03.06.2013 08:40 AM

Media existentialism: nobody cares about you when you disappear

There are no bylines in the Toronto Star’s print edition today.  Journalists there have pulled their bylines, as their collective agreement permits, to protest cuts and layoffs earlier this week.

You can debate whether it is an effective tactic or not.  Personally, I mourn for the loss of every newspaper and every newspaper job.  Our democracy is diminished by the slow death of newspapers – which, whether I like it or not, is fully underway.

The byline strike got me thinking existentially, however.  It reminded me of something that happens to me – and perhaps to you – all the time.

It’s the disappearing of journalists.  For years, you see them on TV, hear them on the radio, read them in newspapers.  And then, one day, they are abruptly gone.  Firings, layoffs, health, retirements, whatever.  Whatever the reason, they’re gone.

And here’s the thing: I forget about them.  People who had been so important to me, every day and for a long time, simply get forgotten.  They disappear, and I don’t notice.  Occasionally, something happens and I am fleetingly jarred into remembering them, and their writing.  But, most of the time, I don’t remember anything at all.

With the exception of a few voices who I will always recall – Jay Scott, Dalton Camp, Peter Gzowski, Lester Bangs, a small number of others – I actually don’t remember most of them when they disappear.  I just don’t.

This, I think, says more about me than the forgotten.  Maybe it says something, too, about how transitory journalism really is.  One minute you’re a big deal, the next minute you don’t exist.

So, selfishly, I ask: when I one day shut down this web site – and I will, I will – will most of you remember it?

I doubt it.

 

19 Comments

  1. Vitusha Oberoi says:

    Absolutely. In the final analysis, we are no more than reflected glory.

  2. Aurelia says:

    I think we’d remember you, you have quite the presence outside of this website too. 🙂 As for journalists, i do remember them, depending on who it is, but I think that social media and the ability to have one’s own website, twitter, facebook, linked in, copies of articles, etc tends to even the playing field a bit. Over time, we can be known for more than just our association with one employer.

    Actually, this applies to any profession in terms of personal rep.

  3. Brachina says:

    Its not just exclusive to journalism, the Pantheon of those who get remembered through the ages is small. This is true of everyone outside that group who will be forgotten after they died, or even sooner

  4. Brad Young says:

    I don’t live in Toronto, so I really don’t have say. However, the Fords need to go. I am not a fan of Olivia. As far as I know, she is a career politician. I think it’s time we started to get people who have actually worked in the real world to represent us. Not saying she isn’t a hard worker or committed, I just find these people incredibly out of touch with reality.

    It’s like Steven Harper, here he is running the country, he would basically be unemployed in the real world. He got his degree in Economics years ago, he has never held a real job his whole life. All he knows is politics and has put this country farther into the red than anyone ever has.

    Why should we elect these people?

  5. Derek Pearce says:

    I will be fully honest WK: if/ when you shutter this site it’ll take me a week of clicking on the bookmark and going “oh yeah, kaput”, and then in my day-to-day life I won’t remember this site at all. But I’ll occasionally remember some good points you’ve made or some good debates I’ve gotten into here, fondly.
    This is a coincidence I guess, but I actually was watching a VHS tape (Yes indeed, remember those? My own VCR is broken but I took the tape and some others to a friend’s place on the weekend just to see what was on a few tapes I have hanging around) and there was a news break from Global from the mid-90s, and it had Bob McAdorey (sp?) and Mike Anscombe (sp?) and I thought “wow, whatever happened to those guys?” So you’re right, journalists are quickly forgotten unless there’s a specific reminder.

  6. Glen says:

    Glad they are supporting their colleagues but withholding bylines seems like an outdated idea.

    Journalists are smart (pompous, pretentious, self-righteous, shurely! — ed.) people. Do they understand they work in a profit-based industry?

