We ask, they don’t tell

By COLLIN GALLANT on April 18, 2020.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

Whenever journalists start opining about the “right to know” it’s almost too easy to dismiss it as whining or, worse, as some sort of dereliction of duty.

Why don’t reporters simply do their jobs – the public might ask – pick up a phone and get the info out to people who are waiting in frustration for answers?

Well, if life was only so easy.

This month, the News has been inundated will calls from the general public calling for more details (some details, in fact), about COVID testing numbers specific to Medicine Hat, whether positive cases are hospitalized, what risks of exposure there are or have been.

In turn the News has directed those questions to Alberta Health Services and other agencies but have run into an absolute stonewall that’s been built up brick by brick over the years in the stated interest of protecting personal privacy.

How releasing bare numbers, such as “10” or however many, which can’t be connected to anyone person, can be construed as personal information is beyond us.

But it’s used as a full-stop, reliable go-to, a standard operating procedure by administrators and communication officers.

Yet not all administrators.

This isn’t the case for the State of Montana (a Havre man in his 60s is the only positive case in Hill County, the News found out in as long as it took to read this sentence). Nor is there a uniform blanket of secrecy in this region: the City of Brooks and Siksika Nation both this week outlined local testing figures.

For the record, the City of Medicine Hat isn’t the lead agency here, but rather AHS, which certainly can make a case against causing undo panic with unfiltered information. But it causes incredible frustration and even fear, when too little is forthcoming.

A look ahead

City council meets on Monday and the proceedings can be viewed at the city’s website or on Shaw-TV (cable 10) starting at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, which is usually accompanied by a call to reduce power use. People are typically blaise, but honestly, what else to you have to do?

65 years ago

“Salk Vaccine Wins; End of Polio Sighted” the News reported in a banner headline on April 12, 1955, (65 years ago from Easter Sunday).

“The Salk polio vaccine works – safely, potently – and can virtually end the icy fear that long gripped the hearts of parents,” read the opening .

A note to readers, here, is that the file that produced this item was tripped over by your author this week, and provides good reason to revive the “looking back” section of this column.

The News front page posted online this week and became a bit of a phenomenon. It is reprinted here for readers who will appreciate the serendipity involved

People of a certain age will understand that 65 years ago is not so long ago. In fact most of our parents or grandparents will know someone affected by polio, a disease that not only killed but often crippled children.

People will also remember that a fundraising effort known as the March of Dimes contributed to research leading to the vaccine (it still today supports maternal and child health initiatives).

It will do us all good to consider that dimes are the slightest of coins, but gather enough of them together and see what you get.

Collin Gallant covers city politics and a variety of topics for the News. Reach him at 403-528-5664 or via email at cgallant@medicinehatnews.com

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