Rhoden is a breath of fresh air for media

Smiles all around.
That was the general sight around the South Dakota State Capitol the afternoon of Feb. 6, at least when it came to the state media that had gathered at the capitol for the annual News Media Day during the legislative session. The day felt like a reset between the media and the governor’s office and state government in general. In fact, Gov. Rhoden called it that, as during both a press conference held with the media that day, and a private meeting with the board of the South Dakota News Media Association, Rhoden said state government, its agencies and its employees would be much more accessible to the media than had been the case under former Gov. Kristi Noem.
To say that would be a welcome change would be an understatement. We greatly appreciate Rhoden’s belief that government should be open and transparent (a current squabble with the Dakota Scout nothwithstanding). We also believe government should be open and transparent, and we believe government employees should be accessible to the media to field questions and give information to the taxpayers.
The difficulty the state media had with accessing information from the state was laid bare to Rhoden in the meeting with the SDNA board. Stories were told by board members as to stories they had been working on that either required or would have been greatly enhanced by some information from a state employee. Most stories went the same way. They called XYZ office at the state, were either ignored or told to email questions to somewhere else, and then were either forgotten or answered months later, well after the deadline for the story had passed.
And these weren’t large scale “gotcha” stories trying to make the government look bad. These were simple stories—trying to get information about a state body of water. Trying to get information about a mountain lion seen in a local neighborhood. Basic, mundane information that for years was easy to obtain via a five minute phone call. That all changed under Gov. Noem. Suddenly, the employees either could not or would not talk to us. We suspect some of that was an order form Noem. As she built a profile for a rise in national politics she seemingly took on some of the persona of Donald Trump, assuming the worst of the media and considering us the enemy. Even the smallest of weekly newspapers could get no information. If you weren’t Sean Hannity or Tucker Carlson, you were rebuffed.
It was frustrating for us and our colleagues. We were just trying to do our jobs as best we could. Without cooperation, that was hard to do. With Rhoden’s pledge to make state employees more accessible, these stories will be much easier to write in a much more timely fashion.
Rhoden specifically brought up the word civility. What a welcome word to hear. Our elected officials and state employees work for the people, and it’s our job to tell their stories. Working together, we can do that together as best we can. Welcome, Gov. Rhoden, and we hope your pledge comes to pass.