  7. W the K - No, not Warren says:

    Some old Ryerson students will know this one:

    “It’s a disposable craft…”

  8. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    Warren,

    Doesn’t it say somewhere in the Kinsella Public Service Contract that the termination date is scheduled for the next federal third Liberal majority mandate? That’s what I thought!

  9. Fraternite says:

    Everyone who was a Reformer in the late 90s will always remember you, Warren.

    You were the Prince of Darkness because you were so damn good — evil, but good. As much as I have changed (I don’t associate now at all like what I did then), you still remain a pivotal figure in my political development. You may fade, but you won’t disappear until everyone my age goes kaput. It won’t be because you’re a journalist — it will be because of your role in the LPC War Room — but a lot of us wanted to be just like you (only with *sensible* affiliations, of course).

    You are my generation’s James Carville, for what it’s worth. You probably get credited for too much and blamed for too much, but you are the lightning rod and all the fame/infamy is yours.

  10. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    Warren,

    In all seriousness, when I think of the bigees, names like Matthew Halton, Charles Lynch and more controversial choices, such as Peter C. Newman and Conrad Black come to mind.

  11. JH says:

    Those of this era are hardly worth remembering. By and large they are a useless lot, always looking for the gotcha and the headline instead of the story.
    With few exceptions, all are forgettable. As for you WK, I’ll remember you more for your political craft (and craftiness) than any particular scribblings on here or offerings in the media in general. And yeah that’s a compliment.

  12. bigcitylib says:

    They’ll remember you for your novel.

  13. Publius says:

    Warren— What’s really happening is there is a gradual disappearance of “reading, ‘riting, and ‘rithmatic” in our advanced, technological society.

    People don’t have the capability of reading a newspaper or book. Newpaper articles are usually written with one sentence ‘paragraphs’; in keeping with 140 character inane twitter blurts. Books require too much attention span for the brain to endure.

    Handwriting is fast becoming a lost art amongst school children and adults with the use of qwerty keyboards. Even full finger typing is vanishing to the thumbs-only pecking.

    Arithmetic, forget it without a calculator, and even then! Advanced math is shunned in high school, in favour of video game scores.

    A massive dumbing down is evolving in modern western nations and brain capacity is declining too. Archeologists confirm that the skull volume size is shrinking compared to skulls from the 14th-18th centuries. The brain is like a muscle; if unused it will contract to optimal size. Things are so easy now, we don’t need to stress our brains any more.

    Proof of weakened brain function is manifest — e.g. the popularity of superficiality like Justin and the rejection of Dr. Garneau! Thinking (along with reading, writing, arithmetic) hurts!

    • dave says:

      Goes further back than these handhelds, it goes back to the catastrophe of the printing press. That’s why our skulls are shrinking, we don’t have to remember stuff the way we did before the 16th Century. We just write it down, and print it, and recopy it, and keep it on closet shelves or in the basement, and not in our brains. You likely remember that in the Icelandic epic, NJAL’S SAGA, that Njal was given the honour of reciting 1/3rd of the law at the annual Althing gathering. So he, and two other so honoured fellows, had each to stand on that rock and recite 1/3rd of the law…and that is a lot of law to remember, because it included history as well. Those fellows had to have much larger storage facililties on their shoulders, Publius, than you and I have together.

      While I am in the mood: Seems the country fair featured a table where a vendor was selling artifacts of Cromwell’s time as Lord Protector. One item was Oliver Cromwell’s skull.
      A possible buyer looked at the skull and said, “This can’t be Oliver Cromwell’s skull. Oliver Cromwell had a very large head. This cannot be his skull.”
      The vendor put his hand on the skull, gently, thoughtfully, looked at the possible buyer, and answered, “Ah – but you see, this is Oliver Cromwell’s skull when he was 12 years old.”

      By the by, I talk to my Grandkids, and assorted ne’er-do-wells on the internet, and things are changing fast. Young are doing something with language that is suited to the internet and handhelds and such that is really new and interesting…and doing it with wit. I am not able to figure out where it is going, or what its value is, but something is happening with language in this electronic space. ESpace seems different somehow, even time seems different.
      And some journalists are trying out all kinds of things on these electronic gadgets that are interesting, and, often, in keeping with what the 4th estate claims it does for us.

