Journalism today stands at the
proverbial fork in the road. No one can deny that the public has
been losing interest in mainstream media, which has had advertisers
look to other sources to invest their dollars. So that has put the
societal watchers at this fork agonising and self-diagnosing their
potential future. Three of the roads of the fork are paved with
yellow bricks of illusion and denial. The fourth is the dirt track
of reality; it's rough and hard to travel down there but at least it
can lead to a substantial solution.
Democracy needs journalists, after
all it is the watcher's job to keep democracy on track, at least that
had been the concept journalists had tried to maintain. This ideal
is not simply a punchy line for an ad campaign, and many brave
journalists had laid down their lives to bring to light events and
stories that the powerful would have preferred to keep in the dark.
Censorship of these courageous individuals was simply unacceptable.
In fact censorship must be unacceptable to all, denying its existence
simply aides its ability to slowly erode the foundation of true
democracy.
The
St. Catharines Standard is the largest newspaper in the Niagara area,
now owned by Postmedia.
Its journalists lay claim to national newspaper awards and
presumably followers of the ten commandments of journalism. In fact
one of The Standard's journalists, Karena Walter, appears in an ad
for JournalismIs. Over
her face are
these words: “Essential
to Democracy. With a few keystrokes you can sample thousands of
opinions, afloat in a sea of information. But as the volume
increases, the accuracy and reliability of professional journalism is
essential. Gathering and sorting the facts, weighing and
interpreting events, and following the story from beginning to end is
more important than ever.”
On
the front doors of their office at One St. Paul Street are the words
“Where the Community
Lives.” The
Standard over the last six years has breached and mangled the most
basic component of democracy, and it has imposed self-censorship by
its publisher, editors and journalists. Karena Walter herself sat in
the City's Council Chambers on April 29th
2016 and listened to a presentation requesting changes to local
by-laws. Residents had spoken out regarding the City's inaction for
years over serious issues that had affected their quality of life.
An email was read out publicly which had been sent by the Mayor of
St. Catharines Walter Sendzik to the publisher of this site. Mayor
Sendzik admitted to the City's knowledge that the business owner had
broken the law for years and that the City had done nothing about it.
Prior to the meeting documents had been sent to Karena Walter,
including a copy of this email which proved City's full knowledge and
cover-up of the breaches of law. As the City Hall reporter for The
Standard newspaper, Karena Walter selectively censored the
information publicly presented at Council from the community.
Karena Walter is not the only
journalist at The Standard with such credentials. Longtime reporter
Marlene Bergsma openly lied in an article on the front page in 2010
to protect the former mayor. It was election time and evidence had
been brought forward of fine fixing supported by the voice of a ward
councillor. Marlene Bergsma, who is no longer with the newspaper,
chose to lie about the facts to protect the mayor at the time, Brian
McMullan.
Still
the luminaries at the St. Catharines Standard continue to impress.
In a recorded interview on January 9th
2016 with the former mayor's ex-wife, the ex-Mrs. McMullan revealed
another shocker. The ex-Mrs. McMullan said that she had contacted
Doug Herod, another longtime reporter at The Standard, and gave him
documents relating to her seeking a divorce. Those documents
revealed details which included an affair between her then husband,
Brian McMullan, and a fellow sitting regional councillor. According
to the former wife of Brian McMullan, Doug Herod kept all the
documents for several days, then said that his hands were tied and
did nothing. Who tied Doug Herod's hands as a journalist? Who
decided that the news should be censored from the community?
Today
The Standard has a new star, Grant LaFleche, a journalist who extols
the great value of his 'craft' and the importance of community
newspapers. Out of the ten commandments of JournalismIs,
number nine is,
“telling the whole
story,” LaFleche
somehow missed that one.
In mid-2015 a
situation exploded on the news scene in the Niagara Region when a
Regional Councillor had made some less than professional public
statements relating to same-sex marriage. Regional Councillor Andy
Petrowski had made comments on Twitter likening gay marriage to
murder, he had ridiculed President Obama over it, and more. At the
very least Councillor Petrowski showed a lack of professionalism and
a serious lack of judgment in his online comments, after all as an
elected member of government everything he says publicly is in the
end accountable, or should be.
