Where’s Jack Lynch?

The hot topic of this morning’s meeting was the story on Jack Lynch’s disappearance . We haven’t heard much from the community on this yet, Steve Smith said he’s received two complaints, one from someone who felt the story was too thin, another suggesting reporters Bill Morlin and Karen Dorn Steele should be fired for another “insult to the community.”

Reaction within the newsroom was mixed. Some objected strongly to the story’s publication, others felt it was the right thing to do. In the interest of brevity, here are the arguments in a nutshell:

Argument against publication: The story was too speculative. We’re leaping to conclusions by connecting Lynch to High Bridge Park and the nefarious goings-on said park is noted for, when we don’t have any proof that he was there, much less that he was involved in anything illegal. The story is worth pursuing, but we should have waited until things were more conclusive.

Argument for publication: One of the city’s top officials has essentially disappeared without explanation. He’s turned down numerous opportunities to speak with the media about his absence, and people close to him at city hall haven’t heard from him. As taxpayers, we are owed an explanation as to why Lynch cannot perform his official duties, and as journalists, we are obligated to explain the context of Lynch’s absence as fully as we can.

Smith acknowledged that the ethical issues surrounding this story were not clear-cut. The tipping point, he said, was the fact that nobody at city hall has received an explanation for Lynch’s absence.

“We as citizens of Spokane are this man’s bosses.”

Another issue, Smith said, is the larger context in which this story takes place.

“This community has a culture of secrecy and official deceit,” he said. Steele echoed this point, noting that there has been a history of prominent people being “quietly shuffled out of town” after wrongdoing has been discovered.

Smith also disputed the idea that we were publishing innuendo.

“We’re not chasing rumors … We’re pursuing credible leads provided by sources who have significant credibility in the community.”

“Our job isn’t to foster a witch hunt, it’s trying to determine what’s going on.”

So, what is going on? It seems like there’s at least one person who knows the answer to that question, and he isn’t talking.

We’re in the process of compressing the archived video from this morning’s webcast for those who want to watch the meeting themselves. Check back later.

And if you have thoughts on the story, feel free to share them at News is a Conversation .

UPDATE: As promised, here is the archived video from this morning’s news meeting.