The dream is always the same.
It’s also in black and white.
I’m on the witness stand in a drab hearing room, facing a cold-eyed inquisitor. He stabs an accusing finger in my direction and shouts, “Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the mainstream media?”
To be clear I made that up for a hook (Yeah, yeah, fake news – get a grip). I’m sleeping just fine thanks, but since you’re reading now anyway, why not come along for the ride?
While I haven’t yet heard of any firm plans to begin formal McCarthy-style witch hunts to root out the MSM among us, the past few years, and especially the past few weeks, have shown it’s not really safe to discount any possibility.
Case in point, just last week I came across a tweet from Rick Nicholls, a sitting Member of Provincial Parliament.
“MSM can’t deny the inevitable. When we’ve won, should MSM be dismantled?” posed the inquisitive Conservative representative from Chatham-Kent-Leamington.
Just to help you get into Rick’s head space, the tweet was accompanied by an image of a transport truck in a review mirror with the caption “Freedom is closer than it appears.”
These days I have to wonder how many actually realize the correct answer to the MPP’s rhetorical question is: “Yes, certainly, if your aim is to facilitate the establishment of an authoritarian society.”
If it’s true, as they say at the Washington Post, that “Democracy dies in darkness,” then the lights are surely flickering of late.
That a man whose livelihood and continued relevance depends on getting people to vote for him feels comfortable to publicly call for the free media to be “dismantled” is a pretty unsettling thought. But, then again, he did garner 2,700 likes (apparently the currency of the realm) on Twitter, so Nicholls is clearly not alone in his longing for freedom from information.
And it makes no sense.
If you’re not “main stream” media what kind of media are you? Well to begin with, unprofessional.
The reason traditional media has served the public so well for so long is that at it’s core it’s a profession. It’s a job. In fact, it’s big business.
Reporters who consistently got stories wrong would get fired, because outlets that publish wrong information lose readers and advertisers and market share. If they did it on purpose, as some seem to suggest is a thing, they’d never work again at a respectable outlet.
There is absolutely no incentive to make stuff up or conform to “a narrative” and there are numerous deterrents.
Much is made in social media commentary streams of the traditional media being “bought and paid for” by the current prime minister through a $600 million fund first announced in 2018.
What those who rail about this “bailout” tend to gloss over is the money is spread over five years and mostly targets smaller legacy outfits like newspapers through measures like tax credits to support some labour costs related to creation of original content.
While $120 million annually might seem nothing to sneeze at (it’s staged so not being doled out at that level yet), it’s divided among about 1,000 newspapers and Lord knows how many broadcast and online content producers. And it’s not divided evenly, so it ends up being little more than a drop in the bucket whether you’re a big player or a small one. According to News Media Canada total advertising spending on major media of all types accounted for $14.4 billion in 2020, so this is not keeping anyone afloat, let alone dictating editorial policy.
In more than 30 years of newspapering – and I’ve worked for companies owned by Torstar, Sun Media and numerous smaller corporate entities (we’re completely independent here at WHA Publications by the way)- I’ve never heard of a directive to take a particular editorial stance. Lots of push to put out more special sections and cut costs to enhance the bottom line, but never a call from corporate saying anything like “Go easy on Trudeau (or whoever), he’s our meal ticket.”
In Trudeau’s case the idea is laughable. Mainstream outlets have pounded the man so relentlessly at times it’s a wonder he’s still standing. From the Aga Kahn vacation to the Tofino holiday, from the WE debacle to the SNC Lavalin affair, from “elbowgate” to blackface, the current PM has garnered more negative press than many serial killers. But the media’s in his pocket? LOL!
Sorry to all the conspiracy theorists out there, but the backbone of the “MSM” is just a bunch of working stiff reporters who know their pay cheque depends on getting it right.
On the other hand, what’s the consequence of spreading lies and misinformation to that blogger, tweeter or poster who’s putting it out for kicks or chaos?
Sadly, it’s usually more followers.
And that, unfortunately, is how we got here.
