Keeping you informed

There’s no doubt that the issue of trapping wolves can be an emotional subject, and the creation of the new Sanders County chapter for the Foundation for Wildlife Management probably heightened that sensitivity. Their first fundraising banquet last month was certainly not without controversy, the biggest of which – for The Ledger – was preventing the media from covering the event.

Preventing the press from covering the actual event was wrong, especially when organizers used The Ledger to promote their chapter and fundraiser beforehand. The paper ran ads and articles prior to the event. We covered the creation of the Sanders County chapter and wrote a specific article previewing the event.

Local papers are a major factor in publicizing community events, but we don’t just advertise – we also want to cover events that are important to the public. The local chapter president said they weren’t allowing the news into the banquet because “a lot of people want to stay anonymous because [trapping] is highly political.” Justin Webb, a trapper in Idaho and executive director of the Foundation for Wildlife Management, said it’s been their policy not to allow the press into their banquets. “This policy was formed to protect our members and supporters. As you well know, wolf management is a topic which sparks strong emotions from all sides and viewpoints,” he said in an email last week. He said he and some of their board members have had threats. He also said reporters have falsified information on the organization and “dissected sentences and build new ones from things we have stated in order to fuel their own agenda.” This may have happened, but the foundation approached The Ledger initially to cover their meeting. At a minimum, the policy banning press, which Webb said has been in effect for 11 years, should have been explained up front by the organization. It doesn’t make sense to use the press for one aspect, but prohibit them at their big event.

Commissioner Carol Brooker said the group has a legal right to allow or not allow certain people in the leased pavilion, but she believes it was wrong for them to censor the press.

In the last article we wrote about the group, the president said they would like to thank the community for their support. That apparently excludes local media. Being banned from the event was especially irritating for me because I donated items for their auction.

I don’t have an opinion on the wolf population, the new chapter or the wildlife management organization, but the idea of shutting out the press is alarming.

Quality news organizations strive to report on events fairly and impartially. A good reporter collects the facts, solicits quotes, and writes any story from as many angles as possible. Editorial staffs scrupulously check those stories for errors, clarity and bias. We at The Ledger put personal feelings aside when gathering and presenting content in the paper, because we are professionals doing a job. We want to present all sides of a story and are not there to judge, but to inform the public. We ask the public to trust us to do what we were trained for. Shutting out the press is alarming and should be disheartening to our subscribers as well.

Ed Moreth,

Plains