What are we to do when our MEDIA picks favourites? What are we, as a society, to do when journalists are part of the right-wing propaganda machine? #cdnmedia
What are we to do when Canadian journalists repeat conservative talking points as facts, without verification? When they use tentative terms, like "claims" or "alleges" when reporting government statements, and absolutes like "says" and "stated" when reporting CPC statements?
What are we to do when #cdnmedia look to junk "think-tanks" like the Fraser Institute and the Canadian Taxpayer's Federation to paint a picture of reality? What are we to do when our fourth estate has been bought and controlled by those who are not interested in our public good?
Where are the journalists with integrity? Where are the journalists with professional commitment? Where are the journalists with the guts to fact-check the conservatives? Where are the journalists who are working for the public good?
Why is even the CBC, our public broadcaster, acting as a CPC cheerleader, even though the new leader promises to put them all out of work? What has happened to journalism in Canada? What can we do about it?
It's no coincidence that any invading army or dictatorial regime takes control of the media early on. If you control the news - what is reported and how it is reported - you can change the way people see their society. You can create scapegoats. You can justify the unthinkable.
Many may say I am over-reacting. But this has been going on a long time. Canadians are getting used to hearing the news conservatives want them to hear. Panels of pro-conservative pundits are normalized now. We get more opinion than news, and that's been normalized too.
1. Is it true? 2. Is it verifiable? (i.e. not the word of an anonymous source) 3. Is publishing it in the interest of the public good?
These are the tests every single piece of news reporting should have to pass. #cdnmedia
Think critically when you hear or read the news. Question the way things are worded. Is the reporter conveying trust in what is being said, or incredulity? Is there fact-checking? Are there multiple reputable sources? Is what is being reported important or meant to stir the pot?
Is the language used in reporting slanted in favour of or against the person or party being reported about? i.e. "Scandal-ridden government" is pejorative. It makes assumptions and leads the reader. Does the reporting seem factual and unbiased?
Is the reporting full of heuristic cues to evoke positive or negative emotions in the reader/viewer? Adjectives can change the tone of a sentence dramatically, and affect the recipients' perceptions. Be wary of reporting that contains words that celebrate or vilify.
Does it rely on a single-source so-called "expert" organization, like the Fraser Institute? Does it offer clarity as to the "expert's" qualifications/loyalties/funding?
Offering "the other side" is a ruse in many cases. There can be one side that is factual and another that is opinion. It is important to differentiate. Offering a contradictory opinion is not only often not useful, it can be harmful.
If you have a doctor talking about vaccines and an anti-vaxxer contradicting them, that is not good journalism. The other side does not always deserve the airtime because they are just wrong. And the fourth estate is not acting in the public good by giving a podium to just anyone
We need to be on our guard. Our #cdnmedia has abandoned us. There are some great reporters out there, but the media infrastructure is controlled by those who do not have the public good at heart. This is a real and present danger to our Canadian way of life. We are not USA north.
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Let's assume you are not a pilot, have never taken flying lessons. Do you believe you could fly a 747? Let's assume you are not a doctor, have never been to medical school. Do you believe you could successfully operate on a patient? So why do people who have never ...
#ableg 1/
been in graduate school, never done scientific research beyond grade 12 chemistry, think they know what the real researchers should be researching? Is Danielle Smith next going to be suggesting she should drive around the province telling ranchers and farmers
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how to do their jobs? Does anyone think the premier should be on job-sites giving welders tips? Should she be popping up in dentists' offices explaining why, if they only did things this other way, it would be better in her opinion?
So, why the hell does she think she and
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I think we need to have a serious talk about predatory capitalism. This is going to be a rather long rant, so get comfy. 1/ #cdnpoli #UBI #NeverVoteConservative #PredatoryCapitalism
What this obscenely wealthy property developer is saying is monstrous. He says the quiet part out loud here. The uber wealthy want billions of people in poverty so they can grow their riches faster, and so workers will once again feel 2/
grateful for their jobs and willing to work harder for less. This guy (Tim Gurner) and others like him see themselves and their financial goals as infinitely more important than the lives of most of the world's population.
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The first, simplest, and most obvious reason is that some journalists actually strongly support the right side of the political spectrum. So much so that they cannot contain their enthusiasm for Poilievre, etc, and they allow it to override any journalistic ethics
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they might have been taught.
Another possible reason, which seems plausible, is that main stream media is languishing, desperate for something exciting and lascivious to report. Peace order and good governance are lovely for living in but don't draw a lot
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WRT TBA's David Parker. He started out in politics working for Harper, right? Is he still working for Harper? Is the anti-Canada, Alberta separatist schtick actually Harper's agenda? From a big-picture perspective it fits with the CPC fire sale of Canadian assets... 1/
between 2005 and 2015. I mean, if you take Alberta out of the protection of the Canadian federation, how fast do you think all the natural resources, from water to coal, will be scooped up by multinational entities? And what's left over would have to beg to be 2/
taken on by the US as a protectorate, like Puerto Rico. And what would it do to the rest of confederation? Would Saskatchewan demand sovereignty as well? How would BC manage, attached to Canada by just Yukon? 3/
When your government announces it is setting up an entity, a "War Room" if you will, and putting a lot of public money into it every year, and specifically setting it up so no one can see what they are doing with that money, that should be a big red flag. 1/ #abpoli
When they carefully and deliberately make it un -FOIPable, and somewhat outside the usual scrutiny governmental departments and agencies are subject to annually, with zero oversight except by their own members, that should be a big red flag.
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When this "War Room" has been fed approximately $40 Million* over 5 years and all they have to show for it is some plagiarized logos, a report that didn't say much, and a series of attack ads directed at a children's cartoon, that should be a big red flag.
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I think a lot about what my Dad would make of the world today. I think about what he would say about the CPC, UCP, Ford's PCs, the MB PCs... About what he would say about the way Canadian media (Canadian in name only, most of them being owned by a New Jersey Hedge Fund) 1/
slant their commentary, act as stenographers for conservative politicians, & generally try to steer the narrative to suit their owners', investors' and advertisers' goals.. I think I know how he would feel and react. I think he would be apoplectic, but incisively articulate
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in his condemnation of misinformation, disinformation, the leader of the official opposition and his continual rage farming, rumour-mongering, disrespect for the foundational institutions of Canada's Parliamentary System, convoys and street pastors, and an Albertan Premier
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