Time to resign?

Let me put my cards on the table at the start. When I heard about the case of Oliver Wittke, the former transport minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, I wondered whether I should give up my job.

In the end, I decided not to. But it got me thinking about what it would take to make me feel the need to resign.

OK, let's back up a bit. Last November, Wittke was caught speeding. He was driving at 109 kilometres per hour (kph) in a built-up area in which the speed limit was 50 kph. This is incredibly dangerous, and Wittke lost his driving licence for two months.

Wittke felt — rightly, in my opinion — that he had set such a bad example as a transport minister that he couldn't continue in office. So, last week, he resigned.

Better late than never. If only more politicians reacted the same way when they screw up, to use the language of Barack Obama, analysed here by my colleague Deborah Capras.

But why did I think of resigning when I heard about Oliver Wittke? Simple. I was also fined for speeding last year. I was only slightly over the speed limit, but still had to pay into the coffers of the Swiss government.

For an editor-in-chief — like most other jobs — that's not a reason to resign. But what would I have to do to feel the need to step down (apart, that is, from simply doing my job badly)? What would it take for an editor-in-chief of a print publication to be as bad a role model as Wittke was. Well, here are some ideas:

• Cancelling subscriptions to print publications.
• Reading the news free online instead of buying newspapers.
• Buying and reading the publications of competitors.