Editor,

Seven candidates for the Whidbey Island Public Hospital Board of Commissioners, District No. 5, presented themselves for public scrutiny at the WhidbeyHealth Medical Center this week.

The interviews were scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 1 and Friday, Sept. 2.

All four sitting hospital commissioners and the hospital CEO were in attendance.

Absent was any representation from the local media, especially the Whidbey News-Times.

This was surprising and disappointing, given the editorials that the News-Times had written recently proclaiming the hospital’s lack of transparency, accountability, and inclusiveness and the need for a change in leadership, i.e. “What will it take to get hospital leaders to clean up their act?” on July 30 and “Let’s not squander a chance to bring change to hospital district,” July 16.

The News-Times received prior notice and an agenda for these special meetings along with a list of the candidates who would be interviewed.

The newspaper’s reason for their absence was simply that they were short-staffed and could not release a reporter to cover these events.

In my opinion, editorial coverage implies significance and a devotion to the subject matter. The lack of a reporter’s presence at these meetings undermines the newspaper’s credibility as a voice for the community.

Perhaps the real change referenced above should start in the editorial boardroom of the News-Times.

For the sake of disclosure, I have been a paid subscriber to the News-Times for the past 16 years, and I was one of those community members who stepped forward to offer my candidacy as a hospital commissioner.

Marshall F. Goldberg

Oak Harbor

Editor’s note: The scheduling of the interviews was unfortunate as they coincided with the News-Times’ longstanding newspaper production deadline. Going into the Labor Day weekend, the editorial staff was faced with writing and building two separate editions of the newspaper rather than just the usual one, making for an all-hands-on-deck endeavor. Were it humanly possible to also attend and cover two days of interviews, we would have. If Mr. Goldberg is appointed to the commission, we are hopeful he will help to lead a charge to schedule regular and special meetings at times that are more accessible to the media and the public at large, an issue that has been raised numerous times in the past.