Let this sink in. After election, we will lead a serious conversation at @MSFreePress about public servants abdicating responsibility to be transparent or answer questions about things in purview. When whole state is run by statement/not real questions, our state is in trouble.
https://twitter.com/ashtonpittman/status/1322034029131083782
Huge problem is that journalism outlets here have allowed public servants (elected or not) to reduce real interviews to ask real questions into "send us questions and we'll get attorneys to do/approve a general statement." This is irresponsible, and media should not accept it.
This is major reason my publications do not provide questions in advance. This is not accountability (or real) journalism, period. We have high-paid PR people at state universities who think they can demand this. Media who allow it are engaging in access journalism, which stinks.
An extension of that is we do not do "email interviews" (which aren't interviews, btw; you don't even know who you're really talking to). We'll ask for or check a fact in email, and give interview topics, but no list of questions.
I always assume that people, and not just elected officials, who insist on releasing statements in lieu of doing real interviews may well have something to hide, so they refuse to actually answer questions in real time.
Plus, Mississippi has a useless press association that is all about pleasing the usual power suspects. It's not like their lobbyist is going to stand up for real transparency in Mississippi. It's sad.
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