Does The NEWS Really Matter??

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The local press, like news media everywhere usually devote some space this time of year to the 'top' stories from the past year. I think the biggest reason for these stories, is to fill the space between the ads as Christmas - New Years are typically slow days in the news room.

On reviewing the 'news makers' for 2011 in the local daily I began to realize that most of these events are really quite forgettable and have very little impact on the lives of the average person just living out their lives. The stories do however provide fodder to fill the 22 minutes of the scheduled evening news broadcast, or the space between the ads in the local print media. But it is highly doubtful if knowing all of this 'NEWS' makes any difference to us at all. It is little more useful than over the back fence gossip, interesting for the moment, but forgotten quickly. Perhaps to some degree we all suffer from attention deficit disorder which is why we allow ourselves to be so easily distracted listening to useless information.

One of the top local events highlighted in the daily was our recent local elections, the event that saw about 3 out of 4 Nanaimoites giving a completely indifferent flip of the middle finger, or so it would seem to the whole process. The election campaign certainly did nothing to spark any real debate, with the low barrier housing issue getting far more ink than it deserved but demonstrated the depth to which the local press is willing to delve. In typical fashion the electorate was dished up the usual helping of gruel cooked up by an unimaginative press pool. The local 'meet the candidates' meetings weren't a whole lot better, not really allowing for any real depth of discussion or debate among candidates. Something, likely appreciated by those running for office, who would be hard pressed to express in any real detail where they plan on seeing Nanaimo in the next ten years or how they intend to take us there.

If you took the time to listen to the video 'Trouble With Experts' posted a day or two ago on this website, you might have been taken by the finding that after studying 82,000 experts, and their expert advice over a 20 year period, it turned out their performance was no more accurate than chimps throwing darts at the wall. No better than random chance! Yet, these experts are highly sought after by the news industry so they can fill up the otherwise dead air, and fill in the blanks between the ads in the paper. Yet given their accuracy level, we really are wasting our time even listening to them. How many of us would consider the opinion of a chimp when it comes to financial matters?? Yet, the chimp tossing the darts is just as likely to be accurate as the talking head on the telly.

Perhaps That Is Why Many Have Quit Listening??

It could be that to preserve what remains of our sanity the vast majority have simply chosen to tune out the constant barrage of infotainment passing itself off as news and in so doing have made ourselves immune to the real NEWS which can indeed have a real impact on our daily lives and which we should be paying attention to. Of course I am referring to keeping ourselves well informed as to what our local elected city council and our unelected city hall managers are deciding to do when it comes to taxing local residents and spending those hard earned dollars on projects which they deem important.

It is safe to say, that their success rate is likely no more reliable than the 82,000 experts studied who produced results no better than tossing darts at the wall. Which is why, in order for the city to be run properly and most prudently requires the involvement and input from ALL stakeholders, which means each and everyone of us who call Nanaimo home.

It is hoped that the news you will find on this blog will inform without overwhelming it's readers on matters of genuine importance as it relates to local governance matters which are far too important to be left strictly to elected and non-elected officials.