Following Canadian News Media You Would Think We're Having An Election This November

 

The fourth estate in Canada is far too consumed with the State of the American Union than our own  Canadian Dominion. 

On a recent trip back from the States, I was looking forward to catching up on some local news as we crossed the border. To my chagrin, the first three stories I heard were about the goings on in the country I just left. While in the U.S. I got my fill on the Democratic National Convention coverage, but it seems the Canadian press believes Canadians can’t get enough of the upcoming American election either.  

If you have followed many of my posts, you might find it strange that I would complain of too much U.S. political coverage, when many of my posts contain my take on the goings on in American democracy.  By this point, I would like to think most readers know for better or worse, what they're going to get here.  When I tune into Canadian news I would like to find first and foremost, Canadian content.  What bugged me on this particular occasion was that while in the States, I did catch a headline ticker on an American cable news show announcing Canada’s potential rail strike. For anything Canadian to make a dent in their news cycle must mean it would be of extreme import up here. 

So when I returned to Canada and had to wait for the litany of American political stories to finish before finally hearing about the status of a potentially economically devastating national rail strike, it struck a nerve. I get that news is now more about attracting ratings than ever before, but it is sad commentary if what bleeds and leads in our domestic news, isn’t even Canadian. You would think if Canadian news wanted to stand out, it would tell our stories. Canadians have a bounty of media choices if they want to know what’s going on in the States. Telling us what’s going on here should be their unique sales proposition.

Many American and strangely, of course our Canadian news pundits are concerned that Trump winning the election will doom American democracy.  Will see on that, but if it does happen it won’t be because no one in their news media was covering it. 

Perhaps we should be more concerned with the state of our own democratic institutions. If the press, including our own CBC, are going to continually shine their light on what they think Canadians want to see, rather than on what they need to know, we’re in trouble. A thriving democracy is dependent upon well informed citizens making prudent political choices - in their OWN country.  

While most worry correctly, about the legitimacy and integrity of news, we in Canada must also get more concerned about something more relevant. Making sure that our news is even about us.

Written by the 100 % human content of Gregory Cawsey