Transparent: characterized by visibility or accessibility of information especially concerning business practices. (Webster Dictionary Definition)
The local right-wing blog, E-City Beat has been running a series of posts on non-profit organizations in Great Falls. In introducing the series the editor says the reason for the series is “in the interest of public transparency”. All E-City Beat is doing is copying legally required, publicly available, financial reports. They provide no other information about the work and services these local organizations provide. Apparently E-City Beat makes no effort to contact the subject organizations (though several have responded in the comments that the financial documents don’t provide a complete picture of the organization’s work and are often not timely.)
We can’t help but point out the irony of a local blog that claims to support “public transparency” routinely fails to disclose the identity of the authors of their material. That could be because one of their frequent contributors is City Commissioner, Rick Tryon. Further, Tryon has been employed by Stray Moose Productions, which is owned by Phil Faccenda, the founder and editor of E-City Beat.
In 2023, Jasmine Taylor (who is also one of the founders of WTF406.com) filed an ethics complaint against Tryon questioning his relationship with Stray Moose and E-City Beat deriving income violating the city ethics code. Tryon failed to attend the hearing on the complaint and refused to provide any financial information to the ethics committee. Not surprisingly, the complaint was dismissed. During their discussion, ethics committee members said they struggled with the lack of available information. https://theelectricgf.com/2023/11/13/ethics-committee-deems-complaint-against-tryon-unsubstantiated/#:~:text=Tryon%20did%20not%20attend%20the%20ethics%20committee,of%20E%2DCity%20Beat%2C%20only%20a%20volunteer%20contributor
So, how’s that for public transparency?