This week in the Kitchener Record, Todd Caslick wrote a guest article entitled "American media include too many propangandists". The Record is subscribing only, so sorry, no link. I enjoyed the article and it makes many valid points, but I think Mr. Caslick did not go quite far enough in his argument. Here it is:
America's media is fill of political shills from both sides. Right now Moore is the biggest of the propagandists, liberal or conservative, thanks to his film Fahrenheit 9/11. Paul Begala, Al Franken, Janeane Garfalo and others hold the left of the political spectrum with Moore and many others; while Roberk Novak, Bill O'Reilly, Pat Buchanan and a virtual army of others hold the right, with Limbaugh and Coulter.
[...]The problem is that many of these propagandits parade as some sort of legitimate source for information. They are not. If a source has bias, they are corrupt. They are not news media. They are not journalists. They are propagandists. They are brainwashers.
He further argues that "almost every source of information from the United States has been infiltrated by these shills". So you know where this is going; how much better we Canadians are:
Thankfully, Canadian media have mostly stayed free from this embrace of propagandists by the American media. A likely factor in this is the strict Canadian laws surrounding slander and libel - that and the fact that Canadians tend to be less on the political fringes and more toward the political centre than our southern neighbours.
I think this is distinction by definition. If you define the Liberal Party of Canada as a centrist party then sure, we are centre. However a majority of Canadians voted for Liberals, NDP, Bloq Quebecois and Green. Clearly the NDP and Bloq are Socialist parties, so therefore not centre. The Green Party has some conservatism but in general I would argue that they are left. Universal Healthcare is a left issue, but adopted by all parties, so I will give Mr. Caslick this one. But universal daycare is clearly a leftist policy and an activist judiciary is the strategy of choice for enacting social change by the politcal left. I would contest that the Liberal Party is not exactly centre (o.k. I will fair here, the Liberals "campaign left and govern right", so the book is out on the Martin government).
[...] Canadian newspaper columnists and political commentators try to keep their journalistic integrity intact by not pandering to partisan politics.
Really? Has Mr. Caslick read a newspaper recently? Gwynne Dyer, Heather Mallick, Chantel Herbert, David Frum, Andrew Coyne, Colby Cosh (and many others) are non-partisan? C'mon. All media has a bias, be it CBC News or Global News, be it the Toronto Star or the National Post. I think it is unfair of a columnist to expect otherwise. The key is to know before hand what it is. Caveat emptor! By knowing the bias you can seek out information from many sources and get balance on your own. The problem, as I see it, is the assuption that the CBC, Toronto Star etc. are the centre and Global and the National Post are extreme right. I am afraid that this is just not true. And if you believe that Canada how somehow not been corrupted by bias then you have indeed become brainwashed.
