Here's a challenge for anyone who is not self employed. I want you to share with me every email coming into or going out of your organization. Not just yours, but those of everyone who works there. I promise to keep the emails confidential, unless I decide that something's wrong. In that case I'll release whatever I want to a newspaper reporter, with however much or however little supporting material I see fit. I'll also do it anonymously, so you'll have no recourse against me and no way of preventing me from doing it again.
Who's up for it?
I don't think any responsible organization would accept such terms. Why would they trust my judgment of what is right or wrong? Even if they trusted my judgment how would they know I wouldn't misinterpret something or misunderstand the context? And how would they know I'd safeguard sensitive personal or confidential information?
I pose this challenge because that's basically where Oregon's state government is. A culture of leaking has set in, in which employees are deciding on their own what belongs in public. Bright red lines have been crossed, such as attorney client privilege. I don't think any organization could function long under such circumstances. How do you work in a place where anything you said could be used against you, not in a court of law but in tomorrow's smear piece?
Given that, it shouldn't surprise anyone that one of the first things to happen under Governor Brown is a crackdown on leaking. If she wants to be in charge, leakers and newspaper reporters can't be.
No comments:
Post a Comment