Marc Legare is a philosopher and motorcycle adventurist.
He has travelled extensively, worked and lived in Australia, US, and across Canada.
He has a varied working career including: Firefighter, Lawyer, Navy, Motorcycle Importer, plus others.
He chose to return to southern Saskatchewan because of his family's deep roots here.
As a columnist, Legare's columns will offer food for thought.
What ever happened to newscasts that reported facts and left opinion where it belongs, with the viewer/listener? Those programs are long gone. Gone are the days when news reports stopped after facts were presented. Gone is the stoic news anchor whose integrity would not allow opinion and belief to cloud the news itself. Gone are the days when facts stood by themselves and the people interpreted the news without a bombardment of opinion within the newscasts. Gone are the days when the phrase, "It is the opinion of this reporter..." was commonly heard within an investigative piece or editorial.
In the past, news broadcasts consisted of television and radio channels reporting the news, weather and sports. There were investigative journalism editorials in a separate and distinct time slot. There was a clear distinction between the news and opinion programs because they were different animals. News presented facts, whereas editorials delved into those facts; poked, prodded, and sometimes offered opinion.
Importantly, these programs, the news and editorials, were not considered the same thing. There was a clear demarcation line between the two. Facts were reported in the news, and editorial programs were not part of the newscast. And nary the twain did meet, for a good and valuable reason.
Facts alone within a news broadcast standing by itself, without opinion added, is difficult to be used as a propaganda tool. News programs have forever claimed objectivity and non-propaganda based reporting as a hallmark of journalism. When opinion becomes part of the news program, the facts can, and are, marred, diminished, and in some cases, out and out manipulated.
This clouding and melding together of news with opinion in our modern broadcasts is not only inappropriate, it is downright dangerous. The difference today is shocking and troubling.
Let me give you an example. In the recent US election debacle, President Trump filed several legal challenges claiming the election process was compromised and included allegations of fraud and other violations and misconduct. Several reports from mainstream media instantly reported those claims as "false" allegations. WHAT?
Here is the separation of fact and opinion in the above example. The news (fact) alone is that Trump did indeed file such legal challenges. Inserting the word "false" crosses the line between news and opinion. Stating those legal challenges as false is reporting it as if the matter was already decided; it wasn't. The matter was not heard by the courts, the evidence was not yet presented, and there was no way of knowing whether the allegations had merit or not. Yet the media crossed the once sacred boundary of mixing facts with conjecture and blatantly made news themselves by stating the allegations were decidedly false when they were anything but decided. The allegations may prove to be false, but reporting them as such prematurely is opinion, nothing more.
This is not only dangerous for the sake of misleading people; it is extremely divisive. We see this ever-widening gap of division in our society. The separation of media by political stripe is one glaring example of this schism.
Today, media outlets are seen not so much for their integrity but by political affiliation. That is inherently disturbing. Let us remember that journalism and news programs are supposed to be unbiased and neutral reporters of fact. There is little truth being presented if one news channel is known as left wing and another as right wing. Both, by virtue of being labelled as politically bent have demonstrated a mixing of facts with their own specific beliefs.
It is a disservice to our society to not have one venerable institution that reports facts without being painted with a specific brush, and that institution should be mainstream news and its accompanying journalists.
The damage of this division by political outlook causes opinion to be seen as fact, and facts themselves become forgotten or buried. When that happens, there is little solid foundation to draw your own conclusions without excessive influence. Some would call that propaganda!
Sadly, news programs of today have consistently become so bias and opinionated, the news itself becomes lost in a quagmire. Both left and right-wing programs are guilty of crossing the once revered line between news and personal beliefs.
Modern news programs are coming under increasingly negative criticism. Providing opinion within the purview of the newscast is one reason the criticism is justified...
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
