Wednesday, November 14, 2018

Commentary

4 comments
2018-11-14 14:52:16

To answer part of your question Grant, there are now only three major newsrooms left in Edmonton: the CBC, Postmedia (The Sun and The Journal), and the Global TV and CHED radio Shaw combo (with the latter part of that blob being just a shadow of what it once was). There's also Canadian Press and Toronto Star/Metro serving the capital region but in much lesser capacities.

But just a few years ago, there were more than twice that many news outlets in town and five times the number of active reporters ... and that gave citizens diversity of information and a more aggressive (read competitive) approach to covering the news.

Today, it's all just press release journalism, with beat reporters pounding keyboards instead of pounding streets, knocking on doors, and actually talking to people. Often on weekends, there is just one print media reporter on duty to cover the entire city.

But it's not the fault of reporters as there are few of them left - the result of head offices trimming costs to improve shareholder returns (Shaw), or to stave off foreclosure on debt-laden corporate entities (Postmedia).

I suspect the effect of today's downsized media has had more impact in Canada than in the U.S. due to relative economies of scale. Couple that with Canada's more socialist confidence in government ... and you're left with a media simply hanging around just to pick up the scraps offered to them by those in authority.

BTW Grant, you need more character space in your comment section :)

2018-11-14 18:21:29

I neglected to mention CTV Edmonton in my summary of present-day media.

That said, four under-staffed newsrooms to cover a population 1.25 million, in the heart of Canada's energy sector ... that's hardly a public service.

2018-11-14 12:57:13

And to add to your thoughts, Grant see today’s Journal Opinion by Saleha Anwer. It just makes me sad...
Angie LaBerge

2018-11-14 13:29:35

Thank you very much for bringing that to my attention Angie. I didn't see that this morning.

So true. I try to avoid reading hateful comments in social media but they're definitely out there far too often.

Grant