Fake News
Fake news really came into its own with the creation of 24 hour news networks. That is when news became business. The traditional television networks had separation from their news divisions and their entertainment divisions and now they became blurred. Advertising dollars now became a factor in editorial decisions. Also, the 24 hour news stations had to fill air time. Probably, I will be the only one who remembers the DC sniper. This happened about 20 years ago and I was home recovering from minor surgery. I was glued to CNN watching this story unfold. At one time, I got up to make myself a cup of coffee only to hear the "breaking news" alert come up. I moved so fast to get in front of the tv that I popped two stitches. The "breaking news" was that nothing had happened in this case in the last hour. Really. That is when I realized that I knew more about the victims of the DC sniper than I knew of my neighbours. Talk about fake news.
24 hour weather networks have also contributed to our reliance of news over common sense. One of the first things I do in the morning is turn on the weather channel. That is my job in my relationship. My partner has the job of making coffee, making breakfast, and setting out my medication. I have the job of reporting the weather as reported on the Weather Network. I obviously have the bigger task. If I don't time it right, sometimes I have to wait almost 6 minutes to get the current temperature and three day forecast. It turns out, my job doesn't have to be that difficult and people did survive before the Weather Network. If I wanted to know the current weather, I could have done something radical and looked out the window. One of my friends posted this picture early this year. She was doing it to offer confirmation of what the weather network had reported. It had indeed snowed overnight.
I used to have respect for the CBC News network. I am losing this respect. First of all, they start Monday and continue throughout the week talking about a story they are going to do on Marketplace. Last week, it was plastic packaging of food and how this is a waste. Now, I agree on this, but it wasn't news. What it was was free advertising for Marketplace. It will like watching a week commercial. Their self-promotion of their own network leaves me wondering how to trust them.
The federal cabinet shuffled today. Seamus O'Regan was involved in the shuffle. If you are watching CBC news, you know that he is a failed Minister who has made many mistakes and is only in cabinet because he was in Trudeau's wedding party. If you are watching CTV news, you think he is a breathe of fresh air and one of the most relatable Canadians with broad appeal. It is the same guy. Why is he portrayed differently? Could it be because he used to be employed by CTV?
Again, for those of you needing further clarification of what news is, here is the Coles Notes version. News is something that actually happens. Tomorrow, the British Parliament will be voting on Brexit. That is news. Today, in preparation for this, CBC News has a reporter in a bar talking to patrons about their thoughts. That is not news. That is two random drunks getting their fifteen minutes of fame.
Today, China announced a death sentence for a Canadian. That is tragic news. Further to that story, CBC had breaking news on this. The family issued a statement. The statement said they were shocked and deeply saddened. With all respect to the family, what would you expect to be their reaction? I am deeply saddened how news media approaches tragedy. You would expect victims to be sad, grief-sticken, etc. Why do we have the need to show this grief to the world. If anything, we should be respecting privacy and not interviewing neighbours for comments.
Another news story on CBC News this morning was the Mayor of Ottawa urging citizens to sign the book of condolences for the bus crash victims. This isn't news. This is common sense and common decency. It is a sad day when we have to have a leader telling us to do something to express support for people who have lost their lives.
CBC also reported that Trump accuses Democrats of prolonging the government shut-down. That isn't news. It isn't even interesting. They would do a better job of covering the shut-down by showing the real consequences of the shut-down.
A friend of mine used to work at a small town newspaper. It was common knowledge that the Reeve was an accomplished drinker. Common knowledge but never put in the paper. My friend reported a story of a committee meeting and noted it was chaired by the Deputy Reeve. He didn't state why the Reeve was absent. His editor killed the story. My friend felt like Woodward and Bernstein but then his editor said the story was killed because he was friends with the Reeve and didn't want to cause any hard feelings. And, that is really the root of fake news. When the media is influenced by an outside source on their stories. The media shouldn't be friends with anyone. They need to be impartial. Unfortunately, in our world, that just doesn't exist. No one is an island, including the media. We all need friends and connections, so we will always have news that is influenced by external factors.
The media does control what information we have access, but, they do not control our ability to think for ourselves and come to our own conclusions. Free Press in its truest sense may no longer exist, but hopefully we can hold on to free thought.
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