Another Rant About Canadian Journalism

I can no longer bear to watch Vassy Kapelos on CBC's Power and Politics . The show was once a source of, at the very least, an understanding of who was saying what. 

It seems to have turned into a "bash the Liberal government" free-for-all. This is not journalism. This is more of a blood-sport. Where the aggressors have traps, lures, and telephoto infra-red sights. 

I would like to point out that responsible journalism is not simply attacking the sitting government. It is not just giving everyone a podium to bash the sitting government. 

Journalistic integrity is based on some pretty solid principles.
- Is it TRUE?
- Is it verifiable?
- Is publishing it in the public good?

Journalism is meant to hold the sitting government to account, yes. But it should also hold those who would form government to account. This means not just letting opposition parties trash the government and, sometimes, even make stuff up, unchallenged. 

Journalists fail when they do not hold those who would like to form government to as high a standard as they hold the sitting government. It is not in the public good to give one party a pass, to not fact check both sides.  

And, speaking of both sides... This current trend to try to give both sides equal weight and time, regardless of their validity, is complete garbage. 

I mean, if you get a government minister of health, or civil servant on talking about the importance of vaccinations, then, in the interest of "balance" you allow an anti-vaxxer to spout off nonsense & only challenge the government person, that is irresponsible journalism. 

Sometimes, one side of the argument does not deserve the air time because it is complete balderdash. We need our journalists to recognize when this is happening and to react appropriately. 

This "good people on both sides" nonsense is fairly new. Perhaps not as new as the Trump regime, but pretty close. It is irresponsible journalism. No. Sometimes one side is correct and the other is nuts/evil/a threat to the public good. 

So it completely abandons journalistic principles to treat both as equally valid. You are supposed to be fact-checking, arbiters of messaging. And it is fine to question government officials. They are not sacrosanct. But to just attack and nitpick is choosing sides. 

And to have panels where all participants just want to bash the government is abhorrent. Not all governments are bad. Thus far, overall, the Liberals have been doing a damn sight better job for Canadians than their predecessors. 

To anguish over nothing-burgers like a swingset the PM paid for, or renovations the National Capital Commission (which looks after Canada's official residences and buildings) has been planning for a decade, is completely disingenuous. That is being a mouthpiece for the opposition and not acting in the public good. 

I realise that the CBC has suffered sever budget cuts for decades. Which means they have to compete for eyeballs and clicks against sensationalist corporate-run and right-leaning media outlets.

I like to think that if the CBC was fully funded & not dependent on advertising revenue, and if the culture created by Harper appointments was purged, our national broadcaster could do much to educate the public about how our government works and about issues of the day in a non-partisan manner. 

Perhaps that is naive. But I believe there are some real journalists out there capable of adhering to journalistic principles and who actually care about educating the public.  

So many Canadians seem to not really understand how government works, how responsibility is divided between provincial and federal governments. When your guests say blatantly untrue things about how things actually work, it is your job to counter the misinformation.  

To give air time to people who are making sh*t up is not only not in the public good, it is a disgrace to the journalistic tradition and directly counter to the public good. When I was watching, I often thought, "My God. What are these journalists thinking letting this go?"

So, I am sorry if this offends Ms Kapelos . But I am not alone in feeling this show is failing in bringing facts to the table. It feels like a love-in for the CPC. This is not in the public good. 

Any party that aspires to form government need to be put under the same microscope as the sitting government. People in a democracy need to see who they are voting for, warts and all. On all sides.