Jackson Free Press

In a recent interview with The Clarion-Ledger, Mayor Tony Yarber said:

"Honestly, I've only received media criticism from one outlet," he said without specifying which one. "I guess my response is the same response I give to people who simply want access to my life. And that is: 'Show me that I can trust you with this information, and then it positions you to have access.'"

A call to Mayor Yarber this week confirmed he was talking about the Jackson Free Press.

City spokeswoman Shelia Byrd has told us that the administration's policy is not to allow interviews with public officials, including Mayor Yarber, but to receive questions via email and answer them the same way. She indicated it was a policy being applied evenly to all media, although, based on Yarber's C-L interview, that does not seem true.

Sending all questions about city government through a PR-processing machine isn't considered ethical in our business, nor is it a journalistic practice that serves the interest of citizens. The results are pat, whitewashed answers that frequently say very little, with no follow-up questions allowed.

The public deserves to hear directly from officials, and the media have an obligation to go beyond "access journalism" to report facts of a story. Likewise, it's unethical for the JFP to agree not to be critical in order to gain access to public officials.

In a conversation with JFP Editor Donna Ladd this week, Yarber made it clear that he is upset with the JFP for reporting his (videotaped) statement during the campaign that he took "holy-ghost handshakes" as a personal income source. We criticized then the use of the phrase because of the clearly unintended impression it gives off from a mayoral candidate. He also said we accused him of taking bribes, which we did not.

"Sometimes I may be too transparent; I said that people may give me a holy-ghost handshake; that turned into me taking bribes," he said this week. He said he must be able to "control my message" when he talks to media, and "not allow it to be mired by the words I use being used against me."

This is not a deal that a responsible media outlet can make. The role of any newspaper must transcend stenography. Scrutiny of government is the primary role of the media, and government has a responsibility to be straightforward, fair, and forthcoming with news outlets and citizens, even if we don't always agree with what they say.

We welcome comment and critique from Mayor Yarber and other city officials on anything we publish, including their own words. If we misreport a fact, then the City is free to request a correction; we run corrections, clarifications whenever necessary, and guest perspectives every week.

And if a public servant is quoted using words that can be misinterpreted, the best answer is more follow-up to improve communications and explain those words. The answer is not freezing out the outlet that reported those on-the-record statements.

To his credit, Mayor Yarber asked to sit down with the JFP to discuss this further later this week. We hope that meeting leads to a policy—fair, open, reasonable, factual—that will help us all see this city move forward.