Albertans divided on tighter OHV restrictions

LETTERS

I double dog dare you to print the above headline. Your article in the Sunday, Oct. 22 edition of the Herald (see Page A3), in bold print, claimed that “Albertans want tighter OHV restrictions.”

But if a prudent reader does more than “headline surf,” it’s pretty easy to see that the title of the article is quite misleading. According to the survey, only 44 per cent of southern Albertans want tighter OHV regulations, and 62 per cent of Northern Albertans support tighter OHV controls, so if you do the math, and produce a provincial average, only 53 per cent of Albertans favour more controls, and 47 per cent of Albertans do not. So really, almost one out of every two Albertans who answered the survey are not in favour of additional OHV regulations. In my experience, 53 per cent of anything does not provide the basis for stating that “Albertans,” as a collective entity, are in favour, or not, of any given activity.

To emphasize the point, if 53 per cent of Albertans favoured legislation restricting access to abortions, for example, would you publish a bold headline describing that result as being what “Albertans” wanted? I wonder.

So what you and the author, Dave Mabell, have essentially done is to create, or endorse, public policy rather than to openly and truthfully report that Albertans are essentially divided on the issue of OHV regulations. Shame on you both. I’ve noticed that members of the media are quick to pounce on the shortcomings of judges, doctors, police, and other public officials, but where are the controls and public scrutiny when a journalist, or a media outlet, is accused of biased or incorrect reporting? What mechanisms are in place to determine if The Herald, and Mr. Mabell, should be reprimanded, fined or suspended, for inaccurate reporting and “headline hype”? It’s too bad the journalism “code of ethics” doesn’t appear to have more teeth, and more followers.

As a scientist, I cherish objectivity and clear reporting of test results, so I wonder if the same well-written article, published with a more accurate headline, and then followed by your “Question of the Day” from Tuesday, Oct. 25, would produce the same result? Alternatively, it would be just as informative to ask the same basic question as the pollsters did ... and then decide if your headline of Oct. 22 accurately describes what “Albertans” want, or if we are as divided as the poll indicates.

Leslie Peace

Lethbridge