Ever wonder if political journalists vote in elections? Former broadcast journalist and native of Wadena, Saskatchewan, Pamela Wallin claimed she never did.  A recent article on The Politico website reveals a range of interesting perspectives on the topic.

Here is the view of a journalist who never votes, “…we owe it to the people we cover and to our readers to remain agnostic about elections, even in private.  I figure that if the news media serve as an imperfect umpire, neither team wants us taking a few swings.”

I asked four Saskatchewan journalists who cover politics extensively or have done so in the past whether they vote or not?

I spoke with CBC Radio’s Stefani Langenegger, CTV’s Wayne Mantyka, Randy Burton of the Saskatoon Star Phoenix and Murray Mandryk of the Regina Leader-Post. All of them vote and none of them believe it compromises their capacity to remain fair and objective in their work.

Randy Burton observes, “I respect others’ right not to cast a ballot if they so choose, but I don’t subscribe to the theory that professional objectivity should prevent journalists from voting. Everybody has their own bias on almost every issue, whether political or not. That doesn’t mean you can’t present both sides of an argument in an evenhanded manner. Secondly, we journalists spend a lot of time and ink decrying low voter turnout. It seems to me to be rather counterproductive not to practice what we preach in that regard. As a father of two, I also want to set an example for my kids to teach them the importance of the democratic process.”

Journalists who don’t vote clearly seem to be in the minority, but some members of the public feel that should change.  Political columnist Murray Mandryk says, ”Some people have gone as far as to tell me that I shouldn’t vote as political columnists or should publicly disclose my franchise. Neither will ever happen. I will say this. I doubt I’ve ever voted in my life where when I didn’t base my vote almost solely on the individual candidate _ their competence, integrity, honesty.  However, I don’t and won’t talk about how I vote in any more detail than that. Of course, this is partly due to self-preservation, but I do think there is a bigger principle in play here. I think we should all view the secret ballot as a sacred trust. For the same reason, I never ask people I interview how they voted.”
 

Stefani Langenegger says that over the last 6 to 7 years she has found it harder to vote, “you know too much, you become more cynical.” Langenegger says she has voted for all parties at one point or another, including fringe party candidates. Sometimes, she says, she is not sure how she is going to vote until she arrives at the voting station.

Wayne Mantyka has had the same experience, ”I’ve gone to vote, not knowing who I might choose……and decided at the ballot box.”

Neither broadcast journalist feel their voting intentions affect their reporting. Says Langenegger, “It’s ludicrous that it influences you in any way.”  Mantyka adds, “You often have an opinion about a story but it does not mean the story will reflect your opinion.”

Burton is not sure his voting intentions have ever affected his journalism, but he has no doubt the information he gets from sources helps inform his voting choice,  “reporters are no different from other citizens pondering how to cast their ballots. We act on the information we have and the impressions we’ve formed from whatever sources are available.  Where we differ is that reporters watch governments more closely than others and they know the players better. Consequently, they tend to become aware of things related to character and personality that might not make news copy but could affect their voting intentions.”