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by Fred Kirby                              May 14,  2008

The Governor General, Michaël Jean has spoken against sensationalism and gossip replacing critical news reporting. The Governor General, who was a television journalist with Radio Canada and the CBC, said, “Journalists have a responsibility to put the news of the day in context….reporters must re-establish the freedom and means to think about the world.”

Today the media is held in low regard, just ahead of politicians and behind lawyers; the lack of respect is well-earned. Never since the days of yellow journalism, when The New York World and the New York Journal led the USA into the Spanish American War, has the media been more of an instrument of blatant propaganda, the handmaiden of puffery, the promotion of airheads passing themselves off as newsworthy in an obscene culture of celebrity worship.

When the media accepts political spin as news, democracy is not served. Prime Minister Harper craves secrecy; it is the duty of the media to break through that wall of secrecy and inform citizens of what is actually happening. When President Bush was building his case to invade Iraq, the media did not challenge his false evidence, instead contributed to the mass hysteria in support of the war. Those few media people who spoke out against the war paid with loss of jobs. The mainline media, for the most part, now acknowledge their failure. Canadian soldiers are dying in Afghanistan so that our government can please the USA. Knowing nothing about Afghanistan, Canadian governments drifted into war. There are not sufficient enough reasons for spending billions and for the killing of our young. The media failed to counter the propaganda and print the truth.

It was the once-proud CBS that suppressed the early story about tobacco companies knowing the deadly effect of cigarette smoking because of pressure by the tobacco companies. Even chain papers covering small town Canada are reduced to the dictate, “Do not offend” and serve up bromides. In Kincardine, it was the Independent that wrote about the alleged conflict of interest in the building of the pipeline detour from the “B” line through property to be developed. It was the Kincardine Independent that fulfilled the role of a responsible press – informing citizens. The London Free Press and the Kingston Whig were good, family-owned papers in the best tradition until taken over by media barons whose sole interest is profit. Today the media is run by accountants.

When the press does not hold politicians’ feet to the fire, democracy declines. The journalist is the citizens’ watchdog on governments, a voice for those who otherwise have no say.

May 21, 2008

When is a theft not a theft? When it is committed by a politician. There has been much ado about the shenanigans at the Toronto Catholic School Board where trustees used their privileges to gorge themselves at the financial trough. By now we all know details from Norbert Hartmann’s report Enhancing Public Trust and Confidence. Trustees paid themselves rent for use of office space in their own homes, voted for a $8,600 car allowance, then submitted expense accounts for limousine and taxi service; submitting duplicate expenses for meals and multiple meals in one day was accepted as normal procedure, as was giving consultant contracts to relatives and numbered companies. Use of the words trust and politician in the same sentence has become highly oxymoronic.

Then we have Bev Oda, one of Harper’s ministers not reporting thousands of dollars of expenses and calling it an administrative error, and the Federal Minister of Finance not accepting responsibility for awarding a contract to a conservative insider without submitting it to tender. Misuse of election expenses in order to avoid regulations governing contributions has put the government again under suspicion.

In Kincardine, apparent conflicts of interest are ignored in an ‘old boys’ culture while the current mayor can spend $6,000 to enhance his office before he becomes mayor and council doesn’t bother to demand that he pay back his unauthorized use of municipal money. That is misuse of taxpayer’s money and the breaking of a trust with citizens. And though it was the mayor who agreed to give Bruce Power, a multinational corporation, $25,000 (the final bill is $26,173.42 plus) for a gate and a piece asphalt, Council went along with the deal without a thought of the appropriateness of the arrangement.

Are there decent, honest politicians in government and on boards? Yes, but they appear to be a minority today. I have known a number of very fine politicians who understand the meaning of trust and honesty. There are more who might not steal from the public purse but knowing what is going on, never object; that may not be a question of law but certainly their silence is a matter of ethics.

There is much public discussion about being tough on crime yet, when politicians break trust, steal public money by whatever scam they can use, we do not call it a crime. Politicians just have to say that they are sorry, they did not know stealing was not permitted, it was an administrative mistake, or the devil made them do it, and all is forgiven. I have not read one excuse given in the above examples that, if given by a youth to a school principal or judge, would be upbraided for lying or for not accepting responsibility for his or her behaviour. I knew young people given two years less a day for lesser crimes. Our society has it backwards. The greater the position of trust one holds, the greater the penalty should be when that trust is misused. Members of the Catholic Board of Education, like so many politicians, have done more damage to the fabric of society than any youth hot- wiring a car or committing a “break and enter”. Of course we should be tough on crime, but first we should make sure we have the right felon.

May 28, 2008

The Jesuits coined the phrase, “Give me the child until he is seven and I will give you the man.” No truer words were ever spoken. Today, we have given our children to the ‘Me’ society, a society barely sustained by junk food and driven by advertising. There is but one operating principle: he, who has the most toys at the end, wins. Children do not enter this world eating junk food, sucked in by advertising and with the notion that they are entitled to have all their needs and wants met. It is learned behaviour starting in the home and reinforced by society.

Children learn about their rights, but rights are only one side of the coin; the other side of the coin that does not get taught, nor is seldom seen in adult models, is responsibility. To break away from the ‘Me’ society, the young have to start with responsibilities. When supermarkets feel the need to move candies away from the checkout counter, you realize the young have never been taught the ‘no’ command. ‘No’ can be a constructive word; its absence leads the young into the ‘Me’ society and an unrealistic sense of entitlement. It is no way to prepare our youth for a demanding future.

I share an example. A grade seven student paid close to $200.00 for a paintball gun. The student told me that all his friends have these guns and they are fun to play with. What kind of society have we built, what kind of community have we created, where a grade seven student feels the need to have a gun to engage in gratuitous killing, even if it is make-believe? Call it a game, if you like. I do not. Have we become so self-absorbed that we no longer know what constitutes good, and call the Samaritan a fool?

Our educational system makes few demands on students in case the children’s psyche is damaged. Actually, high expectations build character, instill confidence and are a far better preparation for life. I have practiced that dictate and witnessed the positive results; nor is this just my observation, secondary school graduates tell me they lost out by our current approach to education. The infamous Alex of A Clockwork Orange is cloned by the hundreds; Jean Vanier, founder of L’Arche, and our Community Living program beg for support while police patrol the school halls. We call it education.