There’s a story on the Canadian Journalism Project correctly claiming that journalists dealing with government are becoming mere stenographers. http://jsource.ca/english_new/submitcomment.php?id=3834#commentform
Denise Rudnicki, former PR flack for a federal minister, says “this involves a sophisticated, government-wide, coordinated communications apparatus, well-resourced and professionally staffed, and designed to persuade people of the rightness of the government's position by marginalizing the views of opponents and by using the media to shape and manage public discussion of policy. Calling this effort 'spin' is like calling a tsunami a wave.”
She goes on to suggest "rather than exposing the efforts of government to manipulate the message, journalists should work to understand better how government communicates."
What's wrong with doing both?
What if we insist on telling the viewer, listener and reader EVERY time we come across an example of government spinning, particularly when it's using our tax dollars to distort facts and truth?
That's something journalists can do immediately, rather than wait for workshops (usually run by the least ethical and talented of us who've gone over to the dark side for dollars) on how business and government manipulate us so we lie to the people.
Journalists are the servants of the people. It ill behoves journalists to report anything but the truth -- as far as we can find it.
(Samantha Jones is a Canadian journalist publishing her erotic memoir at www.lulu.com)
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