On
July 8th
2015, Grant LaFleche wrote an article 'Obama, gay marriage, God and
Petrowski', beginning his journalistic jihad
regarding the Petrowski anti-gay marriage comments. In 'A council
without courage', July 10th
2015, LaFleche mentions that Petrowski closed his Twitter account,
then on July 13th
2015 recorded a podcast interview with Andy Petrowski on gay
marriage, then
on July 17th
2015 another article 'Apologies, Politics and Petrowski' mentions the
gay marriage issue. In 2016, on January 21 LaFleche goes in detail
again in his article 'Petrowski quits police board', finally ending
on March 8th
with his article 'Demand better from Petrowski'.
Throughout this storm Councillor
Andy Petrowski claimed that his comments online were completely
personal based on his fervent Christian beliefs. He said that he did
not make those comments as a public servant and that he had no other
motivation behind them. On
July 10th
2015, Councillor Andy Petrowski tweeted a photo of Ontario Premier
Kathleen Wynne. This photo has Premier Kathleen Wynne and her partner
standing with a number of people who had been part of a Gay Pride
Parade. With this photo Petrowski tweets, “Ontario's
First Family – how nice pic.” Andy
Petrowski is a staunch Conservative supporter, Kathleen Wynne heads a
Liberal government in Ontario. Was it God who made him do it, or was
it something else?
Although
Councillor Petrowski closed his Twitter account temporarily,
former City Councillor
Andrew Gill screen captured all of this and tagged Premier Wynne. To
her credit and dignity Premier Wynne ignored such a petty and
cowardly attack. LaFleche wrote in 'A tale of two tweets' July 13th
2015, “At the very
least, the argument that online comments like this are purely
personal and do not relate to his job at council don't entirely fly.
Regional Council has to regularly work with Queen's Park on issues
from GO Transit to funding for social programs. The current premier
is Kathleen Wynne – a married, gay Christian woman. Petrowski's
statements could prejudice the premier against him or the council and
its chairman who refused to say anything about it.”
Andrew
Gill follows Grant LaFleche on Twitter, how is it that this
investigative journalist missed this? This same journalist on
February 17th
2016 said, “Bloggers
aren't doing interviews or poring over government and scientific
reports, they aren't doing the kind of investigative work journalists
do every day.”
In
August of 2013 another storm broke on the St. Catharines' political
landscape. The front page of The Standard rang out with 'St.
Catharines mayor calls police on councillor' as a headline. This
would not be considered as a fluff piece and the details were spread
over the local news for several weeks. Both the accuser, former
Mayor Brian McMullan, and the accused Councillor Andy Petrowski were
interviewed, each throwing out their side of the story. All the
accusations and counter accusations took a turn towards the bizarre
when former Mayor Brian McMullan had the court issue a peace bond
against Councillor Petrowski and a Summons to appear in court on
January 24th
2014.
On
the 24th
of January 2014, Councillor Petrowski made his appearance with a Mr.
G. Radojcic as his counsel. Mr. M. DelGobbo was council for Brian
McMullan, but he appeared on his own as the former mayor decided not
to show up for court in a matter he had initiated. Journalist Grant
LaFleche had spoken with Mr. DelGobbo outside the court house and
decided not to write about the judge's dismissal of the action.
Brian McMullan showed little respect for the judicial system and
LaFleche proved once again that censorship at The St. Catharines
Standard was and is its first commandment.
The
three amigos: Mary Agnes Welch of JournalismIs,
Journalist Madelaine
Drohan and MP Hedy Fry made it sound like they did indeed pound the
bricks to gather diverse comment on the issues facing traditional
journalism. Yet had they really, or was all of this simply kept
within the closed doors of industry insiders and those with a vested
interest? JournalismIs
claims to provide a
“voice to the voiceless,” presumably referring to the
public-at-large. An email was sent to Mary Agnes Welch on March 11th
2016. The email raised the issue of self-imposed censorship and the
relationship of such a situation to journalism's ten commandments.
