Does the 4th Estate Advocate
Not Speaking The Truth?
In the recent controversy surrounding the low barrier housing project at Uplands Drive, MLA Ron Cantelon commented that there were other sites in the city that could have been suitable but less disruptive in the community. He then named four such sites.
In the Nanaimo Daily News on Oct. 21 the newspaper wrote an opinion piece chastising Cantelon for openly expressing his views on the matter. The article went on to support all the hard work done by the city to bring the project to this point and said that Cantelon's openness could jeopardize these projects, which clearly the newspaper supports.
Bastion of Free Speech??
I was only somewhat amazed after reading this opinion piece to discover that a member of the local fourth estate, a bastion of free speech would say that a sitting member of the provincial legislature should 'keep his mouth closed'!
This seems totally contrary to the institution you might expect to be a champion of " I may disagree with what you say, but would defend to the death, your right to do so" (paraphrased).
Call me suspicious, skeptical, cynical or just a plain grumpy old guy, but it seems to me that some of the opinion expressed in the local daily could have been written by the PR department at city hall. This particular piece simply strengthens that opinion.
Make Up Your Mind
The press in general would be the first to point out that politicians are not always forthright in expressing their views on contentious issues. Instead they 'play' politics by carefully crafting their words to not offend anyone when asked their opinion.
Then when a politician is open and honest and speaks the truth, he/she is condemned by the local daily and told to keep his mouth closed? Am I the only one who has a problem following that logic?
It could be the $100,000 in ad revenue the city pays the daily news has a certain amount of sway when it comes to setting editorial opinion? Or maybe not. Just call me cynical.
Are those printing presses or spinning wheels at the local Daily News offices?
I've seem many people point out that our end of town didn't get involved in the HANA fight. Honestly I partially blame the Daily News for that. They have not been fair or balanced in reporting this. When I didn't have a stake in the events I took their stories at face value. It made these projects sound like very reasonable low income housing. It wasn't until I googled low barrier housing I got concerned, then when I googled low barrier housing VIHA and found warmlands house I got terrified. There own sister paper has written about warmlands house many times; yet the Nanaimo Daily news seems to be the second largets cheerleader to this project and has ignored all of that. The coverage has been anything but balanced. It's like left wing Fox News.
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