Where Are Our Journalists? (Part 4)

Is it just me, or do others have the impression that Canadian media is either bought and paid for by the CPC, or intimidated by them? The SNC-Lavalin coverage/speculation has gone well into the realm of mind-numbingly boring and absurd.

A rumour, printed in a right-leaning newspaper, without source, which for all we know, was planted in the reporter's ear by someone in the CPC, has dominated Canadian news coverage for more than a week...

And won't Canadian media news programming all look silly if it turns out to be a non-issue? Meanwhile, we have a convoy of dubious provenance that rolled across the prairies and into Ottawa and our news outlets all cheerfully interview them as though they know what they are talking about... As though they have some great and profound message for all Canadians, and it doesn't seem to bother most of the news programs that the people in this caravan come across to many Canadians as people who get all their news and information from Rebel and UCP/CPC fund-raising emails...

Not to mention the close ties they seem to have with various hate groups, and a tendency to display images encouraging the lynching of the PM. Canadian news outlets don't seem to have a problem with Scheer and Bernier sharing a stage with Faith Goldy,...

Or with Senator David Tkachuk apparently urging the United We Roll people to run over Liberals... It's on video... And then there's the money (>130K) for this magical mystery tour. >$20K in anonymous donations, some as large as $5K... And now it seems the money is MIA. Surely there is a story there? At least as a brief respite from the hammering away at SNC-Lavalin ? And then there's the repetition of every bit of misinformation from the UCP/CPC presented as though it is truth....

C'mon, Canadian media, especially CBC - if you are being held hostage in some way, let us know! We want and need you functioning as actual reporters, not right-wing cheerleaders. We will try to help if you let us know...

As far as I can tell, the vast majority of Canadians do not want or need you to be stenographers for the Ford/Scheer/Kenney/Harper party. There is an ugly, pulsating, writhing, throbbing rise of right-wing nationalist populism...

And it won't end well for any of us if they get into power. CBC News, don't imagine that if you help them, they will spare you. They hate you on a cellular level. They hate all of us who are not them.

Scheer and Kenney are itching to do to Alberta and all of Canada what Ford is doing to Ontario. Cutting back all the good things like environmental protection, worker protection, consumer protection, health care (starting with children with autism)... Bringing back bad things, like police who are a law unto themselves. Unbridled greed and corporate acquisition. Out of date school curriculum. Xenophobia and hate.

And where are you through all of this, our Canadian journalists ? Where Are Our Journalists ? We need you to take the lead, dig into the lies and misinformation, expose the truth, educate the public. We do not need you to be complicit.

You have a job to do, CBC News, CTV News, Global news and every newspaper, radio station, freelance reporter... Do Your Job! Sometimes it feels like we are beginning to live in a novel by Kafka or Orwell. More and more it's like living in an alternate reality where war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength... When you, our media, do not correct misinformation and outright lies from political parties, you feed into that alternate reality.

You broaden the gap between facts and what the public knows. Don't. Please don't do this. Do Your Job We need you to be on the side of Canadians. We don't need mindless speculation about SNC-Lavalin , we need truth, public education, and critical investigative reporting.