Whether it’s the government, international organisations, higher education, or the media, one of the defining dynamics of the social media age is the deteriorating trust in public institutions. 

It’s extraordinary, really. At a time when humans are on the whole wealthier, healthier, and more dominant than at any other time in our species’ history, we’re more distrustful of the institutions that are supposed to serve us. 

Saturday Mornings is usually a monetary policy-free zone, and I promise to mostly keep it that way for now. But it was pretty remarkable at the close of play last night to see an announcement from the Finance Minister about the Chair of the Reserve Bank. Neil Quigley had resigned, effective immediately, following further revelations about his handling of former Governor Adrian Orr’s departure. Nicola Willis confirmed to Newstalk ZB that if Quigley hadn’t offered his resignation, she’d have asked for it. 

I don’t expect everyone to follow all of the Reserve Bank dramas. But the long and short of it is that former Governor Adrian Orr got in a dispute with the government over the bank’s funding. It turned into a showdown of sorts, the Reserve Bank Board raised concerns with him about his conduct (some of which he disputed), and after taking leave for a few days he ultimately resigned. But instead of being absolutely transparent about the dispute and what had actually happened, the RBNZ Chair Neil Quigley told media that Orr had resigned for “personal reasons”. 

If this was just some rando then no harm no foul. But Adrian Orr was the Governor of the Reserve Bank, one of the most powerful public servants in the country. His pen stroke and the decisions of his Monetary Policy Committee could be the difference between thousands or hundreds of thousands of people losing their jobs or homes. 

Like many journalists, I didn’t buy the “personal reasons” explanation and felt we all deserved to know more detail about what had actually happened. Ater all, this wasn’t a private company. The Reserve Bank serves us. After Neil Quigley’s explanation, and after the Reserve Bank declined for Adrian Orr to be interviewed, I even went to the extreme length of sending him a letter at his home asking him to front. It’s something I’d almost never do, but the public deserved an explanation. And it’s taken until now and a ruling from the ombudsman for us to get the full story. 

I think there are lessons in this for all of us who work in jobs that purport to serve the public. In my role, I think about trust a lot.     

And look, I know this is very different to the Reserve Bank, much lower stakes, but I had the chance to reflect on my own work this week, and tried to lean into the spirit of introspection and openness.   

I was on a podcast, re_covering, in which Newstalk ZB’s Frank Ritchie asks journalists to reflect on a story they covered. 

I didn’t choose one which I’d absolutely nailed. Instead, I reflected on my five years as TVNZ’s US Correspondent, and on my surprise at the first election of Donald Trump. As I said on re_covering, the fact so many of us were so shocked by the result (including Trump!) shows I and the rest of the news media covering that election had done a massively insufficient job of reflecting the scale of the anger and dissatisfaction with the status quo in the US. That election changed the world. Ultimately, I hope reflecting on my surprise will make me more sceptical of conventional wisdom, and better at my job today.   

Humans are fallible. We all make mistakes. But the Reserve Bank episode demonstrates the best thing a public institution can do to protect its reputation is not try and protect its reputation. Just admit when you got things wrong. Admit things that make you look bad. Learn lessons the hard way. Convince the public you have nothing to hide by showing us you have nothing to hide.