I know I’m a bit late writing about this, since the news broke almost a week ago, but I want to go into a little more depth about one of the more interesting Utah news stories this year. The one in which the mayor of Utah’s second-largest city wrote stories under a fake name about the city for which he is mayor.
This is one of those spectacular, unbelievable stories that seems particularly bizarre until you start thinking about it. Then it seems depressingly plausible. Mayor Mike Winder says he began submitting stories to Deseret Connect, a citizen journalism (read: cost-cutting) effort that contributes to the Deseret News and KSL.com, under the pen name Richard Burwash. What gets me is why.
The mayor said he was frustrated that the newspaper had drastically reduced its city government coverage after layoffs last year but not its crime coverage and wanted to “try to restore balance.”… “In a three-month period, 16 percent of Salt Lake Tribune stories that mentioned West Valley City were about crime, but 56 percent of Deseret News stories about my city were about crime.”
As he told my friend, Emilie: “I just care too much about my city, I guess.”
And here’s the thing. I can sympathize with that reason. After the DNews cut its staff last year, the info I’ve heard is that the guy who was editor over reporters for about 10 cities along the Wasatch Front became the sole reporter for 10ish cities along the Wasatch Front. Some people have suggested Winder should perhaps focus on reducing crime as a way of getting crime stories cut. I’m sure there’s a little something to that, but I don’t think it’s the real issue. So yeah. With such dramatically reduced coverage, it’s inevitable the only stuff that will get covered is the big stuff, which also tends to be the bad stuff.
But that’s not a good enough reason to lie, Mr. Winder.
I do give him credit for having an attack of conscience (which he says was brought on by the recent death of his mother), and coming forward of his own accord to tell Deseret Connect editors of the deception. At the same time, in follow-up interviews, he kept defending his decision to lie. That, combined with previous ethically questionable missteps, makes me wonder if he just has a really short-term memory, if generally doesn’t get what he did wrong or if he’s just a morally sketchy person and stereotypical say-anything politician.
Winder is also a director at a prominent PR/advertising agency who have said publicly they are disappointed in him. The Public Relations Society of America actually released a statement specifically condemning his actions.
What is equally troubling to me is the lack of oversight on the part of Deseret Connect. It has basically become an un- or low-paid army of community contributors. The fact that he was able to fool them speaks really poorly of their citizen journalism experiment and of their journalistic efforts. He also was taken on as an official West Valley City contributor earlier this year, post Burwash, but pre-revelation. Which I think disturbs me just as much, because it shows that the management there really doesn’t get what is wrong with that. It strips what little credibility they have away, and does a huge disservice to the principled, good journalists still employed by the Deseret News.
Mike Winder violated journalism and public relations ethics and flat-out lied. Even if, as he claims, every part of the story is true, the use of a pen name to promote the city he is mayor of is still rife with problems and conflicts of interest. Someone with the agenda of making a city look good will write a story differently than someone who is just telling the story. And by making the city look good, he makes himself look good. Yet he still doesn’t quite seem to get it.
He defended using a pen name, citing famous authors who wrote under pseudonyms, including Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison.
Mike Winder, you are no Ben Franklin. And loving your city too much is not an excuse for lying and violating professional ethics.
