In the wacky, zany world on B.C. politics, the mainstream media rarely worry about truth and consequences. Relying on rumor and innuendo, their creativity border on the absurd. Where is the news? In Lotusland it got lost in the shuffle. At least, that has been the case in recent years.
Criticism of the provincial NDP government is growing daily. Even its own disappointing supporters are letting their memberships lapse. Meanwhile, the media, following another agenda, let the NDP off the hook.
The truth is right around the corner, but it has been abandoned in lieu of intense and carefully orchestrated drama, initiated by a media determined to make the news, rather then simply report the facts.
Those intent on destroying Opposition Liberal leader Gordon Wilson last year knew they could count on a media which exhibit expertise is going from the sublime to the ridiculous.
So, the plot thickened as the drama gradually unfolded. When dissidents behind the scenes were unable to find something to discredit Wilson, they invented a new scenario, one which could at least be plausible. A relentless vicious character assassination began. The assignment was the media’s forte, having honed their deceptive skills repeatedly on former Premier Bill Vander Zalm.
Week after week, news was put on the back burner as they attacked Wilson as his House Leader Judi Tyabji. They probed into every corner of their private lives, scripting a media soap opera. After the press alluded to an affair between the two Liberals, the fallout forced Tyabji to resign her high-profile position, while remaining an MLA. But it was not over. Day after day, readers were inundated with the latest media revelations.
On Friday, March 12, The Vancouver Province went too far. The front-page story revealed contents of a very personal, very private letter written by Tyabji to Wilson the previous year. This invasion of privacy enraged readers and many cancelled their Province subscriptions immediately. The story consumed the first six pages, giving the Province the ominous distinction of a “sleazy tabloid.”
However, The Vancouver Sun, BCTV, and CKNW radio also played their respective roles, at the same time denying any media conspiracy. Sure!
How much credence should we give to our daily newspapers? Note the following words of John Swinton, the former Chief of Staff of The New York Times, spoken in 1953 to the New York Press Club: “There is no such thing, at this date of the world’s history, in America, as an Independent press. You know it, and I know it. There is not one of you who dares to write your honest opinions, and if you did, you know beforehand that it would never appear in print.”
“I am paid weekly to keep my honest opinion out of the paper I am connected with. Others of you are paid similar salaries for similar things, and any of you would be so foolish as to write honest opinions would be out on the streets looking for another job. If I allowed my honest opinion to appear in one issue of my paper, before twenty-four hours my occupation would be gone.
“The business of journalists is to destroy the truth; to lie outright; to pervert; to vilify; to fawn at the feet of mammon, and to sell his country and his race, for his daily bread. You know it, and I know it, and what folly is this toasting an Independent press? We are the tools and vassals for rich men behind the scenes. We are the jumping jacks, they pull the strings and we dance. Our talents, our possibilities and out lives are all property of other men. We are intellectual prostitutes.”
Poignant words! So, it’s not only in Canada, eh? Interesting!
