This isn’t the whole story though. The American media didn’t pull down all its guard rails. It gave Trump incredible coverage so he dominated all the news cycles and that helped him with the public because he was continuously on everyone’s screens. And the American media is still doing that. Looking ahead, I can’t help wondering what their media will do if Trump loses because they are so used to having him as Clickbait for their stories. More to the point is the Canadian media’s timidity in investigating stories about cancel culture. They are nervous about looking like they’re not progressive so they don’t really dig in and investigate situations that need to be covered.
The media went all in on both Trump and Covid. The average Joe saw through their propaganda and extreme bias Leftwaffe coverage. It would have taken a generation of proper journalism to get their trust back but now with AI on the horizon, all media is suspect.
For journalist today, every story is a Morrow moment. We know you're lying, you know you're lying, you know we know you're lying. It's over.
Fantastic essay. I never would have expected to read such a long essay about the failing trust in the media, but it was compelling all the way through! Thanks for your honest and hard work in holding ground as a journalist.
The bits about "On the Media" combined with the Free Press recent piece about NPR ---- well, I gave up on NPR as soon as covid hit. Covid was my wake up call, and now I only subscribe to a few independent places and mostly ignore the media.
There is a lot there. For my response, I would like to focus on Objectivity and Matt Taibbi's fathers statement the "Story is the Boss" So often, what the media reports, reflects the narrative an Activist would like to tell. In 2016 there was a whole story about Americans just wanting to over turn the whole system because they did not like either candidate. This showed itself by the Bernie Sanders supporters, who then felt betrayed by the Democrats, and Bernie himself when they got Hillary. That story was not told, when if it had been told in 2015 it might have made a difference. Another part of the story relates to the North American Free Trade agreement, and the towns across Canada & the US that were devastated. Many voters were seeking to express this view. The media by not making the Story Boss simply failed to do their job.
I am a fan of Tara’s journalism and her Massey lecture elicits my admiration too. But a world war or a world pandemic is not the time for far ranging open dialogue between many different points of view. The Canadian lockdowns were more restricted and far ranging than the US lockdowns, and we had far fewer deaths per capita than the United States as a result. This is clear from statistics published even in foreign publications like the BBC. Canadians may be tired of lockdowns now, but at the time it felt as if the public wholeheartedly supported them. In fact, it may be one of the few times in recent years that the Canadian public and the Canadian media have been in full agreement about how to proceed.
Great summation, Tara. One piece of the puzzle I felt was missing was the advent of 24 Hour cable TV news and its voracious appetite for content and sensationalism to attract and hold viewers.
So the whole problem with media is that some journalists in New York City felt a moral imperative to veer away from objectivity to save the world from Trump, and the rest of the world just got carried away with it? And to solve that problem, they just need to start being objective again?
Nonsense.
It is true that things went rabid in 2016, and it is true that the traditional newspaper business model hasn’t been viable since Craigslist started up, but Tara seems to think this happened all over the world at the same time as a matter of coincidence, as a matter of incompetence, almost as a matter of chance, the result of a series of bad decisions made more or less organically. No way.
The Covid narrative was pushed all over the world, in the exact same way, virtually word for word. Outright and shameless censorship in the media ran rampant. Pfizer is CNN’s biggest advertising customer. So much more is going on than what is presented here, and ending on this contrived note of optimism, after forcing the reader to digest a rather tiresome (yet well-written and thoughtfully organized) pile of information, smacks of wilful ignorance. You’re not going to follow the money at all, Tara? You’re not going to wonder why the vast majority of Canadians bought the Covid narrative, despite the disgusting amount of lies and corruption it was based on? No, it looks like you’re just going to pat yourself on the back for a job well done, interviewing all these smart people for this pet project of yours, ‘Distrust in Media’, and putting yourself in oh-so-smart company, and leaving us with an inspiring smatter of hopeful optimism that MSM is going to get it back together. Then you can go back to the CBC where they’ll start clapping as you enter the newsroom, so grateful they’ll be for your bravery at going independent and showing them the error of their ways. And everyone will live happily ever after.
This is cowardly journalism, stopping halfway through the story and telling us that’s all there is to it. No better than all those journalists you’ve spent this essay talking about.
As a reporter for a daily newspaper I learned a newspaper story is about conflict. Only a description of the conflict matters in a news story, not the reason for it. The reporter’s mantra was “who where what and when.” The why is usually left out. So, when people talk about the media, being full of lies, they are likely mistaking the way the media uses conflict to tell their story. That isn’t the same thing as a lie. Dramatizing a conflict is what a news story does. The facts in the dramatized newspaper narratives aren’t lies, however, if the reporter has done their job. Trump supplies constant conflicts for the news media and that is a super power for a politician.
"What the public is telling us boils down to this: Stop taking money from the government. Stop indulging in moral panics. Stop ignoring dissenting views. Stop letting your personal politics blind you to the facts, making you vulnerable to mistakes. Stop refusing to acknowledge mistakes when you do make them. Stop inserting your views into the news." Amen to that, Tara! You are optimistic that it will happen, I don't (at least in MSM).
