This paper has stated they won’t cover the local rallies opposing the vaccine mandates in order to keep their employees safe. Having only attended the January 29th rally in support of the trucker convoy and not seeing any media there, I must accept it as a valid reason.
The fact that it has reached the point where local journalists feel unsafe reporting on a rally that seeks publicity is deplorable. Journalists should be the friend of any freedom-loving person. How has it come to this? How did faith in the media turn to distrust to the point of making reporters feel unsafe?
Journalists are supposed to be our friends. The role of the press (or media) is to protect us against government abuse of power. In a democracy, we have elections and we can throw out those politicians we don’t like. In between elections, we depend on journalists to keep politicians accountable for their actions, so that we can decide whether to vote for them next time.
So, what’s the problem?
Friends look out for each other. Friends don’t kick friends when they are down. So why is it that, for as long as I can remember, whenever the media came up, ordinary people have said things like “I was glad to be asked for a comment, but they twisted what I meant!” or “I was interviewed once and they made me look like a fool.” And “They weren’t interested in the real story, they just got me to say something stupid and ran with that.”
Dear journalists, when interviewing everyday folks, give them the benefit of the doubt, especially when asking about something they are quite passionate about. Everyday people are not polished, experienced or politically astute, so they easily end up saying something that can be taken out of context or made to sound worse than what they mean. It may make for great click-bait headlines, but it won’t endear you to the public. More seriously it breaks down that vital relationship between the public and the media that relies on trust, just like any friendship.
This problem won’t be solved overnight, but it will begin when people see politicians unable to avoid answering tough questions from the media, and when Mary across the street can read an article she is quoted in and she tells her friends: “They didn’t misrepresent what I said!”
Trudy Klassen is a Prince George writer.
