EDITORIAL: Un-public meetings

It’s a strange set of rules for a public meeting.

On Wednesday, the City of St. John’s held its first public engagement session on sidewalk snowclearing. In other times, that would warrant a public meeting. Now, it’s online, with strings attached.

Here’s what the city said would be — and wouldn’t be — allowed.

“Guidelines for media participation in virtual engagement sessions: media are permitted to attend the city’s virtual engagement sessions for the purpose of observation only. Please do not quote city staff or members or the public without their explicit permission. The member of city council who is lead on the project may be available for an interview following the session (please send written request … in advance). Media are not permitted to record the virtual public engagement session.”

In the current pandemic, public meetings are obviously not possible — but while virtual meetings and virtual press conferences fill that gap to a point, there are pitfalls.

As The Telegram’s Juanita Mercer reported Thursday, “A city spokesperson said the reason for this was to create a safe space for people to speak and engage with staff without being quoted in media …”

Now, if these were normal times, we’d go to the public meeting, record the back-and-forth from involved citizens, city staff and any councillors present, and report on the issues raised. (Recording, by the way, merely helps to ensure the accuracy of what we report. Things can happen fast in public meetings.)

Think, for a moment, about the rules for covering court: not only is the media welcome in almost all cases, but reporters are also able — with specific exceptions — to report what’s said in court. Why? Because justice not only has to be done, it has to be seen to be done. And while anyone can attend court and sit in the gallery, few people actually have the ability to dedicate substantial time to attending. So the media does that job for them.

In the current pandemic, public meetings are obviously not possible — but while virtual meetings and virtual press conferences fill that gap to a point, there are pitfalls.

Part of that is that you’re introducing a gatekeeper. Reporters who fall out of favour for doing their jobs can find their ability and access to ask questions mysteriously disappears. And there’s no way to show that a politician is deliberately avoiding a question, if you’re simply blocked from asking it.

Then, there are the practical questions.

How do you functionally get permission from an attendee at a virtual meeting, especially when reporters have already agreed to only listen?

And while safe spaces are a reasonable and even necessary idea for emotionally charged and personal disclosures, how exactly does that come up in a public meeting on sidewalk snowclearing? Did any participant even request a safe space?

It means ordinary citizens get less complete information — or more to the point, it gets only the information the city wants to release at the end of the process.