We were unaware until very recently that practicing journalism too “persistently” is against the law.
At least that’s the case in Calumet City, Illinois, where Daily Southtown reporter Hank Sanders was cited multiple times for what the city said were violations of an ordinance barring “interference/hampering of city employees.”
The crime: Sanders had reached out directly to several city employees about flooding issues in the south suburban community. He had the temerity to send 14 emails over a nine-day span to multiple city officials, including Mayor Thaddeus Jones, who was one of the complainants. Jones took umbrage at having three or four missives in his inbox.
“He’s just persistent,” City Attorney Patrick Walsh told the Tribune — an offense any self-respecting journalist would love to have as their calling card. (City officials reconsidered and on Monday dropped the charges against Sanders.)
The episode has been reported nationally, sometimes humorously as an example of public officials unable to cope with reporters who aren’t stenographers. At other times, it’s depicted as part of a worrisome trend in which officeholders feel emboldened to attack journalists given the disturbing pattern of repudiating factual reports as “fake news,” which emanated for four years from the highest office in the land.
We subscribe to all of the above. And we’re proud of our colleague for doing his job.
“At the end of the day, I am having a lot of fun, and I’ve got the right people in my corner,” Sanders told The New York Times. …
Apart from the good laugh the region is having at Jones and company’s expense, we’re hopeful that the residents of Calumet City are thankful they’ve got a watchdog like Sanders keeping an eye on their government.
The well-documented tough times in journalism have struck hardest at local coverage. Many communities simply no longer can get independently minted news on what their elected officials are up to.
