Today, readers are discussing World Press Freedom Day. As The Globe’s editor-in-chief David Walmsley writes, “Press freedom is often taken for granted in countries where it exists, and is often not considered a priority in countries where it has never existed.”
For full coverage, visit tgam.ca/PressFreedom.
ILLUSTRATION BY ISTVAN BANYAIThe Globe and Mail
Journalists often risk their lives to bring us the truth. It is an honourable profession. I can't imagine a world in which factual reporting is replaced completely be social media, which clearly is a forum for bias. So on this special day for journalists, thank you for your dedication to serve the truth.
There can be no doubt in anyone’s mind, who has been paying attention, that Donald Trump’s message of hate against journalists has put their lives in danger. Without a free press, democracy would wither and die. It has now been documented that Trump has told over 10,000 lies since his election. Without journalists to document the lies and report them to the public, we would never know or understand what is really going on.
Reputable papers report reputably. The Globe and Mail's journalists are to be applauded for giving us fair, unbiased and accurate news.
There will always be at least some form of bias in communication. We're human beings. The hard sciences are about the only things that are 100 per cent factual, and even they are subject to change. There's different perspectives, lenses, emotions, motives, histories, and other factors baked deeply into everything we do. The best we can hope for is that reporters honestly navigate those many truths to the best of their ability
It's ironic that the greatest threat to a free press is the explosion of readily available information via the internet. Most people are no longer willing to pay for news. Ad revenue from web sites isn't sufficient to cover the costs of responsibly gathering, writing, editing, and publishing information. This means that information comes from either a few monolithic sources or from (generally) misinformed amateurs with an axe to grind. Those amateurs are increasingly resorting to clickbait style stories with little regard for truth in order to maximize ad revenue. It's true that repressive regimes who threaten, jail, and even execute journalists pose a huge threat to the free press. But my contention is the explosion of irresponsibly run sites, bloggers, and social media have done far more damage to the integrity and availability of information and analysis so essential to an informed citizenry and by extension a democratic nation.
Journalism has gotten away from balanced perspectives over the last couple of decades. They are much more opinionated in one direction mainly left wing ideology. Not all but a majority, case in point The Star group and the Sun conglomerate. Both have extreme views with no counterpoint arguments. Watching CNN, then Fox News in The U.S. is pathetic. What happened to balanced reporting? Understand Trump is an anomaly but give us a break. There is more news in the world than Trump. I miss the days of SNL and Dan Aykroyd and Jane Curtin. Even Point Counter point on the old 60 Minutes.
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