Media Bias in Canada

 What are we to do when our MEDIA picks favourites? What are we, as a society, to do when journalists are part of the right-wing propaganda machine? 

What are we to do when Canadian journalists repeat conservative talking points as facts, without verification? When they use tentative terms, like "claims" or "alleges" when reporting government statements, and absolutes like "says" and "stated" when reporting CPC statements? 

What are we to do when Canadian Media look to junk "think-tanks" like the Fraser Institute and the Canadian Taxpayer's Federation to paint a picture of reality? What are we to do when our fourth estate has been bought and controlled by those who are not interested in our public good? 

Where are the journalists with integrity? Where are the journalists with professional commitment? Where are the journalists with the guts to fact-check the conservatives? Where are the journalists who are working for the public good? 

Why is even the CBC, our public broadcaster, acting as a CPC cheerleader, even though the new leader promises to put them all out of work? What has happened to journalism in Canada? What can we do about it? 

It's no coincidence that any invading army or dictatorial regime takes control of the media early on. If you control the news - what is reported and how it is reported - you can change the way people see their society. You can create scapegoats. You can justify the unthinkable. 

Many may say I am over-reacting. But this has been going on a long time. Canadians are getting used to hearing the news conservatives want them to hear. Panels of pro-conservative pundits are normalized now. We get more opinion than news, and that's been normalized too. 

1. Is it true?
2. Is it verifiable? (i.e. not the word of an anonymous source)
3. Is publishing it in the interest of the public good?

These are the tests every single piece of news reporting should have to pass.

Think critically when you hear or read the news. Question the way things are worded. Is the reporter conveying trust in what is being said, or incredulity? Is there fact-checking? Are there multiple reputable sources? Is what is being reported important or meant to stir the pot? 

Is the language used in reporting slanted in favour of or against the person or party being reported about? i.e. "Scandal-ridden government" is pejorative. It makes assumptions and leads the reader. Does the reporting seem factual and unbiased? 

Is the reporting full of heuristic cues to evoke positive or negative emotions in the reader/viewer? Adjectives can change the tone of a sentence dramatically, and affect the recipients' perceptions. Be wary of reporting that contains words that celebrate or vilify. 

Does it rely on a single-source so-called "expert" organization, like the Fraser Institute? Does it offer clarity as to the "expert's" qualifications/loyalties/funding? 

Offering "the other side" is a ruse in many cases. There can be one side that is factual and another that is opinion. It is important to differentiate. Offering a contradictory opinion is not only often not useful, it can be harmful. 

If you have a doctor talking about vaccines and an anti-vaxxer contradicting them, that is not good journalism. The other side does not always deserve the airtime because they are just wrong. And the fourth estate is not acting in the public good by giving a podium to just anyone 

We need to be on our guard. Our Canadian media has abandoned us. There are some great reporters out there, but the media infrastructure is controlled by those who do not have the public good at heart. This is a real and present danger to our Canadian way of life. We are not USA north. 

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When Journalists Mislead the Public...

 And here we see, in real time, a Canadian reporter attempting to smear government MPs. Ms Walsh is not the only one, but the example handy. She links the MPs with a notice from the ethics commissioner's office. No explanation. 

It implies the MPs are in trouble with the ethics commissioner. They are not. Nevertheless, conservative trolls are already squawking on social media about another Liberal ethics violation, where there is none. This is very poor journalism. 

This is using omission of an explanation to cast shade on innocent people. I have no doubt that Canadian media know that most people will not read past the very first couple of lines. They are planting the suggestion of malfeasance by omitting any detail. 

Mercedes Stephenson, of Global news, simply retweets the announcement from the Ethics Commissioner which is also incredibly misleading and suggests the Liberals were guilty of something. 

And, most egregiously, @CBC @PnPCBC posted an alert saying outright that these ministers were guilty. 

Fortunately, Diane Marie and others caught this...

I am sure Canadian journalists also know full well that misinformation spreads much faster than a retraction or correction. Which seems to have been their intent. Deleting a misleading tweet does not undo the damage. 

This is totally unacceptable. This is our press deliberately trying to undermine our duly elected government. And they do it all the time. This was just another example. I call on the @CBCOmbud, the @CRTCeng and whomever oversees the Ethics Commissioner... 

To take a close look at this. From the Commissioner's office on down, this news was worded and presented in such a way as to allow the reputation of these ministers to be impugned. This is not what the press is supposed to do. This violates journalistic integrity and ethics. 

The thing which actually happened was a former US Ambassador was found in violation and these Ministers have agreed to not interact with him for a year. 

And yet, CPC fans are racing around announcing 9 Liberals have been found guilty of an ethics violation and they are all criminals. Because such people grab any information that fits their worldview, and also, they don't seem to actually understand how any of this works. 

The wording used by the Ethics Commissioner's office, & the way the real information was buried in a fine print document is very suspect. One might almost think Dion was channeling his predecessor, Mary Dawson. Someone needs to remind him he is supposed to be non-partisan. 

But our journalists, actively misleading Canadians about this instead of looking into why the ethics commissioner's announcement was so vague as to suggest the Liberals had done something wrong.... Well, that is unconscionable. And decidedly not in the public interest. 

Update: The CBC noon hour radio news just did a piece on Eric O'Toole's complaints about waiting in line for hours for a COVID test. He blames the federal government, even though it is provincial jurisdiction. CBC did not correct him. 

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