There has been a profound cultural shift in journalism, and it is not for the better unfortunately

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

“You sometimes hear about liberal bias in the media these days, how they’re constantly letting our government off the hook for no good reason. Frankly, I think that’s insulting. It’s clear that they let us off the hook for a very good reason. Because we paid them $600 million.” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

This quote comes from the 2019 Parliamentary Press Gallery dinner, an annual event at which attending politicians give speeches with plenty of jokes, much like the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.

About 39 minutes into this video of the dinner, posted on YouTube by Global News, Trudeau makes the comment that appears in the quote above. It was an allusion to a Canadian government program to help struggling news outlets.

Now, the claim is that Trudeau was making a joke during the dinner. He wasn’t claiming that he had bribed the media, but as a journalist who has been watching what is happening in Canada, what is happening to our sources of information, this is no joking matter.

Truth is essential in society, but the situation in Canada is worse than people imagine. Mainstream media in Canada (and elsewhere), has been largely obedient to the government even though they deny it.

In July 2019, the Federal Government announced it would be funding many initiatives to counter “online disinformation.” This was six months PRIOR to the pandemic that took place. Again, this was set up IN ADVANCE of 2020. And it’s strange just how many of the leaders of these groups have political connections.

Through a long process of regulation, licensing, and cash handouts, Trudeau managed to bring nearly the entire Canadian media under government supervision. In its 2019 budget, the federal government rolled out nearly $600 million in subsidies for select media outlets that obtain the federal government’s approval. Again, this was right before the pandemic hit, right before major censorship happened to all and any outlets that did not follow the rhetoric of mainstream media. It has left me questioning, who is the media loyal too: the people or the government?

Let’s face it; propaganda is the single most overlooked and under-appreciated aspect of human society. The ability of those in power to manipulate the way ordinary people think, act and vote has allowed for an inverted totalitarianism, turning citizens into prison wardens, and allowing those with the power to continue doing as they please, unbothered by the interests of us, the people.

What are often deemed as credible news sources can often knowingly or unknowingly be pushing political agendas and propaganda. It is no wonder that according to a study conducted by Reuters Institute’s 2022, trust in the Canadian news media has sunk to its lowest point in seven years.

The study, produced by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford, has found that trust in the news has dropped 13% since 2016. Only 42% of Canadian respondents trust “most news, most of the time,” a slight drop from 2021 when it was at 45%.

The days of objective news reporting (he said/she said) are not gone but have been reduced in importance since the 1970’s. Mainstream outlets have increasingly emphasized analysis in news coverage—not quite so much “who, what, when, where” as “why.” There has been a profound cultural shift in journalism, and it is not for the better unfortunately.

We watched as mainstream journalists ignored the ongoing pandemic, they were otherwise using to shame Canadians into lockdown. After hundreds of thousands of protesters and rioters clambered through the streets, the media continued to blame freedom fighters, churches, and protestors for coronavirus upticks, while crediting Black Lives Matter protests with helping to slow the spread of the virus.

It may be time for journalists to acknowledge that they write from a set of values, and that just perhaps the scripts that they read every day are drafted and paid for by the governmental system they reside in. This will not be easy, since journalists have spent decades denying that their personal values have anything to do with their news reporting.

The only thing that will lead to real change is the people losing trust in corrupt institutions and questioning the information that is presented to them. Critical thinking is at an all-time low, but there is hope.