I am ashamed to admit it - but as the Mike Duffy, Pamela Wallin, expense scandal story simmers on social media and fills newspaper pages - I have gained a new appreciation for good cops who feel tarnished by bad cops.
Not long ago, after writing a particularly vociferous editorial lambasting bad cops, and the system that protects them, a police officer called me and berated me for besmirching every cop just by virtue of highlighting one bad cop's misdeeds.
He was very angry - so it was hard to get a word in - but when my moment came to defend myself, I reminded him that I had made it clear at the end of the editorial that good cops clearly outnumber bad ones, and the good ones, are often unsung heros. It did not mollify him.
I know that journalists, like cops, were once held in some esteem. A recent survey found that we, like police officers, are now plummeting faster than Lululemon shares on the respect meter. We are not quite down there with used car salesmen, but it won't be long, given the pace of our decline. I'm not sure why this is, exactly. People may be fed up with reporters swooping like vultures into tragic news scenes, pretending to be empathetic and deeply moved by the plight of the victims - while waving the cameras in closer and elbowing out other reporters. They may be tired of pious journalists lecturing everybody else on everything.
They may think that journalists are paid to prop up businesses that are owned by rich folks who own other things - sometimes even their own newspapers. They may simply be less trusting of anything that looks like it's trying to sell them something. The glut of bloggers who call themselves citizen journalists but tailor their columns to curry favour with realtors, or roofing companies, or kids' stores, have surely muddied the waters.
In any case, Duffy and Wallin certainly don't help.
Cheating - and cheating taxpayers out of their hard-earned money - seems particularly offensive coming from people who were journalists. We're the ones who are supposed to make sure others aren't squandering taxpayer money, or defrauding taxpayers. Or at least exposing such situations so that citizens can raise a stink and exert some righteous democratic vengeance.
I was attracted to journalism because it was part of a quest for truth, honesty, and justice. I was first inspired by Watergate and Ben Bradlee and Bob Woodward, tempered by Mary Tyler Moore and Lou Asner. I believe we are supposed to expose wrongdoing - not ignore it, disguise it and certainly not do it. Yes, embarrassing to say, but I saw journalism as a truly noble calling. Not a way to make loads of money, gain prestige, or even rub shoulders with the rich and famous. But a way to give those who did not have a voice at least a glimmer of hope that someone gave a rat's ass. And naïvely, I thought that most of my journalism contemporaries were driven by the same motives.
And, yes, I realize that some certainly didn't get into journalism to expose wrongdoing. Some wanted to write novels, others wanted to travel, still others wanted to see their own name in print - albeit only in a front page byline.
Was Duffy once driven by the idealistic motives?
Did he harbour a child's dream of being with the 'in' crowd? Did he fight for the good stories only so he could gain access to higher opportunities for himself? Did he realize mid-career that the fight to expose wrongdoing was folly - that it was a losing proposition and he'd be better off hitching his star to political fortunes?
Or was he just a terrible money manager who got himself into a pickle and decided that, given how much money was flowing through Senate coffers, nobody would really miss $90,000? No matter the reason, it is disturbing.
Basic journalistic ethics demand that journalists do not take gifts from anybody. It doesn't mean that we can be bought with a simple ham sandwich but it does mean that there can be no misunderstandings.
And, no, I don't think Duffy is sitting in some airport lounge worrying that he let little naïve idealistic Pat Tracy down. But I do hope that he feels some shame for letting his profession down.
Pat Tracy is the editor of Burnaby NOW and its sister paper, The Record, in New Westminster.
