Local media – Scripturient

On the Bay’s Libertarian Piffle

Less (sic) taxes is, for On the Bay‘s publisher David Loopstra, a “solution” for the problems of inflation. It’s certainly not the solution for correct grammar, where he should have written fewer taxes or the phrase “less in taxes.” You can only get away with saying less if the noun is singular (tax). Perhaps I expected too much of a former newspaper reporter and editor. But regardless of his foray into the bad vernacular, his opinion piece in the magazine is merely poorly-informed libertarian piffle. And, given that the magazine receives the “Special Measures for Journalism” federal grant money, he’s … click below for more ↓

Opt-in Polls: Bad Data, Bad Science, and Bad Actors

2024-03-05 2024-03-06 Civic engagement / Collingwood / Local media / Media / Publicity & CommunicationsLeave a comment

I was perusing the usual collage of semi-news, trivia, and fluff on CollingwoodToday recently and noticed a poll at the bottom asking “How old are you?” It piqued my interest enough to add my vote. I’m always interested in demographics and statistics, and am curious about changing media engagement, especially now that print media has been scuttled locally. Who is reading it online? And how might that reflect both our community’s demographics and political leanings? But wait… is voting really that simple? Point and click? No screening questions? Nothing to qualify me, prevent me from voting more than once, determine … click below for more ↓

Why Local Media Has Failed Us

2024-01-21 2024-02-09 Collingwood / Local media / Media / Media Issues8 Comments

The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2024, released this week, identifies the biggest short-term risk to the planet is from misinformation and disinformation, even above extreme weather events. The risk is highest during the next two years when “more than 3 billion people due to head to the polls in 2024 and 2025, including in major economies like the United States, India and the United Kingdom” where rightwing dictators and fascists like Trump, Putin, Poilievre, and Modi will be on the political stage.* What has the WEF report got to do with local media? Trust. We need to trust … click below for more ↓

Vindication At Last!

2023-02-23 2023-02-23 Collingwood / Conflicts of Interest / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Legal issues / Local media / Saunderson's Vindictive Judicial Inquiry7 Comments

The headline in CwoodToday reads, “OPP concludes investigation into JI events; no charges laid.” After ten years, the OPP finally shut down the investigation that actually concluded several years ago. And even then we knew the results: no one under investigation broke any laws. Not even the Municipal Act or the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act. Ten years during which innocent people were under suspicion, had their lives and work affected, were accused of wrongdoing, had reputations ruined, and suffered defamation. Why did it take so many years for the OPP to close this and clear their names? The story … click below for more ↓

Failures in Cwood’s Typography and Design

2021-06-24 2021-06-24 Collingwood / Local media / Publicity & Communications / Staff and administration2 Comments

Typography is the craft of endowing human language with a durable visual form. Robert Bringhurst, The Elements of Typographic Style (Hartley & Marks Publishers, 2001) I’m neither a graphic designer nor a typographer, but I spent many, many years working with design and type, as well as designers and typographers, enough to acquire at least a patina of their arts. I’ve read and studied them enough to know the basics, more than enough to see when they have not been applied, and enough to appreciate good and bad style. Looking at the ads on the Town of Collingwood’s pages in … click below for more ↓

Are Creationists Gaining More Sway?

2021-04-04 2021-04-06 Creationism / Critical Thinking / Local media / Pseudoscience & Quackery / What I'm Reading NowOne Comment

A recent survey by Research Co. and Glacier Media shows a deeply disturbing trend in Canadians: we seem to be getting increasingly stupid. While this survey didn’t get the media coverage that other current events received (and hasn’t even been hinted at in local media, but no surprises there), I think it is one of the most troubling surveys of the last decade. The survey showed that, … more than half of Canadians (57%) believe that human beings evolved from less advanced forms of life over millions of years, while 26% think that God created human beings in their present form … click below for more ↓

Striving for Mediocrity

2021-01-20 2021-01-31 Collingwood / Council / Disrespect and bad behaviour / Entitlement / Ethics and behaviour / Local media / Saunderson's Vindictive Judicial Inquiry / Staff and administration3 Comments

On a council laden with dunces, deadwood, and dullards, it must be some consolation to our elected representatives, that they can at least claim to be less mediocre than Councillor Steve Berman. We all need someone to measure ourselves against, I suppose, and a low bar is so much easier to rise above. Berman’s first year in office was spent mostly consuming oxygen at the table and saying nothing of consequence. Of so little consequence were his words that even the normally sycophantic local media hardly ever bothered to reprint them. But when the pandemic struck and council retreated into … click below for more ↓

The Hermeneutics of Suspicion

2020-08-22 2020-08-22 Local media / Media / Politics / Style & usage / What I'm Reading Now / Words & etymologyLeave a comment

The title is a phrase I encountered while reading Mark Thompson’s excellent book on political rhetoric, Enough Said: What’s Wrong With the Language of Politics? Thompson’s book is both about the current and historic use of political rhetoric (from Aristotle forward), but also about the role of journalists in covering it. Thompson — a former new editor and executive in the BBC and now with the New York Times — maintains we are in “a crisis of political language” that comes from a combination of modern media, social media use, and also in the changing way politicians speak (“characterised by … click below for more ↓

Collingwood and cannabis stores

2019-01-17 2019-01-18 Collingwood / Council / Critical Thinking / Local media / Planning & Policies / Publicity & CommunicationsLeave a comment

Credit where credit is due: Collingwood council this week voted unanimously to allow a cannabis store to open here. That came as somewhat of a surprise given earlier negative comments from come councillors, but in the end they all agreed to it. It made sense to say yes, given that pot is now legal in Canada. Saying no would have made the community seem both out-of-touch and fusty, and would have reinforced the resolutely-closed-for-business reputation that last council gave our town. But the staff report also shows that there is still a deep prohibition-era thinking in town hall. Take a … click below for more ↓

The slow death of media credibility

2018-12-17 2018-12-17 Collingwood / Culture / Local media / Media / Municipal Politics / Social Order & DisorderLeave a comment

A story in the recent issue of New Republic opens: “A decade of turmoil has left a weakened press vulnerable to political attacks, forced into ethical compromises, and increasingly outstripped by new forms of digital media.” This points to the continuing erosion of public confidence in traditional media. While this piece refers to national (American) and international media, it applies equally to local media – all types. Traditional media has been disappearing under the waves of digital media for the past two decades. In its fight to stay afloat and retain audience, a lot of media outlets have tried to … click below for more ↓