Don’t shoot the messenger

It seems to be in fashion these days to blame the media for any story you don’t like, that might make you look bad or challenges your perceptions of the world.

It’s a very dangerous and slippery slope. It’s not a coincidence the first entity destroyed by a fascist regime or dictatorship is the free media. In a democracy, the media is protected and encouraged in its independence. Only dictators and tyrants seek to make the fifth estate subservient to the will of state power.

All around the world, puppet media broadcasters spin out state propaganda which tells people their dear leader is akin to God, that those with differing ideologies from the statecontrolling actor must be rooted out and destroyed, or reported and informed upon for the good of society. Honey or vinegar here, pick your poison. One might taste a little better, but both will kill you in the end.

A free and unfettered media is a gift to democracy. Sure, you might not always agree with the story when it touches too close to your core bias, but you should be thankful people in this country have the right and the freedom to disagree without fear.

In a similar vein, if a major accident, death or public incident arises it is the media’s job to report on it.

We do not create the news. We do not cover up facts when such incidents occur because somebody might be made to look bad. We are neither responsible for decisions made by others which trigger the chain of events, nor are we the authors of the chance or misfortune which led to such incidents occurring. By the time we come on the scene, the train has already left the proverbial station.

We will always report what is in the public interest and in the public domain, and we take this responsibility seriously. We weigh our coverage carefully, as we have been trained to do, and decide on a case-by-case basis what to publish and what details to give.

We also live, raise families and work in the community just like everyone else, and have a vested interest in seeing our region prosper and do well. We are not strangers here. We do great public good by drawing attention to worthy causes, sponsoring numerous community events, and, when necessary, exposing injustice or corruption.

There is an old saying which goes: Don’t shoot the messenger. Blaming the media for reporting on a story does nothing to change the unfortunate or tragic event which happened to give rise to the story in the first place. It’s like punching someone in the nose because they tell you the sky is blue, or snow is cold.

(Tim Kalinowski is a News reporter. To comment on this and other editorials, go to www.medicinehatnews.com/opinions.)