So, as of now at least, we have a race for Brockton’s top political job.
While Mayor Charlie Bagnato will seek a third term, as of press deadline, he already has one opponent in Coun. David Inglis, with a very real possibility of others filing before the Sept. 10 deadline.
In many ways municipal elections have more impact on local residents than those in the provincial or federal realm. As such, it’s extremely important for the media to present the candidates and their platforms equally, accurately, and fairly.
At The WHT we won’t treat anyone as ‘the second coming’. Blatant favouritism for one candidate over others will obviously lead to unfair, and most likely inaccurate – or worse – intentionally misleading coverage.
No media should abuse the unique privilege – and the responsibilities that go with it – of presenting news to readers who rely, even trust, that the media is presenting facts on an election campaign, not personal bias and agenda, camouflaged as news.
Doing so is not only an insult to the men and women who are seeking office, but it’s an insult to the electorate who are being duped into false perceptions created from biased ‘reporting’.
Granted, that doesn’t mean I won’t opine on an issue or an incident as the campaign rolls along. But when I do, it will be done in this column and offered as personal opinion. The incident itself will still be covered fairly representing all sides of the issue and those involved on the news pages.
Obviously, in order to function, democracy depends on participation of the voters. The stronger the turnout, the stronger the democracy.
However, democracy also needs a mature, fair, accurate, and unbiased media.
And that’s what you’ll get with The WHT.