Ms. Welch did not respond and kept the idea of public debate silent.
In
an attempt to find comment or a discussion on such a serious issue an
email was sent to Madelaine Drohan, author of the report 'Does
serious journalism have a future in Canada?' Surprisingly Madelaine
Drohan responded within some three hours, and in her response said;
“I was surprised at
your comment that the report did not deal with the issue of trust. I
refer to it several times and there are two different charts showing
how the traditional media ranks poorly on this issue. While I don't
site the examples you have given, I don't think it's fair to say the
issue was untouched.”
On
July 8th
2016 another email was sent to Ms. Drohan, as a response to her
communication with an offer to provide documentation as absolute
proof of censorship, even an offer to meet face-to-face with her to
discuss the issue. Madelaine Drohan did not respond to the second
email.
So to be “fair” let's examine
those two charts that Ms. Drohan refers to proudly. The first is on
page 10 of the report titled, 'Who do you trust? Confidence in
Canadian institutions – 2013', the source for this chart was from
General Social Survey on Social Identity, Statistics Canada. This
report was based on responses that had claimed to have a 'great deal
of confidence' or 'some confidence'. Its categories were Police,
School System, Banks, Justice System and Courts, then Media, Federal
Parliament and finally Major Corporations. It would be difficult to
have too many respondents who had more confidence in media over the
police who protect them, a school system that educates their
children, banks who hold their money or a justice system which is the
foundation of society.
Chart number two is on page 24 of
the report and is titled, 'Familiarity breeds content – percent who
trust online information created by each author – 2015-2016', its
source: 2016 Edelman Trust Barometer, Edleman. Here the categories
begin with My friends and family, An academic expert, Companies that
I use, Employees of a company, A company CEO then A journalist.
These two charts are supposed to
have dealt with the issue of trust in Madelaine Drohan's report. One
could mention another chart on page 9 titled 'In Google we trust',
but perhaps that should be left alone.
Finally
Hedy Fry who heads up the Commons Committee delving into the depths
of what journalism is or should be had an email sent to her on July
7th
2016. Some eight days later a response came from MP Hedy Fry's
office, it said “Dr.
Fry does personally respond to all correspondence she receives.”
Nothing has been heard
from her office since.
Regardless
of who it is, whether some self-proclaimed expert or industry
insider, ignoring the most crucial aspect of this downfall of
traditional journalism will not be beneficial. Trust is not some
side issue that some childish chart will explain. Nor has the
public's trust in journalists been so strongly shaken by legal threat
of defamation suits. Legal suits are often weapons to silence public
discussion.
- Postmedia/National Post sued by journalist Arthur Kent
- CBC sued by Liberal Senator Pana Merchant, Tony Merchantand the Merchant Law Group LLP
- National Post; former publisher Gordon Fisher and columnists; Terence Concoran, Peter Foster and Kevin Libin sued by BC MLA Andrew Weaver
- www.mayorgate.blogspot and publisher Alexander Davidoff sued byformer Mayor Brian McMullan
The
real issues of trust extend much further than these lawsuits.
Journalists can become targets who need to be silenced yet when
journalists become puppets of the powerful then democracy is bruised.
It is when journalists
decide to censor information from the community then democracy is
challenged to its foundation.
Today Welch, Drohan and Fry play at
a game of finding a solution to the sinking situation that
traditional journalism faces. Much of the discussion surrounds the
loss of advertising dollars and the fast encroaching modern world.
Nothing will come from these three in the end, and nothing will
change as to how traditional journalists go about their business.
Amongst all the empty and hot
rhetoric, amongst the denial of the truth one fact emerges stronger
than ever. The watchdogs of the past are being watched. Serious
bloggers do exist and they are getting stronger. Unlike these
traditional egos and their publishers, serious bloggers have no
alliances, no political or big business interference.
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