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Maddie's avatar

No media should be government funded. None. Not the CBC, not the NP: none.

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Ken Schultz's avatar

Terry, first off, plaudits to you for allowing your frenemy to get his point of view out there. One of the features of our current news environment is that we get a (somewhat) consistent perspective from various "news" websites, be it one wing or the other, when we subscribe (and, yes, I do pay you!) to a newspaper, Substack or what have you. There is nothing wrong, per se, with that (somewhat) consistency but there is a danger if we do not have some basis for asking ourselves where our blind spots or outright errors exist; therefore we as news consumers must work to get variety. Again, plaudits to you for allowing your frenemy to use your platform.

Now, as they say, for something (kind of) completely different.

I am "of an age" as they say, so I lived through what we now might call the golden age of journalism where the publishers got incredibly fat (hello, Connie!) and very sassy (again, hello, Connie) but we, the unwashed, got some great, if uneven, journalism. At one time, back in my university days I even thought of joining your profession (glad that I didn't!).

I have previously said and I will say again (groan!) that, while I am distressed at the human cost of this transition in the journalism industry (please note that I deliberately did not use the word "profession" for reasons that will become clear), I am optimistic about the long term economic future of that industry, albeit, that future will be bumpy (regrettably, meaning more human cost).

The history of the journalism industry includes pamphleteers, one party papers (hello, Toronto Red Star, Toronto Telegram, etc.) and a vast variety of individuals who published to put forth viewpoints, whether or not related to politics, etc. (see the Calgary - my home town - Eye Opener newspaper for a lesson in anti CPR, etc.) In other words, the history of journalism is fraught with economic uncertainty and bias that ultimately worked itself through.

My point is, that the current state of journalism as exhibited on the internet is nothing new and it will ultimately result in something approaching the nirvana that is clearly desired by Messrs. Glavin and Edge and so many others, including me. So, yes, we will get there but, yes, it will be terrifically bumpy and, yes, quit your whining because this is simply the normal process, albeit with great human cost.

And, one final thing. I above mentioned journalism on the internet but I did not mention the old hard copy newspapers. Again, deliberate. I am certain (I don't know as I haven't tried) that I could still purchase a buggy whip if I wished; it would be hard but not impossible. So, hard copy newspapers are to buggy whips, etc. but news is a different thing altogether.

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