Asking the Tough Questions

(Aired on February 18, 2010)

The media are often portrayed as "bad guys" because sometimes we seem to be hounding people in our efforts to get answers to serious questions. I don't know how many times over the years I've been accused of badgering seemingly nice people and trying to make them look bad because that's all the media does - create sensational headlines. Isn't that why we do what we do?

But as a newsperson, I have also often been accused of being too nice and being too trusting, and I am. I always look for the good and not the bad. But sometimes you just have to ask the questions. While I am hesitant to judge too quickly, sometimes you have to act.

This week, we were made aware of a situation at Royal Inland Hospital where dirty surgical equipment was an issue for hospital staff. In probing, we find that some people are suggesting this has been a problem for quite some time. Someone has to be held accountable for this issue. Someone has to get to the bottom of it. This is a very dangerous situation. And the news media have been bang on in asking the tough questions. Who knows how long it would have taken to get this story out in the open, or whether serious health repercussions could have occurred, if someone had not tipped us off and we had not followed up.

While the tough questions are not easy, they must sometimes be asked. And while it seems that sometimes we're overly aggressive, and we probably are, still, in dealing with crises like these, the story has to be told. There are times when you have to be a pit bull and bite hard, and hold on until the truth is told. We're still holding on in this one, because at this point, we don't know where the problem is, what caused it, and what solutions will be undertaken to rectify it. I don't think the public would expect anything less, even if we have to ruffle a few feathers, and get under a few peoples' skins to get the answers.

We're not a perfect group, and sometimes we bark up the wrong tree. In this case, I think we've got the right tree, and we're going to keep barking until we get some answers.