Journalism and the 2011 Canadian Federal Election

There are some great journalists out there. But recently, I have been searching for accurate information outside of the mainstream journalism.

Since I watch CBC mostly during the day, it will be my main reference point.

Since the introduction of CBC Vote Compass, all CBC journalists have been advertising this political tool as sales people promoting mobile phone plans. Vote Compass has experienced a number of criticisms from credible sources. There have also been accounts of inaccuracy from participants themselves. 

I have sent requests to CBC to address the criticisms. I am yet to hear from them.

CBC has now introduced a “put your caption here” section where Canadians can submit funny captions on political campaign pictures taken by CBC reporters.

I am not saying that CBC is not covering the elections. Their main messages and stories are reiterated probably every 5 to 10 minutes, sometimes adding more to the story, more often though, a re-run of segments past.

What I want to bring forward is a concern regarding the lack of depth in analysis. Most of the election coverage speaks of candidates and their idiosyncrasies, slips of tongues, their lies. They report on daily policies, but so that all other media. 

When a ‘lie’ is uncovered, it is usually the alternative media or grassroots organizations that perform the homework to provide us with insights and the proper grounds for debate.

Report for the sake of reporting for large organizations such as the CBC is to say the least, mediocre. Their claims to objectivity have been rejected by too many academics, philosophers, and communication theorists to be valid. Media, especially journalistic objectivity is an ideological veil.

I agree to a certain degree that objectivity is necessary. But as any given workplace, including journalistic media outlets, is comprised of individuals that cannot really claim absolute objectivity. Every word carefully chosen carries within it a choice of one meaning over another. Every image that is shown speaks of thousands of carefully crafted messages that require to be critically deconstructed.

I thus prefer blogs and alternative/grassroots media that stand for a value, for a principle. Canadians are free to accept, reject, or question them.

Transparency in government? How can we expect transparency in government when the media through which it is reported has a specific vantage point?

The media bias is built within the organizational structure that dictates the mandate of its journalists, even of alternative media. The requirement is not therefore objective reporting of social, political, and economic issues, but rather a clear self-analysis and critique of one’s own perspective and methodologies presented to those within the coverage of any story.