I am so fucking sick of large-scale media outlets glossing over the facts, substance and critical voice of my news stories in favour of advertisers and blurry-eyed readers/viewers.
What happened to the critical side of Canadian media? Is money really more important than knowing the truth?
Let’s tone down the criticism in my voice. Let’s edit out the truth. Let’s cut out the parts that hold the powerful accountable. Let’s over-simplify the facts. Let’s create a forum that favours society’s greedy fuckers. Let’s not talk about racism, because clearly it has vanished from the surface of Nova Scotia.
I’m just grateful to have a forum like The Coast, because anywhere else I might as well ask for my name to be removed from the by-line.
—Orwell
This article appears in Jun 18-24, 2009.
Yes, us poor proletarians.
There are so many barriers to people getting good news reports, but the biggest has to be the first step for news businesses: Selecting the topics that get covered at all!
Choosing on the basis of what will grab the most eyes is what always happens, but of course it’s a terrible way to do it. Hello vapid gossip headlines.
That said…OF COURSE a news business is going to do that.
The solution, then, is to get your news from sources that don’t rely so much on shock value.
1. SEARCH the net for stories on topics you think are important.
2. For things that you would probably not happen across by searching, yes…monitor mainstream feed, but PICK and choose, and DIG deeper.
In both cases, CONSULT MULTIPLE SOURCES!
I would suggest looking at reports from two sources with strong but obvious biases that are against one another. Anyone who claims to be unbiased is wrong at best, but possibly lying. (I’m looking at you, Fox News!)
We have arrived in the age of point form news – tiny little tidbits to satisfy the curiousity of people’s diminishing attention spans. For the rest of us news junkies, those of an age who remember what hard reporting was all about, we are witnessing the demise of the truth and accuracy in journalism. Can’t have that nasty ole truth depress everyone, can we?