07.28.2020 07:51 AM

Journalists are suckers

10 Comments

  1. JH says:

    Au contraire, journos are not suckers, but rather sell outs. As Molloy says the only way their profession is saved is by dropping their agenda journalism and reporting reality as it is.
    That’s a tall order for Canada’s Poutine Press Gallery gang.

    • JH,

      As students of history we can well remember the results of our searching archives concerning the behaviour of the so-called Fourth Estate in Macdonald’s time. Today’s Press Gallery are like factual little angels compared to the hacks of that era.

  2. The Prez has (IMHO anyways) used the media very skillfully to disseminate his message, which is not always the same thing as what he is saying. He has antagonized and provoked many in the “progressive” media, and by doing so he has created a self-fulfilling prophecy. The media acts in the way he has told his base they would, and he can then point to them and say “see, I told you so”. I am not encouraged by the current situation in America, the polarization is reaching critical levels and things could get a lot worse. Just electing Biden may not actually improve things either. If Biden becomes President, there needs to be a genuine attempt at reconciliation with the Trump base. There also needs to be a restoration of the rule of law.

    • Steve T says:

      This is a terrific comment, and very true. Trump doesn’t give a f*ck whether the media likes him, because all the negative press is red meat for his base. What you say about reconciliation is spot on, too.

    • Derek Pearce says:

      I genuinely ask this and mean no snark- how do you reconcile with a base that wilfully ignores concrete factual information? That would much rather feel than know?

    • ER,

      If you, meaning the Americans, really want to restore the rule of law, they not only have to deal with lawful and unlawful protesters but also address the underlying cause and symptoms of long standing behaviour by those in positions of authority who violate individual rights at their whim, often without consequences. It’s not about the symptom of rule of law violations, rather it’s about the cause and the failure over generations to adequately address that systemic problem across law enforcement in the United States, Canada and elsewhere. This Prime Minister had at least this right when he talks of Root Causes because that in and of itself is always fundamentally the problem, not legal or even illegal demonstrators or looters. It’s all about systemic racism.

      • I don’t buy that for a minute. The riots and looting have nothing to do with “systematic racism”, or anything else. It is nothing more than anarchy and violence. How does what has been happening in Portland overnight for the last few weeks have anything to do with underlying symptoms of inequality? Any civilized society must resolve its differences through mediation and established principles of law. You may not always get what you want when you go to court, or when you vote, or when you have a complaint you bring to some level of government, but in order for society to function everyone has to live with the system. No society is perfect but I for one think Canada is pretty good. Oh, and I’m not about to take any lessons on morality from our current PM. IMHO, he has by his actions defined himself to me.

        • Ronald O'Dowd says:

          ER,

          Put improperly and inadequately trained police into a situation where they instinctively fear the minority and overreact in adrenalin producing situations and you can end up with a dead minority person in far greater percentages than with a deceased white individual.

          Take it to the lowest level: white kids playing illegal basketball on a court get a warning while the black kids get citations…need I say more? It’s called subtle systemic racism.

  3. Yet Another Calgarian says:

    There is a reason that the trust in media polls that have been done the last couple of years in the US keep coming in at around 18% trust for cable news and 22% trust for print media.

    Essentially “the media” has failed to report accurately on every major story of the last 20 years and instead spent the time increasingly monetizing outrage.

    Frankly we’re right back where we were 100 years ago with Hearst era yellow journalism being the norm. Most people who aren’t insanely partisan obviously recognize this is an issue for both sides in the US.

    Canadian print and television seem to be going down that road too unfortunately.

    It kills me to agree with anything Chomsky says but Manufacturing Consent is probably more relevant now than when it was originally written.

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