Restoring the strength of the Fourth Estate and reforming GovGuam

By Lee Webber

What I am about to share with you may be viewed by some as political but it is not.

My view on this is simply that of a 56-plus-year Guam resident (nearly half of which was spent as the publisher & president of the Pacific Daily News 1983-2007) who has observed how the government of Guam has functioned relative to truly caring about the residents of our island home.

Let me preface what I say with the reality that during this period, I have met a few elected officials who were true public servants—not politicians.

Politicians make up the vast majority of our political system. But there were aberrations, like the late former Sen. Bob Klitzkie, Joe Ada and others who cared deeply about our island and its people. They were willing to suffer personally doing what was best for the entire island and not just their friends, family or business associates.

This has applied predominantly to the executive and legislative branches of government, with some bleed off at times into the judicial branch.

Historically, what kept these three branches honest was the Fourth Estate or a free, unbiased and aggressive press, whose task is to serve as the “watchdog” on the three branches of government.

Our forefathers established this system to maintain checks and balances for the citizens of our nation and, in turn, its states and territories, like Guam.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the news reporting landscape began to change with the advent of the internet. Between 2000 and 2010, real news organizations declined precipitously, with a dwindling number of “real” reporters receiving guidance from “real” editors.

We arrived in an era when anyone who wanted to claim to be a reporter could write and publish their stories online, and all too often with no real fact-checks.

However, the reading public was accustomed to reading news reports that were actually fact-checked and verified by at least one, at times two or three other people, who questioned the accuracy of what was written.

Those editors may have even called the reporter out for burying the lede or inadequate details. In this case, the reporter would be sent back on the street to gather more facts.

Unfortunately, today this does not exist on Guam, which is suffering from the same disease across our nation.

The problems within the government of Guam can be solved by throwing open the doors of government and restoring some form of aggressive, well-edited free press that fulfills its real watchdog role in our original form of government.

A free press that digs deeply and accurately into what elected and appointed officials are doing, how they are doing it, for what reasons and to what degrees.

Fixing this government and returning it to its original responsibilities—public education, public health and public safety, with all three of them getting the majority of attention and funding—would necessitate serious change as it relates to the will of the people as a whole.

Otherwise, politicians will continue to fund programs that do little else than guarantee them votes in future elections.

Let’s make Guam great again.

Lee Webber is the former publisher of the Pacific Daily News, Honolulu Advertiser, president of Gannett Pacific and Asia area manager for USA Today international.

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