If you’ve ever wondered why many are becoming increasingly skeptical about journalism, you need look no farther than two separate stories in the news on Friday.
 
The first comes from the Toronto Star, where publisher John Honderich went to Ottawa to address MPs about the troubling state of newspapers in the Internet age. At one point, the veteran exec made it clear that one of the entities he blames for the financial issues and layoffs at the largest newspaper in Canada is the online presence of CBC news.
 
“Honderich said he now considers the digital offerings of CBC News — “spending incredibly on its website, unlimited resources” — as the biggest competition to the Star,” the article states. “He raised the model of the BBC — the British public broadcaster, which does not accept advertising.”
 
Hmm, wasn’t the Star one of the biggest boosters of restoring funding to the CBC? And didn't they go after the Toronto Sun when it launched a war on the broadcaster a few years ago? But now they’re complaining about the Corp. accepting ads that Honderich appears to surmise are being kept from his own publication. Seems to me you can’t have it both ways and to use a mixed animal metaphor, ‘what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander – unless it’s your ox being gored.”
 
Then there’s the case of a story on the CTV news site. On Thursday, the CRTC issued the results of a major study about Canadian ISPs actually exceeding advertised speeds. I’m not entirely sure I trust the results, but the story is outlined in full in the pages of the Financial Post, which lists all the providers that were tested, from Bell and Rogers to Telus, along with other big names.
 
But you won’t find that list in the CTV story. Instead it focuses solely and only on its own service, touting the headline, "CRTC report says Bell Fibe offers better than advertised download speeds." The story goes on to relate how wonderful Fibe is but mentions nothing else about any other competitor. It’s not surprising or even wrong that it would blow its own horn, but where – as the late Paul Harvey used to say – is the rest of the story? To read this thing, you would think only Bell Fibe was tested and only Fibe got such wonderful results. It's more of an ad than anything else. But it's also listed as a news story and that's where the problem lies.  
 
All in all, not a good day for journalism and a chance to watch hypocrisy in action from two of Canada’s biggest news suppliers.

Last edited by RadioActive (September 30, 2016 9:35 am)