This isn’t the whole story though. The American media didn’t pull down all its guard rails. It gave Trump incredible coverage so he dominated all the news cycles and that helped him with the public because he was continuously on everyone’s screens. And the American media is still doing that. Looking ahead, I can’t help wondering what their media will do if Trump loses because they are so used to having him as Clickbait for their stories. More to the point is the Canadian media’s timidity in investigating stories about cancel culture. They are nervous about looking like they’re not progressive so they don’t really dig in and investigate situations that need to be covered.
It's over.
The media went all in on both Trump and Covid. The average Joe saw through their propaganda and extreme bias Leftwaffe coverage. It would have taken a generation of proper journalism to get their trust back but now with AI on the horizon, all media is suspect.
For journalist today, every story is a Morrow moment. We know you're lying, you know you're lying, you know we know you're lying. It's over.
Fantastic essay. I never would have expected to read such a long essay about the failing trust in the media, but it was compelling all the way through! Thanks for your honest and hard work in holding ground as a journalist.
The bits about "On the Media" combined with the Free Press recent piece about NPR ---- well, I gave up on NPR as soon as covid hit. Covid was my wake up call, and now I only subscribe to a few independent places and mostly ignore the media.
Thanks Tara
There is a lot there. For my response, I would like to focus on Objectivity and Matt Taibbi's fathers statement the "Story is the Boss" So often, what the media reports, reflects the narrative an Activist would like to tell. In 2016 there was a whole story about Americans just wanting to over turn the whole system because they did not like either candidate. This showed itself by the Bernie Sanders supporters, who then felt betrayed by the Democrats, and Bernie himself when they got Hillary. That story was not told, when if it had been told in 2015 it might have made a difference. Another part of the story relates to the North American Free Trade agreement, and the towns across Canada & the US that were devastated. Many voters were seeking to express this view. The media by not making the Story Boss simply failed to do their job.
I have read your essay. Well done. It is a brilliant summary of the subject.
I am a fan of Tara’s journalism and her Massey lecture elicits my admiration too. But a world war or a world pandemic is not the time for far ranging open dialogue between many different points of view. The Canadian lockdowns were more restricted and far ranging than the US lockdowns, and we had far fewer deaths per capita than the United States as a result. This is clear from statistics published even in foreign publications like the BBC. Canadians may be tired of lockdowns now, but at the time it felt as if the public wholeheartedly supported them. In fact, it may be one of the few times in recent years that the Canadian public and the Canadian media have been in full agreement about how to proceed.
Great summation, Tara. One piece of the puzzle I felt was missing was the advent of 24 Hour cable TV news and its voracious appetite for content and sensationalism to attract and hold viewers.
So the whole problem with media is that some journalists in New York City felt a moral imperative to veer away from objectivity to save the world from Trump, and the rest of the world just got carried away with it? And to solve that problem, they just need to start being objective again?
Nonsense.
It is true that things went rabid in 2016, and it is true that the traditional newspaper business model hasn’t been viable since Craigslist started up, but Tara seems to think this happened all over the world at the same time as a matter of coincidence, as a matter of incompetence, almost as a matter of chance, the result of a series of bad decisions made more or less organically. No way.
The Covid narrative was pushed all over the world, in the exact same way, virtually word for word. Outright and shameless censorship in the media ran rampant. Pfizer is CNN’s biggest advertising customer. So much more is going on than what is presented here, and ending on this contrived note of optimism, after forcing the reader to digest a rather tiresome (yet well-written and thoughtfully organized) pile of information, smacks of wilful ignorance. You’re not going to follow the money at all, Tara? You’re not going to wonder why the vast majority of Canadians bought the Covid narrative, despite the disgusting amount of lies and corruption it was based on? No, it looks like you’re just going to pat yourself on the back for a job well done, interviewing all these smart people for this pet project of yours, ‘Distrust in Media’, and putting yourself in oh-so-smart company, and leaving us with an inspiring smatter of hopeful optimism that MSM is going to get it back together. Then you can go back to the CBC where they’ll start clapping as you enter the newsroom, so grateful they’ll be for your bravery at going independent and showing them the error of their ways. And everyone will live happily ever after.
This is cowardly journalism, stopping halfway through the story and telling us that’s all there is to it. No better than all those journalists you’ve spent this essay talking about.
Congratulations, Tara!! So very proud of you.
As a reporter for a daily newspaper I learned a newspaper story is about conflict. Only a description of the conflict matters in a news story, not the reason for it. The reporter’s mantra was “who where what and when.” The why is usually left out. So, when people talk about the media, being full of lies, they are likely mistaking the way the media uses conflict to tell their story. That isn’t the same thing as a lie. Dramatizing a conflict is what a news story does. The facts in the dramatized newspaper narratives aren’t lies, however, if the reporter has done their job. Trump supplies constant conflicts for the news media and that is a super power for a politician.
"What the public is telling us boils down to this: Stop taking money from the government. Stop indulging in moral panics. Stop ignoring dissenting views. Stop letting your personal politics blind you to the facts, making you vulnerable to mistakes. Stop refusing to acknowledge mistakes when you do make them. Stop inserting your views into the news." Amen to that, Tara! You are optimistic that it will happen, I don't (at least in MSM).