This is incredibly depressing. #cdnpoli
Just talked to a Canadian woman in her 50s who had never heard of the United Nations. "You mean the U.S.?" "No, the U.N." "Which country is that?" "It's ... all the countries."
Anyway, just a reminder that our democracy is largely in the hands of people who don't read.
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I overheard a woman the other day talking on her phone in the grocery store. She was saying. "I have been wondering what happened to the pipeline. Someone told me the government bought it and sold it to the natives..."
The election will, in part, be decided by people who don't pick up a newspaper or watch a news program from one year to the next. They hear things from friends... Who maybe heard it from another friend. Who maybe read it in a meme on Facebook or Twitter, or got a newsletter from their MP or an ad from a PAC.
Remember that game we used to play at school? Some places it was called "telephone", other places it was called "gossip"... Everyone sat in a circle and one person would whisper something into the ear of the child seated next to them... Each child would, in turn, whisper what they thought they heard to the next child, until it came to the one seated next to the first child. The last one would say what they thought they had heard from the one before. And the resulting message was usually wildly and hilariously different from the message that began to go around.
And so it goes with anything that is spread by word of mouth. Stories change, they get exaggerated, people add their own slant on events, until those who are only informed by hearsay are not informed at all.
It doesn't help that Canadian media are carrying misleading information. The current example: the video of Justin Trudeau at the G20 which was edited by CanadaProud and was widely distributed by our major news networks.
The video was edited to show Trudeau in a particularly unfortunate light. The full video, which provides context, portrays a completely different story. So, why did our media outlets chose to spread the edited video and reinforce the negative story?
Why did they take the word of a source like CanadaProud, a known anti-Trudeau spreader of hate and propaganda, rather than acting like real journalists and verifying before launching it online?
In the case of the National Post affiliated media and Global, we know there are owners and stake-holders involved with deep pockets and a vested interest in seeing the CPC elected. They stand to make even more money with a certain kind of government...
To their credit, I have not seen any CBC releases or promotion of the edited video. If anyone has, please let me know. We need journalism we can trust. American news media handed the presidency to Trump, even while he called them the enemy.
They were so caught up in the wonderful clickbait this appalling buffoon offered, and no one thought he could win, so why not cash in on all those eyeballs wanting to see the next scandal?
Now they have children in cages, sleeping on cement, with no hygiene and not enough food or water. Babies being cared for by other children. ICE dragging people out of their homes. A president who is making a huge profit off the presidency.
They have women facing charges for having a miscarriage. They have a rapidly deteriorating public school system. They have millions without access to affordable health care.
Don't say it can't happen here. Did anyone think what Ford has done could happen in Ontario? That so many children with autism would be left without the supports they need? That teachers and nurses would be laid off en masse?
CTV recently had a segment where they had pundits on to talk about Justin Trudeau's failings as PM. Really? How is this not biased? The very premise of their discussion is biased. Where are the segments on what the current government has done right?
Where are the segments on the failings of the leaders of the other parties? Where is the fact-checking when Scheer speaks? Or Kenney? Or Ford? Or any of their spokespeople?
The role of the media is NOT to repeat the words of the opposition as absolute truth and dissect the words of the government to find fault. The role of journalists is to fact-check everything. To call out bad behaviour from all parties....
To report truths that the people involved don't want reported. Everything else is PR, and the parties already have people paid to do that. Our Canadian media need to stop being stenographers for the CPC and provincial conservatives.
They need to investigate. They need to report. They need to educate. They need to cover stories that are important to the PUBLIC GOOD. Making fun of the Prime Minister's socks or briefcase is not for the public good. It is to grab eyeballs and ad revenue.
We desperately need media in this country that actually gets into the complexities of current events. Did any news media explain that the outfits the Trudeaus were wearing in India were the work of a Canadian designer and they were promoting her styles on that trip?
No. They just kept repeating conservatives mocking them. If our Canadian media will not work in our interests by telling us facts instead of spin, we are going to wind up with a Trump-style government. We are all going to suffer, except the very rich who are pulling the strings.
And those who aren't interested in politics... we better find a way to reach out to our friends, neighbours, family, and make sure they are hearing facts, not just rumours that have been though the "gossip" line.
Update: There may be some indications that the truncated video that casts our PM in a negative light began with someone at Global. If this is the case, the CRTC should take a look. Falsifying news violates the code of journalistic conduct.
Yes. I am serious. It's about time someone cracked down on the stinking sacks of rotting dingo's kidneys our mainstream media has been giving us. This is the last straw. We NEED media that fact-checks. That educates. That keeps opinion to a minimum and tells us THE NEWS.
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