Plains and asks them to answer them in 100-150 words. Yes, many of these issues require more space to be able to form a proper comprehensive answer.

And each time we do this, it’s like pulling teeth to get many candidates to respond. Often it takes several emails and a phone call or two or three to track them down and get them to check their email and pop us those answers.

We hear lots of reasons why these prospective elected official wannabe’s are tardy. Too busy with visits to local officials, meetings and doorbelling are the most prevalent.

That’s valid. It takes a lot of energy and hard work to campaign for office, and it will take a lot of energy and hard work to be an elected representative should they succeed. But part of that is checking your email.

Sometimes we hear our emails have gone to someone’s Spam box, which I suppose is also a valid reason. But when you get a phone call asking “did you receive these questions?” it shouldn’t take another email and phone call to generate a response.

I know people are busy. We’re busy, everybody’s busy.

But here’s a thought to all current and future individuals running for or considering running for office. When you ignore the media, you’re not ignoring just the reporters and editors.

You’re also ignoring their readers. That’s a large audience you’re missing out on sending a free message to.

There are, of course, elected officials who deliberately ignore the media because they don’t like the way they’re portrayed. State 4th District Rep. Matt Shea comes to mind, but in his case, how he’s portrayed can be documented as accurate by sources outside the media.

The problem with us is that elected officials can’t control us, and therefore are at our discretion as to how their words and deeds are portrayed. Fair enough, we have limited space, but ignoring something seldom makes it go away.

So elected officials, we’re here and we’re ready to listen to you. Call us or stop by and talk to us. Our door is always open.

John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.