Somewhere, somehow, we have seen the quality of fact based news, and researched opinions of the media fall prey to the lure of mixing entertainment and reality TV with the actual issues that dictate our future as well as our present.
Now although the Rebel has successfully fought for inclusion in the press gallery based on freedom of speech, I am at odds with how comfortable I would be providing my opinion about such a non news agency without facing some kind of legal recourse. Cause like it our not, in our judicial system money speaks it’s own language, and has done so as long as I can remember.
The Josh Aldrich column was correct in it’s core that the NDP have given the Rebel additional power to bully our government. Lessons learned by a group of people new to the harrowing job of running our beautiful province in our most recent devastating recession. Recent history has placed the responsibility of obtaining the facts from the game show madness and vile hatred that is much more entertaining reading.
Accreditation of the press should in fact have some standards. Everyone should be allowed access to the premier and the premier’s office. A press conference should introduce policies and agendas where the press can ask actual questions that will clarify government bills and policies so they can be reported as factually as possible to the public. That’s not going to happen with the extreme right wing and it’s hate literature that plugs up my social media site every day by those who could care less about reporting anything news worthy. Not to say that opinions of others are not interesting. Educated, researched opinions on the facts cause those of us who choose to read them think about the benefits of those ideas on the other wing. But constant hatred: Constant unflattering pictures with angry headlines of less than semi facts just fuel the anger that define Albertans. Times are tough, and we need to blame someone. How convenient for the right wing to do so poorly in the recent provincial and federal elections. (How’s that for a conspiracy theory?)
Unlike the Red Deer Advocate, other printed publications in the province have long given up on accurate news presentation. The Rebel will now make things more difficult by turning necessary informative conferences into reality TV-like entertainment, and above all the mongering of hatred.
If ever there was a time when Albertan’s (the birth place of the co-op, I believe) to ban together and assist one another, it is now. Although I do not share the same political views as most of our population, I know we are decent people. We can stop institutions that work on our fears and anger by not supporting them. We need real reporters to come back. We need to demand real news rather than half-baked opinions that support our views. If we don’t read or share it, maybe they will go away, or when times get better, find a real job.
Ian Mclean
Sylvan Lake