Times’ movie date with the Governor raises concerns over who is keeping the powerful accountable

On November 15, The Seattle Times published a front-page photo of one of its top political reporters (David Gutman) laughing with Washington Governor Bob Ferguson while sitting in a local movie theater. The justification for the picture and related interview is that in the new movie “One Battle After Another,” Leonardo DiCaprio plays a character named “Bob Ferguson.”

The reporter wrote that he was so determined to make this mid-afternoon movie date happen, that he “took 17 emails and more than a month to arrange.”

While the justification for the article was the movie, the result was a one-sided political interview in which Governor Ferguson bashed his political opponents when he spoke on national topics. Surprisingly, he was not asked a single question regarding the issues he was elected to work on at the state level.

As ChangeWA reported last week, The Seattle Times often fails to adhere to its own mission statement, vision, and priorities when reporting on the homelessness issue. As this interview shows, The Times’ also fails to meet its own standards when it comes to interviewing the governor of our state.

It is hard to believe that the state’s leading newspaper conducted 1700-word interview with Governor Ferguson and did not ask him a single question regarding the state budget crisis, homelessness, declining test scores, women’s sports, crime, housing shortage, or any of the many serious issues before state government.

This is not “holding the powerful accountable” as the newspaper’s vision states that it does.

Instead, The Times provided Governor Ferguson with the unique privilege to bash his opponents while not being held accountable for any of his actions. This is how partisan political newsletters operate, not respected newspapers.

At the local level, is this the same way the Seattle Times plans to hold Mayor-elect Katie Wilson when she comes into office in a few weeks? How about King County Executive-elect Girmay Zahilay?

This is why ChangeWA is so important. We are not afraid to ask our elected officials tough questions, like we did with then King County Executive Dow Constantine. While the Seattle Times refused to ask the four-term incumbent to defend his policies as homelessness rose 68%, ChangeWA asked those questions.

We will continue to ask the tough questions and hold the powerful accountable.