Who can a little birdy trust if she can’t trust the police? That’s the question that’s been knocking around in my head over the last week. In case you somehow missed it, a Dec. 1 Sun story about the Santa Maria Police Department (SMPD) issuing a ruse press release made national—and even international—news.
Chief Ralph Martin said that he directed the tactic in February in order to protect the lives of two men who were the targets of alleged gang members. Though perfectly legal, the rare tactic has brought up a lot of questions about ethics, accuracy, and trust, among other things.
It’s hard as a media representative to analyze the situation without coming across as defensive. But here goes.
On the surface, it may seem like the media are hurt over being duped. In actuality it goes deeper than that. The media that reported the details in the press release had no reason to question the facts because they were coming from a primary source. Sure, there was the detail about the police turning the men over to the custody of ICE—something that isn’t policy for the SMPD—that could’ve raised a red flag, but otherwise, there was no reason to believe the information was anything other than true. In fact, until Sun Staff Writer David Minsky broke the story, none of the media outlets that reported the information had known it was incorrect.
Journalistic accuracy depends on reporters getting information from primary sources. To do that there has to be trust.
Therein lies the heart of the issue.
The issue was never about whether it was right or wrong for the SMPD to issue the press release. At least not entirely.
Of course as community members we understand and support Martin’s intentions: to save the lives of two men. As journalists however, we know the move means an erosion of trust.
Let me put it in a simplistic way. Think of the person you trust the most. Now imagine that person misled you in a very big way. But they had good reason; they were trying to help someone. You may understand and forgive, but trust is a fragile thing. And as with all fragile things, impacts often leave a dent or a scratch. Enough of them and eventually the fragile thing cracks.
Two of the news outlets that reported the false story said they support police efforts to protect lives, but they expressed concern about the trust shared between the entities.
Jim Lemon, KEYT’s news director, told the Sun that he fears that by “intentionally planting false information, those efforts may elicit too high a cost in credibility.”
Kendra Martinez, news director for KSBY, told the Sun in a statement that her station is “concerned this type of deception can erode the basic trust of our residents and viewers.”
In a time when politicians are draping a heavy cloak over transparency and limiting press access, and fake news threatens to distract us from important issues, we need to be extra vigilant. We need to know who we can trust.
The Canary feels a little burned. Help her put out her feathers at canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Dec 8-15, 2016.
