Whether in Canada, the United States or Europe … millions upon millions of newspaper readers, television news viewers and radio news listeners … are simply turning the page, tuning out or twisting the dials.
And the media have no one but themselves to blame.
I was thinking about this as I watched Bill O’Reilly’s Fox News coverage of the Democratic Convention in Denver Tuesday evening … in my opinion, the most pathetic, biased coverage I have ever seen of any political convention … EVER!
And how ironic … what O’Reilly was droning on about for a time was … if you can believe it … how one-sided and pro-Obama are some of the other news networks. That, from Fox News!!! From the network that I feel has singlehandedly done more than any other North American news organization to destroy media credibility … all the while taunting its critics and viewers with its ludicrous “Fair and Balanced” self-description. Talk about The Big Lie!!
But that’s in the United States. Are we any different? Sadly, decreasingly so.
Canada’s media are quite clearly also losing more and more of their credibility with their subscribers, their viewers and their listeners. Yet even as paid newspaper subscribers drop, television ratings fracture and you keep hearing the same callers over and over again on the radio call-in shows (clearly showing not enough new people are calling in to fill the board) the media managers don’t seem willing to do what’s needed to turn it around.
With some minor exceptions (I still love Vaughn Palmer in The Sun, Michael Smyth in the Province, Tieleman and Spector and Palmer and Baldrey on Bill Good’s show), but most of the rest of it has become BORING! LACKING in FUN, SPIRIT and SPUNK!
For example, as I’ve written about before, Premier Gordon Campbell was given a relatively easy ride after the Supreme Court ruled ILLEGAL his dictatorial legislation that tore up legally negotiated contracts with BC workers; he was also given a virtually free ride after the government agreed to shell out $85 MILLION of taxpayers money to the unions to compensate them for his governnment’s illegal moves; and have I missed it? Or have you seen anyone really go after the Premier for the Liberals announcing wage increases of up to 43% for senior government servants on a Friday, AFTER the Premier had gone to the Beijing Olympics? And what about that private jet he reportedly flew on to China …. talk about a carbon footprint!!
These ALL would not only have been meaningful stories to pursue with a vengeance, but entertaining as well …. exactly the type of coverage people would scoop up, tune in and soak up. Did you see it? I must have missed it all!
The media are doing themselves in .. and they don’t realize it.
In my view, what we most often get now is the police story du jour … along with a lot of meaningless feature pap, so-called “news” coverage from an increasingly right wing perspective, and mostly right of center columnists, and commentators …. more one-sided propaganda than meaningful EQUAL discussion of differing sides on many issues …. and the media mavens wonder why so many of us have stopped rushing out to buy their papers or tune in their broadcasts.
It’s not that we are all a bunch of lefties. It’s that MOST of us ..want to read/see/hear ALL sides of any question reported, pondered and discussed. And with entertaining coverage as well .. not just a quick clip here and there … and then little or nothing, other than one-sided propaganda, or irrelevant filler.
Let’s discuss that here ..because you can’t there!
And how did the media fall from grace this way? Is there a conspiracy? Watch for my next blog.
Harv Oberfeld
7 responses so far ↓
1 Clayton Perrin // Aug 27, 2008 at 2:53 am
I couldn’t agree more. If you think it is frustrating on the coast, try living in the Kootenays. I think I’ve posted this before BUT my brother in Medicine Hat knows more about “real” news in the Cranbrook area than we do. The other thing is if you want right-wing propaganda that would make Fox News proud read/watch the Alberta media. These guys make CanWest look objective. Come to think of it most of the majors TV sources are owned by CanWest/Global. ‘Nuff said.
2 Patrick Bell (NOT the MLA) // Aug 27, 2008 at 10:15 am
Mr Oberfeld.
I can say that I’ve only really become tuned into the provincial, national and international politics for about the last ten years. Has the population always been so polarized? As we all know the last two US elections were basically cut right down the middle, and we have the same dilemma here in BC and Canada. Whenever I listen to “NW” it seems callers are either “left” or “right”…and mostly “right” thinking on that station. I can honestly say that I cannot tell what side of the political spectrum that Baldrey, Smyth and Palmer may lean to they are that good. I know Norman Spector was a previous conservative under Mulroney, but I think he does an excellent job of discussing issues from both sides of the spectrum.
I personally have a real difficult time calling myself a “lefty” or “righty” as I have polarizing views on either side. Do you think most people are like that?
3 jen // Aug 27, 2008 at 3:53 pm
I guess I should be worried about the mainstream media becoming increasingly partisan and lightweight. However, I’m not. While the relevance of mainstream media is fading, other voices are filling the void via the internet. I don’t discount the problems related to “user-generated news” or “community reporting” or whatever you choose to call it. The lack of professional training, standards and reportorial experience causes deep problems regarding the credibility and quality of non-professional internet news providers.
But, in a cacophony of voices, I think a person, with a healthy mistrust of all media, can arrive at some kind of consensus regarding the truth. It’s harder for the powerful to hide when their are many eyes and many voices coupled with a (virtually) free global distribution system.
Most importantly, I believe that people are learning to temper their trust in any single media source. When media lived in an ivory tower, when Walter Cronkite (or Tony Parsons) appeared at six o’clock to update everyone on the state of the world, people had a limited set of sources and viewpoints from which they could gather information and form opinions. Now they have many sources. This multiplicity provides an opportunity for people to learn differing viewpoints and perspectives, thus giving them the better information for forming their own opinions.
4 RossK // Aug 27, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Very much looking forward to the next piece Mr. O.
And while I predict you will not conclude that a grand conspiracy is the cause, I’m willing to take pretty short odds that you might think that another ‘con’ word does.
______
….and while it has nothing to do with ‘con’soling, we the great unwashed who long for insight and a media willing to call codswallop just that, it does kind of sound like, only with a ‘datition’ at the end.
5 LP // Aug 28, 2008 at 2:04 am
Well said Harvey.
As Jen points out there are other alternative via the internet but she has to remember most people rely on the internet to send and receive emails and perhaps shop. Very few of us use it to research and seek out information. I am very displeased with the way the media cozies up to politicians and so called stars alike. It would appear very few reporters are out pounding the pavement looking for the next big story. Knowing about the government changing the food inspection rules WOULD HAVE BEEN A GREAT STORY! Might have saved some lives.
One thing is for sure – I don’t participate in polls anymore. The answers make ‘em lazy.
6 DWT // Aug 28, 2008 at 2:25 pm
‘Knowing about the government changing the food inspection rules WOULD HAVE BEEN A GREAT STORY! Might have saved some lives.’
Considering that no changes have been made, apparently the media has done its job.
The “leaked” report just that, not an implementation of new rules or regulations, but the media coverage would have you believe that inspectors and inspections have been curtailed.
7 LP // Aug 30, 2008 at 1:36 am
dwt:
the gov’t did change the way inspections are done. inspectors now rely on company self audits. who do you work for?
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