    • TDotRome says:

      Readin’, ritin’ an’ rithmatic! Thanks Mike Harris!

      Wow, you’ve taken one observation and really stretched out into a nice little fantasy, haven’t you? Permit me to punch holes in thine argument.

      Yes the human brain has shrunk, and that’s where you stop being right. It’s happened over 20,000 years, not since the creation of video games! There are more literate people on the planet today than ever in human history. There are plenty of reasons for a smaller human brain……..like not needing precision body control for hunting, foraging, defending. Oh and cro-magnon man had a bigger brain than humans…….not smarter. Elephants have brains four times our size……….not smarter.

      Books require too much attention? Really? Did you know that total book sales worldwide are higher than total movie box office?

      Advanced math shunned? Because you think there was some grand society where everyone spoke in numbers? Are you suggesting video games makes kids not know how to count? Maybe you think they make people shoot people, too?

      Oh, and if you think the popularity of Justin Trudeau is because of a smaller brain, I can’t help you. You see, populism is as old as human kind itself.

    • Jason King says:

      Publius,

      “People don’t have the capability of reading a newspaper or book.”
      Ridiculous. Have you ever considered the amount of books that are read on tablets in 2013? There’s a projected sales of over 10million for this year alone. What are they used for? To read books naturally. You make lack the attention span to read beyond 140 characters but dont paint all of us with that brush.

      http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323874204578219834160573010.html

      “Handwriting is fast becoming a lost art amongst school children and adults with the use of qwerty keyboards. Even full finger typing is vanishing to the thumbs-only pecking.”
      Have you ever had to type anything substantial with a mobile keyboard? Or write some code for that matter? Even on tablets its common for people to utilize a two handed typing technique. With the advent of writing stylus for touch screens you can put your handwriting skills to good use. In fact converting cursive writing to text is an old technology (relatively speaking) that goes back to the days of the Apple Newton.

      “Arithmetic, forget it without a calculator, and even then! Advanced math is shunned in high school, in favour of video game scores.”
      Have you ever tried writing code Publius? I do and it requires knowledge of some fairly advanced mathematics. Animation requires advanced math skills as well. You cant get jobs in those fields being lazy. The medium and method of how we utilize mathematics has evolved.

      “A massive dumbing down is evolving in modern western nations and brain capacity is declining too. ”
      Not really. True the human brain is shrinking in size, but it is becoming a more efficient organ. Brain size doesnt necessarily dictate intelligence either.

      http://discovermagazine.com/2010/sep/25-modern-humans-smart-why-brain-shrinking#.UTf4cqXakd4

      http://frenchtribune.com/teneur/1316425-women-have-smaller-brains-greater-intelligence-says-study

      So just so I clarify my background, I design interfaces for software that runs power plants (seriously I do). I spend my days with various engineers making their software more usable. Although my background is originally in media I find myself having to read, write and take on challenging mathematic problems on a daily basis.

      People are getting less intelligent, the media has changed and the way that you approach it changes as well. You would benefit from learning more and backing up your claims before you spout them off.

  14. Kevin says:

    I say maybe but probably not. You’ve made a big impression on Canada and will probably continue. As long as you keep publishing and sharing your opinions on tv and radio I think I’ll remember this website too.

  15. Beth Higginson says:

    I remember Garth Turner’s webs site when it was political and now I don’t follow it now that is is non political.

  16. Cath says:

    I’m with Kevin on this WK. With the probable death of journalism as we know it comes the opportunity for anyone and everyone with a computer and Internet connection to write their own headlines & editorials. I have some now out-of-work journo. friends who have started their own blogs, continue to get the odd freelance piece published and get jobs doing something else entirely. Some involving communications, some not. Sign of the times.

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