Thread by @AndersonBooz

1/ For years I have complained about the lack of substantive editing at print news outlets. Maclean's, National Post, G&M, various Sun papers.

An apology is not enough for today's action by @VancouverSun. The only way a piece like that gets printed is if it is

#cdnpoli @caj

2/ deliberate or if noone was doing their job to professional ethical standards.

Isn't it time we started dealing with the dissemination of racism, misleading information and outright falsehoods in our newspapers?

Let's stop pretending they're following any ethical standards

3/ for journalism - because many of them aren't.

I am not suggesting they can't have opinions or points of view, but if a paper won't abide by ethics codes it should not be considered a newspaper and the people who work there shoukd not be considered journalists.

4/ If the public cannot trust the people engaged in the collection, analysis and dissemination of news to meet basic standards of decency, honesty and impartiality, then those outlets need to rebrand as non-news outlets.

Don't pretend any more. @caj should rescind

5/ memberships, actually act on their code. And then make sure people know if an outlet no longer hires professionals.

An apology is not enough. Our papers need to do a LOT better than they have been.

6/ Side note: some time ago I was really looking forward to a lunch meeting with an agent. But just before the agent arrived, I discovered the agent also represented an author/journalist whose work doesn't meet basic standards. Whose work, in fact, I use in class as an example

7/ of how shoddy substantive editing has become.

I didn't tell the agent - an agent needs to have faith in their clients. Instead, I made it clear that I was not enthusiastic about being represented at that time.

As the folks at Vancouver Sun are learning, you can't hang with

8/ a bad crowd and keep your own reputation.

(As we are also seeing with the Alberta cabinet, btw.)

So. Who's going to do the right thing?

PS: the agent in question was NOT my dear colleague @Waynthurson , who is a prince and really understands ethics.